Golden Grasses

Chemistry Love

2012-02-01T12:01:00.003-06:00

Cub is taking Pre-Chem at Tutoring Center under the excellent tutelage of Mrs. J, using McHenry's guide to Intro to Chemistry. He loves it. Who wouldn't when gum-drops and games are involved? Hands on learning. See above.

He is also watching Intro to Chemistry by Wes Olsen with Feeche and Flower. It's more of a literature approach to chemistry, rather than a math/science approach to chem. That being said, Stafford does explain difficult concepts in ways that are engaging, interesting and FUN.

Love layering concepts and ideas for mastery.

Literary Living

2012-01-27T06:20:00.000-06:00

*1*

~Best Quote of the Week~

Recidite plebes! Gera rem imperialem!

Stand aside, little men! I am here on imperial business.

*2*

Speaking of which:

Saw this on FB so not sure where it originated.

*3*

It was a week of sick days. Feeche soldiered on with a full schedule of math, A & P, Writing, Pre-Law, etc, along with play practice while Cub, Flower and I spent hours listening to CD's. This week's feature was Mystery of History Middle Ages. We also started Susan Wise Bauer's tome of The History of the Medieval World. We are reading it out-loud. It's hefty, at over 500 pages, so we are taking it one chapter at a time. It's Story of the World on steroids, baby. Feeche is loving it. Flower is too and told me that The Other Side of the Mountain was boring, she wanted to read the Medieval Ages for her bedtime story. One chapter of each.

*4*

Watched The Help with the fam. Loved it again. Lots of questions from the younger set regarding just what Hilly's problem was, why Mae Mobly called Abby her "real Momma" and who invented Jim Crow laws.
First day of my freshman year in public high school in a northern busing town, police and ambulance were called in to break up the fight that got a couple of kids pretty beat up; broken bones beat up. I remember learning about "race riots" the year before, when we were safely ensconced in white suburbia, before our move to a large city. We moved 8 weeks before the end of my 8th grade year and I went from an all white school to one where I was one of 13 white kids in the entire middle school. That was a paradigm shifting year.

*5*

Cub and Flower re-discovered the Usborne Shakespeare book and have been consuming it this week. Cub's been reading it to Flower, she's been reading it over his shoulder and while he works on Latin, she's been creating scenes from As You Like It on huge pieces of cardboard. It's brought back lots of questions about MacBeth, which they watched Feeche perform in this past summer. Men in kilts, Hivers, were what our boys were, but out of respect for their personage, I defer from posting pictures.

*6*

The dishwasher was on the outs this week but we did get the cupboards re-arranged. Started with a leak in the kitchen bathroom. Leaked, made a mess and we cleaned up, really cleaned up as we re-did all 3 bathroom cupboards, plus the kitchen. Not a leak since. While we were doing that, the tracks for 2 drawers came completely off. Loose screws in the kitchen have been a problem since moving in. We've been filling holes with wood filler as we re-attach the runners. And then the back door knob totally blew; won't work at all. As in you can't open the door at all. In addition to knocking back cough and cold meds like we were addicts. What is up with all of that?!
In conclusion. Though it bugs me that stuff is so cheaply made anymore that extended warranties are necessary, I'm glad we had it for the dishwasher. Back to our regularly scheduled sloshing and washing.

*7*

weheartit.com

Call me easily amused, but the above is my kinda humor. And you can buy them as magnets. Gotta get me some of these!

Educational Influencers

2012-01-26T17:02:00.001-06:00

Here's my incomplete list of educational influencers. I wrote a Master's Thesis years ago on "Why Parent's Homeschool," hence Summerhill. Crazy man. But his school and ideas are still going strong, thanks to his dd. Different strokes. And, too, he was creating a liberated space in a stuffy and staid culture. Instilling a clear sense of freedom is a lot of what I'm about too. I've read most of the books many of the following folks have written. And many of them have web-sites, resources, pod-casts and on-line stores. They all have something to add to your life as an educator. Dig in. Enjoy!

Calvert- A Child's History of the World. Christian culture despite personal beliefs. The time-line of history as a framework for life.

G.H. Henty- Age of exploration. Find the joy in history. Facts are dazzling diamonds, so it doesn't matter if they are set into the same mold time and again.
Montessori- Kids are not mini adults. Ages and stages, uninterrupted blocks of time to focus, discovery model.
Charlotte Mason- Education is a Atmosphere, a discipline, a life.

Summerhill - Freedom from coercion and repressive cultural ideas; free expression; believe in kids ability to want to learn.

Bill Cosby- Media as a teaching tool, laughter as a teaching tool, example as a teaching tool. Be present. Be cool.
John Holt- Allow your child to follow thier passions and develop their personhood. Life is learning, learning is life. Play is a child's work.
Grace Llewellyn- Liberation. Throw off the shackles.
HSLDA- Strength in numbers- parental rights (vs. state rights).
Colfaxes- We are shaped by the work that we do; back to the land, live pro-actively, excellence in education.
Raymond and Dorothy Moore- Delight directed education; lay a firm foundation, the importance of basics. Better late than early.
Blumenfeld- Fundamentals of education, lay a firm foundation; don't expect government to truly educate our country's youth.
Sonlight Curriculum- Literature and Bible based teaching are a powerful combination.
Gentle Spirit- What do you have in your hand? Understand, establish and work with the seasons of life.
Joyce Herzog- to really understand something, start your research in the children's section of the library.
Mary Pride- The hand that rocks the cradle, rocks the world.
Hugh Ross- Science and Theology are beautiful bed-fellows. Intellect and faith go hand in hand.
John Taylor Gatto- Be proactivee. Craft something beautiful despite the norms that seek to entangle you.
Mary Hood- Learning centers, discovery learning.
Above Rubies- Establish a legacy.
Joyce Swann- Accelerated education.
Greg Harris- Establish your kids vocationally; do hard things; live out-loud.
Diana Waring- Joy in the journey, laugh out loud.
Greenleaf Press Press- 4 year history cycle, academic excellence.
Jim Weiss- The power of story-telling
Andrew Pudewa- Power of language; find the expert; give the kids as much help as they need; distill the difficult into simple. Master teachers and excellent curriculum rock.
Robinson Curriculum- Different seasons demand different methodologies; stick with the vision and make the curriculum work for you. The basics ware gonna get you through the night, baby.
Timberdoodle- Toys with a purpose; imaginative, active play; discovery of the world through art, building, creation.
Usborne books- The power of graphics; thinking skills made fun.
Marilyn Howshall- Lifestyle of learning. Get one.
Beautiful Feet- Unit studies; the joy of connections.
Sally Clarkson- Sympathize with the heart of your child.
Barb Shelton- Delight directed, vocationally oriented. Record-keeping and organization, how to create a course.
Cindy Rushon- Notebooking; journaling with an academic purpose.
Apologia- Textbook as lecture.
The Well Trained Mind- Eat an elephant one bite at a time. Have a vision that incorporates depth and width. Expect more from your kids and from yourself.
Latin Centered Curriculum- Depth vs. Width; simplify, stick with the basics; go far.
Classical Conversations- Train the brain to retain; grammar, dialectic and rhetoric stages.
Logos Academy/ Doug Wilson- The power of doctrine; living according to a clarion call; cclassical ed.
TeenPact- Age doesn't matter in your ability to do great things for God. There is something unique about where you live right now. What/how does God want you to know/do about it?
The New Global Student- the world is (or could be) your classroom.
Marva Collings- Become the teacher you wished you'd had. Know your stuff. Know more. Classical ed, baby, by a class act.
Rafe Esquith- The power of discipline, the arts and passion. Pursue sponsors for what you know to do.
University Model Schools- Combining the strength of homeschooling with the power of community. Win-win.

Who is on your list? Who did I miss?

Right on Time

2012-01-26T00:55:00.002-06:00

from all that inspires me

Cupboard Clean-Out

2012-01-25T16:45:00.000-06:00

Between Cub and I we've been sick for over a week now. Just when I think he's better he gets a fever again. I'm actually up and about, thanks be to God and the miracle of $80 worth of antibiotics. We're taking sick days. This has included Chemistry 101 Dvd's an entire volume of Mystery of History CD's and Cub reading Shakespeare aloud to Flower. His pronunciation of names and places is worth the entry fee alone! Feeche is gone for the day, readying for Tantara on Saturday.

Flower and I are re-organizing the cupboards under all of the sinks in the bathroom and re-arranging the kitchen cupboards. My mil re-arranged the kitchen this summer -she has a gift for space, I do not- but we've lived here long enough now to have some habits established and the need to re-arrange is long past due. Why is it that cleaning makes such an unbelievable mess? The good news is I'm crossing stuff off my "bugsme2death" list.

More fun graphics here.

I need this pin re-written to say: Both can't get done, it's homeschooling or the house!

Winter Weather House Arrest

2012-01-24T11:35:00.000-06:00

I don't know what the weather is like where you're at, but it's the dead of winter here. Cold; I mean really. Sub-zero and single digits coupled with ice and snow. I like the theory of winter and the thought of 4 seasons but it's done with a vengeance up here and, frankly, it's just not my thing.
I wonder why people moved here as pioneers. I mean, it's pretty brutal out here now, with running water and indoor plumbing and everything, but what we've read is that historically, families sold everything for the promise of land. Once they got here, they had no way to get back and often no where to go back to, since they'd sold it all for the promise of something else.
Dh read "The Children's Blizzard" this week-end between responding to students on-line and, weather nerd that he is, he found the weather in the book fascinating. We went to a lecture, sponsored by NOAA last year about if The Long Winter (by Ingalls Wilder) really was, and yes, it was. My response to all of this fascinating weather info and reality is to feel depressed. It intrigues me to a point, and would even more, if I didn't live in it (both stories took place in the Territories, right around where we reside). Give me green, blue and warm any day over white, glare and ice. Lots of warm.

Really, I'd rather be here:

photo courtesy of tripadvisor.com

What's the temp where you're at today?

Reading Rx

2012-01-22T15:51:00.001-06:00

I've spent the week-end nursing a raging head-cold and killer sore-throat. Between dozing I've been reading.

First up was Heaven is for Real. This was really recommended by a friend whose Mom died last year. She found a lot of comfort in it. I thought it was a good review of the basics but it wasn't anything earth shattering. My only issue with the book was how the parents didn't trust their instincts about how sick their kid was and how long they took to get him the medical help he needed. Cub read it after I did and thought it was good.

An Amish Wedding- 3 novellas written by 3 different authors using the same cast of characters. I didn't realize that there was a whole "Amish genre" out there but if you enjoy that genre, you'll like this. It definitely veered into cheesy romance. I'm not sure I buy that whole portion of it in regards to plain people. My grandparents were Plimoth Brethren and grandma's cousins were Mennonite; their take on life was pragmatic to the nth degree. Simple, easy read.

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan. I picked this up because MeEwan figures highly on the list of reads that King recommends. McEwan is definitely a master story teller. This is the telling of a young English couple in the early 60's, thier engagement and their disasterous wedding night. Realistic characters, interesting touch on family systems and the tragedy that occurs when our inner dialog shuts out the realities of the people in our lives. A bit of a tragedy and very, very earthy.

Looking forward to good health, a clean house and

Into the Heart of Winter

2012-01-19T19:20:00.000-06:00

*1*

Best Pin of the Week

GREAT, right?!

LOL!

You owe me a joke! ; )

*2*

Writing With Skill is just so good. Jesse Wise is actually on my Hero's list. Susan too (we love SOTW, too!) but Jesse's higher up on the list. I'm still an IEW lover to the core, but Peace Hill Press just might have scrunched them over to a smaller corner of my heart.

*3*

Lamott was fun but I'm done with her for awhile.. I have a whole list of "how to write a book from Robin's to check out. But I'm thinking a good novel might go down well. I have a whole list of notes from King's On Writing to get out of the back of the book and he mentioned several titles. I'm going to try one of his non-horror. And no- I won't do a horror book. I'm quite capable of scaring myself. I need no help. Trust me on this.

*4*

Chemistry 101 by Wes Stafford is supplementing McHenry's Intro to Chem for Cub adding another dimension to Feeche's Prentice Hall Chem 1 from last year.

I wouldn't count it as a full high school credit but it's worth at least 1/4 or a 1/2 depending on how you'd beef it up. It's made along the lines of Tiner's History of Medicine, et al. Lots of good stuff, experiments, the history of the field. Feeche mentioned it's helping clarify some of the more difficult concepts he vaguely understood last year. I'm recommending it- just not as a full chem credit.

*5*

Lego League is cruising along. It's been a great program, the kids have worked on problem solving, info gathering, planning field trips, all in addition to getting the robot to do what it's supposed to do. I'm usually hauling kids around town or teaching an English class while LL is going on so I feel pretty out of the loop. But our coach, Mrs. I, former engineer and woman of patience extraordinaire, has done a GREAT job leading our local pack of bandits.

*6*

It's cold 'round here. Single and sub zero temps with blowing snow. I am a warm weather kinda gal. There were certain aspects of California and New Mexico that I did not appreciate but the warmth was something I loved about both. Why does God hard-wire us in certain ways and then thrust us into circumstances, marriages, parenting roles and environments that totally mock our hard-wiring. Seriously?!

*7*

I'm doing all of the home-work that I assign to my high schoolers in Creative Writing Class. I'm actually writing a story we've been talking about for years- literally. What a blast. The thing that amazes me every time I sit down to write is that I actually have some idea of what I'm doing. Heck, I'm even good at it. Love that feeling...that feeling of being good at something. Call me shallow or whatever, but it rocks to be competent at something that doesn't talk back.

How was your week?

Can a Post-Modern be Christian?

2012-01-19T08:51:00.002-06:00

Still mulling over Lamott's writing. She intrigues me because she is a post-modern and a self-proclaimed Christian. She personifies for me the "Almost Christian." I'm not making any judgements on her salvation, seriously, but her Christian-eese, spiritualityismishness gives me pause. And here's why.

She writes and thinks like a post-modern. She talks about the family that she and Sam and Sam's father have created. But the deal is that Sam's father wasn't even in the picture till Sam was mid-elementary, he doesn't live with them, they get together every so often. Family, by Webster's definition means a social unit living under one roof. So,what's a little simple daily living among friends- or family? Well, a lot. Living under one roof together requires sacrifice, attention to detail, consideration, working out conflict, putting up with each other's morning breathe and irritating habits and modifying our own behavior so that we don't end up suicidal or homicidal.

Getting together for week-ends requires very little of any of that. When there is no financial, little social, almost no interpersonal relationship beyond a walk in the park, you've really become more of a social group, not family. And there in lies the re-definition. If family is whomever, however, wherever, whenever you want, with little pesonal responsibility or modification, consideration or integrity, than what makes it family vs. the people that you work with or simply sit next to on public transit? And in a liberalishness way, that's the point. We are all part of the family.

But in a Christianish way it's not. Christianishness is personal. Very personal. Very defined. Very exact. Very specific. Marriage becomes a crucible, a place of sanctification and can only really, truly happen between two people who give up their narcissism (thereby definition, ruling out homosexual union as marriage) to become more than they were, not less. Raising kids becomes a participation in creation, not a despair filled hope to god for the best, we were too late for an abortion this time accident.

And more than anything the divine is transcendent. It's mystical and magical and all of that. I'm all for fairy tales and myths and magical. I love that stuff. I mean, seriously, the Brothers Grimm were probably my great, great, great 14th cousins twice removed. This is good stuff, because archetypes tell us about humanity and that's important. But look. Uncle Jesus sits off to the side, like your uncle and mine did. Kinda not participating, smiling benignly , maybe slipping you a $20 every now and then. King Jesus is front and center. Transcendent, all powerful, really big living space. Post -modernism re-defines truth and thinks it's created something better. Truth, as in big, "T" Truth can not be re-defined. It's there, solid and firm, regardless of how we consider or define it. And really, God, the divine, isn't about archetypal humanity. It's about something bigger than that. Something that transcends humanity.

Post-modernism is all about the re-definition, the non-definition, the anti-definition. The fairy tale magic that lasts about as long as the story and then disappears. Christ cannot be re-defined into something manageable and containable. It goes against His nature (using masculine pronoun here, different discussion). He, and God and the Spirit are not definable, except in small little ways, not containable, not manageable. They-HE- are the ultimate REAL.

By definition, which post-modernism fights against, I can not make logical sense of someone holding the post modernist view and Christianity in their heads and hearts at the same time unless one or the other, or both, or greatly compromised. What do you think?

Anne Again...

2012-01-18T21:53:00.000-06:00

I finished another Anne Lamott book and it was...how shall I say....simplistic. She is still witty and lol funny and irreverent and disarmingly devoted. But often I wondered to what it is she's devoted. She's a 12 stepper and knows Jesus and has a whole lotta love for everybody. Well, unless your last name is Bush, or Rumsfield or Cheney or maybe even if you vote Republican. She is progressive, until it comes to men, and then bits of anger and wrath seep out and shock you. She has assisted in a suicide and had multiple abortions. She's a Rubik cube in dreads. I'm good with that.

What stopped me cold in my tracks as I read Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith, was her comment, "I had to share my truth." Seriously. I thought following Christ meant we put our truth aside and entered in to knowing Truth. Like, it's holy, divine, and fall on your face fear inducing.

That's the problem I have with progressives and, in general liberals. It's situational. It's little "t" truth. It's grounded in what you can make sense of.

I like Lamott's ability to make people laugh, to tackle hard issues, to write transparently, to be open and full of candor. But I don't like the lack of personal integrity, even when it's coupled with humor. For instance, she writes of "accidentally sleeping with other wives husbands." Back when she was drunk. She acknowledges the hurt this has caused, the ill feelings, the bad ju-ju. But she doesn't acknowledge her part in the action. She drank, she chose, she adulterated.

So, where does that leave us then, really? Anne's a great writer. And she is true to her convictions. She is consistently liberal. She actively embraces the grace of God and the ugliness of life. But I'm looking for something else. I'm looking for something, someOne transformative. A Grace that doesn't leave us in the muck and mire but is truly divine and transcendent.

I did find this selection of essays less well written. The endings of many of them seemed vague and almost dis-joint.

I'll probably re-visit Lamott in the future but it's time to get off this side-street.

Grace Notes

2012-01-17T18:28:00.000-06:00

I've been reading Lamott and L'Engle simultaneously. These are both woman who are excellent wordsmiths, committed to faith, service, and love. And yet, my response and take-away to both is so fundamentally different.

When I read Lamott I am pulled into the grit of life, exposed to situations, language and realities that magnify that milk-toast aspects of my own. I relate to Lamott's writing because I was an adult before I considered myself a Christian and besides writing about the raggedy arse conflict of life without faith, she also writes of California, which I love. She writes of Northern California, which I love more. And she writes of working out her faith with fear and trembling. I basically fear and tremble and hope to God my faith is getting worked out. While you won't find that method being touted at seminary, it's the one most often adapted by humans I know.

I like Lamott's writing very much, though her flippancy with colorful euphemisms has caused me to fall off the potty mouth band-wagon more than once. Don't worry, I'm working my program.

In any of L'Engle's work you will not find one single swear word, one single mention of drugs or illicit sex or working your program. There is an innocence and an elegance that flows through her pen. Her vocabulary and understanding of the deep magic- rooted in theology, space, science and words- leaves you with the feeling that you've touched something golden. L'Engle believed that God's love, His LOVE, welcomes everyone in, and for that her work is not welcome in many Christian bookstores. Not doctrinally sound, you know. Though if you read enough of her work, you understand that her theology is not casual or flippant or doctrinally unsound but an outworking of her own tremblings.

Both of these women understand grace, get grace, embrace grace, write about grace, serve up grace. I like that in a word-smith. Yes, I do.

Word Nerd

2012-01-15T11:17:00.002-06:00

Vocabulary is a fun hobby for me. I love hundred dollar words, the uniqueness and subtlety of one word instead of another, synonyms and word play. I'm reading another L'Engle book; Walking on Water; Reflections on Faith and Art and, as usual, it is excellent. One of my fav authors writes on two topics I'm passionate about; theology and art. What's not to love? In addition, Madeline was classically trained (more good feelings) and she is constantly using words I'm not familiar with (ooh, goody- I actually have a reason to read the dictionary! KB so totally inherited my love of reference books!).

Here's my latest list of didn't know befores:

Paladin- A chivalrous hero- a combination of King's advisor and warrior.

Munificence- very liberal in giving or bestowing : lavish; characterized by great liberality or generosity

Pusillanimous- lacking courage and resolution : marked by contemptible timidity

inimical -: being adverse often by reason of hostility or malevolence

Numinous- supernatural, mysterious: filled with a sense of the presence of divinity, holy; appealing to the higher emotions or to the aesthetic sense, spiritual

anachronisticc-an error in chronology; especially : a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other

2 more, courtesy of Lamott
Mensch - a person of integrity and honor
Ersatz - substituting for, and typically inferior in quality to'

Have you discovered any new words in the New Year?

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

2012-01-13T07:23:00.000-06:00

This is our second week of school coming off of Christmas break, mainly 'cause Tutoring Center started back up last week. The kids seemed to be suffering from Christmas hangover until just recently, everything disorganized, not enough sleep and too much sugar in their systems to think straight. Or maybe that was me.

This week was better, though Christmas company (i.e. older siblings and friends, you know who you are!) still lingered. They were trucked to the airport last week and this (until spring! We'll miss you!) and we are back to our regularly scheduled programming.

That being said, we added in some stuff so "regular" is relative. We are excited to be taking 3 classes on-line through Landry Academy. Feeche will be taking Copy writing, Pre-Law & Mock Trial and Cub is signed up for intro to Biblical Greek. Class 1 of the semester began on Monday and so far we are impressed. Impressed with the system of delivery (Haiku) as well as the teacher, reading and schedule. The boys are ready to have a blast.

Along with that play practice for our yearly Festival of One Act Plays competition has begun and Feeche can be found in the far reaches of the house memorizing lines. The Festival is the last Saturday in January - good, clean fun!

Our weekly homeschool Tutoring Center is going, in addition to Lego League so one full day a week we are out of pocket. The theme this year for LL is "Food" and our team is working on a project with Raw Milk. This has involved a couple of field trips, including one last night to a Raw Milk Poducers dairy. We stood in the barn at milking time in 5 degree weather wowed by Bessie, Frank and Flower, et al (the cows). We purchase our milk from them, and it was actually pretty cool to see how and where it's all done. It was certainly a kinder, gentler operation than some of the huge thousand head dairies we saw in NM. True story- these farmers treated their cow's pneumonia with garlic tincture- homeopathic cow cures-LOL!

During LL I am teaching my bevy of 3rd grade girlies writing using IEW's Fairy Tales, Myths and Fables, then go to TC to teach Creative Writing and just added Jr. High Writing With Skill. WWS is set up just the way Writing With Ease was. It works systematically and sequentially through writing skills, beginning with narration and ending the year with a research paper. Simple and effective.

We've moved from Poetry to short story/novelette writing in Creative Writing. It's interesting to break down the writing process into small bites. I am learning a lot as we go this year. At some point soon, I'd love to work in actual writing time of my own (insert rueful laugh). I just need to get back into a routine that works again, where I get enough sleep and still keep the kitchen clean.

Cub is taking Latin (First Form), World History, Pre-Chem at TC and Feeche is sitting in on Latin. Along with that we are throwing in math, spelling practice every now and then, Shakespeare and Chem DVD's and MoH.

We finished Out of the Silent Planet (the first in the Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis). The kids incessantly interrupted but there was lots to figure out with the analogies, sci-fi and language. We went back to the wild on this planet and are half way through My Side of the Mountain. My Mom fed Miss R's love of Craighead George's writing by purchasing almost all 40 of her books and it's fun to introduce my other nature loving kids to her excellent word-smithery.

We finished sanding, staining and polying the door frames for the second floor last week. Over the week-end Viking Man glued and shimmed them in. They still need leveled and nailed but they already define and refine the doorways upstairs. Looks like the girls, dh and I will be staying on the 2nd floor for now. The boys are fine in the basement and everyone appreciates the extra space and privacy.

Miss R and her beau were here during record breaking mild weather, which broke the day she got on the plane. Again, back to our regularly scheduled programming- cold wind, ice and snow. Mr. Fife has never been this far north so we were glad for him that his first intro to the upper Midwest was rather mild. Our daily walks might be over for a while.

Today and tomorrow are full up with play practice, Lego League practice/scrimmage, birthday parties and Bible Study. Not a bad combo, but busy.

The Phantom Cellist

2012-01-11T09:55:00.001-06:00

We had a great lesson in Creative Writing class yesterday identifying the man vs. man, man vs. self and man vs. environment conflicts in the opening of Star Wars. Wish I'd had this playing in the background!

Home

2012-01-09T10:31:00.000-06:00

Descending the hill that defines the valley we live in, my youngest, holding my hand as we walked, flashing me her dimpled smile, looks at me, points to the house in the distance and says, "Will we ever leave Home?"

The way that she said "home" was more of a name than a place. My profound response was, "What?"

"Will we ever leave Home?" she asks.

"You mean our house?"

"Yes. Home."

"Maybe."

"I don't want to. I want to live at Home forever."

"What if God calls us to move?"

"Then if He does, I will go, but I won't want to. I love Home."

She is speaking of the place she's lived (except for 11 months after the house fire), since she was 11 months old. It sits in a small valley, surrounded by country. The descriptive that is shared by almost everyone who makes the challenging trek out here is "peaceful." (o.k., that and isolated, but perhaps they go together?). The house itself is becoming a place of beauty. The first floor is totally restored, functional, pleasing and light. The basement is so fundamentally different from what was is amazes me and everyone else who knew it in it's former life.The 2nd floor and attic wait patiently for their potential to be fulfilled. It is happening, bit by bit. they too are light and becoming places of beauty.

Home is a place, for sure and for certain. A physical place. A place to eat and think, read and live, argue, pay bills, deal with hardships, celebrate, live. It is also the place we draw from as we go through life. A place of security and rest. Often, more often than not perhaps, it is a a place to leave in anger and frustration, a place to react against, a place to flee from. Or a place to begrudgingly accept.

One of the most seductive promises of Jesus, for me anyway, is the promise of Home. The promise of a place to belong, to be loved and accepted, to be wanted and cherished, to grow in, to have enough, more than enough of what I want, and more importantly, need, that the world is no longer a scary, lonely place, but a place to walk through with confidence.

The promise of Home is seductive, but impossible to achieve in this world. My hopes and promises of Home, those I want to instill in my children, will always fall short, this side of Heaven. And the security that I want to instill in my children, perhaps because I have felt such profound insecurity, is that, at the very least, there is the Promise of Home. It is real. It is, in fact, the real thing.

52/2012 Kick Off

2012-01-08T10:57:00.000-06:00

I'm starting my yearly reading challenge with a couple of books:

Stephen King on Writing. Excellent! If I were into horror I'd read everything he's ever written. His mass following makes sense to me now. He is brilliant!

Love & Respect. Started it last year. I wish the authors had read King's book on writing. I can't stand their phrase, "he/she gets it." Condescending and redundant. The points are excellent and it's a great read on keeping your marriage whole and beyond just o.k. I mean, content-wise, great stuff. Writing wise- oy vey!

Read-Aloud- Out of the Silent Plant by Lewis. One of my very, most all time favs. Love the Lewis's Space Trilogy. Love sharing it with my kids. Miss R. started reading it to the notsolittles cause she finished reading them Reb and the Redcoat. Everyone hangs around to listen to whomever grabbed it to read-aloud first.

Picked up L'Engle's The Irrational Season (one of the Crosswick Journal's). Love it. The vocab, theology, science, relationships, writing style. I'll go slow with this one. It's mine so there'll be lots of underlinings and notes in the margins.

I'm reading snatches at a time between everything else.

What are you starting the year with?

New Year's Late Start

2012-01-05T11:44:00.000-06:00

I did notice the New Year rolling around but, have I said before, I'm a muller? I have to have time to mull or I short out (hence, the year long shorting I did during the initial phase of the house re-build - no mulling time, just expensive decision after expensive decision to be made, coupled with a lot of physically hard work and the grief of watching my family dropping dead like flies). But I digress... Here's what I have so far....

2011 Re-cap

Greatest Lesson
Little by Little, One Travels Far (yeah, I knew that already, but this little house project has taken it to a whole new level. I'm hoping my fil reads this and smiles on my behalf!).
Hardest Thing
Patience. The list that has the what I wants and the list that has that what I must, don't always have a conversation. Visual and ordered living space have taken back-seat to getting the house re-paired. Even when we get something done (like the front porch) it is often dual-purposed (like a staging/work area).
Favorite Memory
Time with friends and family throughout the year. Friday afternoon's at Sandy's with the mom's from co-op laughing and sharing, the yearly visit with Mom & Dad N and Miss R's visits. FB mgs's from old friends ; ), Xmas brag letters and pics (love them!)
The 2nd day R was home for Christmas we all met at Sam's to rendezvous (dh had the boys, I had the girls, 2 separate cars, Christmas shoppping). We were all starving and don't love Sam's food ('cept the 12 yo- still digs the pizza), but were hungry enough to eat it anyway. Everyone was full of Christmas secrets and happy R was home and glad to be together. It was sweet.
What I loved most about 2011
Participating in the creation of something beautiful. Learning new skills. Teaching writing classes.

....2012 Pre-cap:

O.k. I've been mulling and sorting and pinteresting through this (Seriously, now. I'm visual, Pinterest is ~~therapeutic~~ helpful).

Mental

Reading: 52 books in 52 Weeks (weekly check-ins with the Hive book groupies and over at Robin's at 52 books in 52 weeks. I like Semicolon too (check the side-bar).
Writing Goals: I'm heading over to Robin's (My Two Blessings) for some inspiration. I'm also doing all of the homework that I assign my high school writing class. Beyond spring, I'm not sure. I have 3 books outlined. The one on homeschooling I'd like to get in E-book form by fall.

Physical
Moving: I've been walking again (Praise God!) 1-2 miles several times a week. My goal is 4 days walking a week.
More Moving: I'm putting together a list of calisthenics that I can without stressing my knee ( no lunges, lurches, squats or jogging) or laying on my back (long story, but can't do it). You know, like the lists that go 1 -10 with different exercises that take about 15 minutes a day. Any ideas?
Logging: I'm also going back to writing down everything I eat in a day. And the no chip, chocolate or coffee (oh coffee, can I make it without you? Actually, I'm not sure I'm going cold turkey on coffee 'till Lent) rule is going back in to effect on Sunday. (Thanks for all of the G.S.goodies, Neil and Laura, Grandma & Grandpa! We've gone through the holidays on a chocolate high! ; )

Spiritual
I've thought long and hard about the B90 program but I've read through completely through the Bible about 6 times, twice in less than a month. B90 takes about 1 hour a day. So instead...I'm going to make a schedule by the quarter, like the prophets in one quarter, the gospels in another, etc.

Social
I'm meeting with a friend once a week. She went through the MFT program with me and is funny and wise and totally honest. We are getting together to talk and pray together. It actually works with my schedule, without leaving the kids hanging; mmiraculous.
Hebraic Fellowship- we are also meeting once a week to worship, study and fellowship. About 3 hours, food and a lot of prayer, laughter and intense study is involved.
TC and co-op.

House Re-build
Viking Man is currently re-building the door frames for the 2nd floor doors (9- we stripped, stained and poly'd them). Next is measuring and cutting the wood trim for the 12' kick boards, the 5" window, door and closet trim and affixing it all. Did I mention that dh had saved all of the trim we pulled from the 2nd floor and stored it in the barn? It's aired out reasonably well so next up is stripping, staining/painting and poly'ing it. We painted the trim to the downstairs basement bathroom white. I like the natural wood better so we might just go with a stain vs. paint. Once the trim is up in the basement, it is finished (though that might not be till next summer). We have a ton of mudding to do in the attic, and 3 sets of stairs to figure out (I have a whole board on "stairs" on pinterest. If you see anything of note, lmk!

Homeschool
I'm still suffering a Christmas hang-over and am so not ready for this semester. Nevertheless, we're forging ahead. I'm posting what we're using by kid/grade on my side-bar. Check it out ; )...though it might take a couple of days to get it posted!)

Gardening
Planning began a week ago (seed catalogs- yea!). We've expanded the garden and are going to try a whole bed of squash, using black plastic. We also put in garlic (true confessions, this week- it's so unseasonably warm, and I couldn't get to it this fall!). I'm hoping that the berry bushes we planted last year made it, and we put in more grapes. It seemed excessive at the time, and we did can over 75 quarts of grape juice and my epic 2 gallons of wine. Anyway, it's almost gone, so whatever we grow, we'll consume. I met a new friend who is totally into square foot/organic gardening and we have plans to get together to talk organic green stuff.

Projects
I've decided to pick 12 for the year (which might include re-build stuff). I have a few in mind, but want to get an organized file going. I'm assuming it will end up like my book list- start with a list and morph- adding and subtracting as I go.

Word for the Year
Occupo- Latin for "to seize" or "to occupy." It's clearly what we're doing to the house and the property and what the kids do as they school. It's kinda what I'm feeling the need to do in my own head. It's been so full of concern and grief and stuff ....time to move on to something else.

How 'bout you? What are your plans for 2012?

12 Year Old Style

2012-01-04T22:26:00.000-06:00

Cub decided it was time for a hair cut.

A few snips with scissors and swirls of gel and he looked like a million bucks!

Just turned 12- isn't he adorable?!

I'm Still Here....

2012-01-04T11:16:00.000-06:00

I do plan to update soon. Christmas break went by at the speed of sound, school has started again and I'd rather be blogging, reading, decorating, walking, writing, (~~polyurethaning,~~ haha, little joke there! I think I'm losing I.Q. points to the fumes!) --pretty much anything else right now than starting this semester.

I've been mulling over last year, this coming year, adding in a writing challenge, and a host of other stuff and have lots to write about....but it will have to wait- at least till later in the day.

Are you back to school yet? How was your break?

52 Books in 52 Weeks Wrap-Up

2011-12-31T17:21:00.001-06:00

This is the second year I've participated in a the 52 books in a year reading challenge. Here's my wrap-up for the year. For more visit Robin at 52 Books in 52 Weeks. She's doing a writing challenge this year too. Oy vey. I might have to add that to my life. Seriously, just not sure where.

Did you reach the goal of 52 books or did you manage to beat your own personal best?
It was kind of touch and go this fall when I realized I was about 10 books behind. Too many house re-building projects going on and school started again with regularity. I did, however, decide to add in our read-alouds (the Wrinkle in Time series and the Little House series). I figure hours and hours of reading out-loud ought to count for something. As a result I made it with a few more than 52 books read for a total of 57.
What book are you ending the year with? I finished Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott. In fact, the last 3 books of the year were by Lamott: Bird by Bird, Operating Instructions and Plan B. Each is a collection of essays gathered around a theme (writing, parenting, faith) with lots of Lamott's signature reverence, irreverence, 12 step survival and LOL humor thrown in. I tried a couple of her non-fiction books. Not my cuppa. Too many gay, recovering potty mouths involved.

Did you discover a new author or genre? Did you love them or hate them?
Fantasy is not really my thang I thought but didnt' realize that L'Engle was considered a fantasy writer. (duh). As a result discovered a new to me author, Le Guin. She has a militant writing style- not fluffy, not fun, but oh so brilliant. I actually missed the characters and missed the book (The Left Hand of Darkness) when I was done.
Also Allen Addison- total brain candy but loved it. New genre: mystical realism. Baboom, baby. I will delve slowly into this genre, however, because it looks like a lot of fantasy world of nevahland escapism and that is really, truly, not my thang.
Lamott- edgy, liberal and crude but a brilliant and funny writer.

Did you challenge yourself to read more non fiction if prefer fiction or more fiction if you prefer non fiction? My goal was to do a even amount of non and fiction but I definitely erred on the side of fiction.

Did you read from a list or wing it? I start with a list from and add and subtract as I go. Lots of titles from the Hive's weekly 52 in a Year participants and others from the stacks at the library.

The 3 Witches- scenes from our Homeschool production of Macbeth.

How many classics did you read? What did you think of the writing style or author? MacBeth by Shakespeare, in prep for Feeche's performance as Macbeth this summer. Love the language.
Can I count the Little House series? If so, I love the colloquialisms, the descriptions of what life was like. It's especially interesting to me as we live so close to the De Smet homestead.

Name one book that you thought you'd never read and was pleasantly surprised you like it. Probably Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness. A difficult thought exercise and brilliantly executed.

What are your top ten favorite books?
A God Who is There by Schaeffer - discover the spirit of this present age and speak to it out of your living faith.
The Book Thief by Zuzak. Metaphor as narrator. Brilliant. Touching, disturbing, moving.
The Help -Loved the book. Loved the movie. Powerfully rendered apologetic for the prejudices that bind and define us. Brilliant portrayal of how love can free us.
Bird by Bird by Lamott- I want to write like her when I grow up. Puhleeze?!
Garden Spells/ The Sugar Queen (all of 'em) by Addison Allen. O.k. I want to write like this when I grow up. I loved the magical elements- metaphor, serendipity? She writes like how I think life really works. What we need is there when we need it cause the deep magic is at work despite the fact that we live in shallowville.
The Necklace by Jarvis. Loved this book about community and allowing participating in it to transform you. A great metaphor for the Christian faith.
Grooming the Next Generation for Success by Johnson. A beautiful parenting book about how we can powerfully bless our children.
Son of Hamas by Yousef. The Christian faith is transformational and this book is a touching example of that. Not to mention the fact that Yousef does a stellar job of honoring his father, despite the deep rift between them.
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Chua. I did not agree with a lot of this mother's tactics, but I enjoyed the intentionality with which she parented.
They Thought For Themselves by Roth. Moving testimonies of modern-day Jews who follow Yeshua. Beautiful and powerful.

What are your ten least favorite books?
Handmaid and the Carpenter - the author is not up front about the basis for the premise of the story, deceiving the reader. Not only did I not appreciate Joseph (of Joe and Mary fame) slandered but I did not appreciate the bait and switch at the end of the story. Blech.
In the Land of Believers - what to say. This chick plays with fire (or deep magic, or both) all for the sake of a story.
She Looks Just Like You - claiming to be something just cause you want it doesn't make it real. Seriously. The Velveteen Rabbit is not true.
Wisdom Hunter- not believable.
Zipporah- again, seriously? Too many scenes that don't fit with what I know about history. 2 too many sexually explicit scenes that don't make sense. Blech.
Escape- The author does not write with insight about herself but portrays herself as an innocent victim. I do think she was victimized but it's time to play grown-up now. She continually portrays herself as the only rationally sane person in the southeastern part of Utah. O.k. this part might actually be true. Sad, sad portrayal of polygamous cult-life.
Half the Church - do women feel so marginalized in the church, really? This book felt like lots of belly-aching and whining with no actual solution.

Did you start any books that you just simply couldn't finish? I started several other books that I skimmed and several I took back to the library.

What did you think of the mini challenges and did you join in or complete any? I did my own mini-challenge on Memoirs. I read 16 of them, if you don't count the Little House books.
I read authors and that turned in to a mini-challenge of sorts- got into L'Engle again this year, Addison, Lamott, re-visited Potok and Gladwell, along with Gladwell, Lewis and Lawhead.

Did your family join in on the fun? No. But they all read voraciously. And they had the serious fun of my talking about all of the books I was reading. Lucky them.

How many books have you added to your wish list since the beginning of the year? hmmm. A bunch.

What was your favorite thing about the challenge? Just keeping myself reading in a pro-active way. I remember much more about the story when I write blog reviews but I kept running out of time to do so this year.

Here's my list for the year:

Addison Allen, Garden Spells
Addison Allen, Peach Keeper
Addison Allen, The Girl Who Chased the Moon
Addison Allen, The Sugar Queen
Albom, The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Arthur, Wisdom Hunter
Berg, The Handmaid and the Carpenter
Burnett, This Time Together
Chua, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
Coulter, Godless
Downing, Silesian Station
Ephron, I Remember Nothing
Flinchbaugh, Daughter of China
Gladwell, What the Dog Saw
Gonzales, A Biography of Madeline L'Engle
Green, Bloodroot
Haigh, Faith
Halter, Zipporah, Wife of Moses
Hanley, Seize the Story
James, Half the Church
Janzen, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress
Jarvis, The Necklace
Jessop, Escape
Johnson, Grooming the Next Generation for Success
Johnson, UnPlanned
Klempnauer Miller, She Looks Just Like You
Kuffel, Passing for Thin
L'Engle, A Swiftly Tilting Planet
L'Engle, A Wind in the Door
L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time
L'Engle, The Last Unicorns
L;Engle, A Circle of Quiet
Lamott, Bird by Bird
Lamott, Operating Instructions
Lamott, Plan B, Further Thoughts on the Faith
Lawhead, SkinMap
Lewis, C.S.; A Grief Observed
Peretti, Piercing the Darkness
Platt; Radical
Potok, Old Men at Midnight
Potok, Zebra & Other Stories
Roth; They Thought for Themselves
Schaeffer, The God Who Is There
Shakespeare, Macbeth
Stockett, The Help
Walls, The Glass Castle
Welch, In the Land of Believers
Wilder, By the Shores of Silver Lake
Wilder, Farmer Boy
Wilder, Little House in the Big Woods
Wilder, Little House on the Prairie
Wilder, Little Town on the Prairie
Wilder, On the Banks of Plum Creek
Wilder, The First Four Years
Wilder, The First Four Years
Wilder, The Long Winter
Wilder, These Happy Golden Years
Yousef, Son of Hamas
Zusak, The Book Thief

Versitile Bloger (such that I am)

2011-12-30T08:23:00.000-06:00

Nancy, over at Sage Parnassus has passed along a Versatile Blogger award. Nancy is a CM advocate and her blog is full of good things. Be sure to check it out! Here's the skinny on the award:

Thank the award-giver who nominated you and link back to them in your post. (Thank-you, Nancy!)
Share 7 random things about yourself.
Nominate 15 blogs you enjoy reading (not happening, I'll just nominate 5, more or less)
Inform the bloggers of their nomination.
Add the Versatile Blog Award picture on your blog post.

7 Random Things about me:

I spent a month backpacking in the High Unitas Wilderness in Utah the month before I entered college. I turned 18 in the mountains.
I learned to read when I was 4. I used to read everything I could get my hands on. Now, I'm a bit more discerning.
B.C. I had no intentions of getting married and had vowed never to marry a psychologist. (True Story. Cosmic joke in my life #2).
I have been (mostly) happily married to my polymath, psychologist, hairy-beast husband for 26 years.
I love Christmas brag letters and photos. Bring 'em on. Life's hard, tell me the good stuff!
I have lived on the East Coast, West Coast, Great Lakes region, Southwest and upper Midwest.
Besides the Bible, Narnia has probably influence my theology more than any other writing.

5 Blogs (+ 2)I like:

The Momma Knows. Great article right now on Goal Setting For Real Life.

Home is Where You Start From. Jen runs a fun photo contest each week among other things.

The Magic Schoolhouse. Karen is passionate about science. I love reading her blog- it never fails to push me further....

I'm Nobody Who Are You. Daisy does lit studies like nobody else I know!

52 Books in 52 Weeks. Robin does a great job sharing new reads, reviewing and keeping fellow bibliophiles reading along.

Hip Homeschool Moms. Good stuff happening over there. Just so happens I'm also guest blogging for them: True Confessions.

And Heart of the Matter On-line. A great resource for Homeschoolers. My December article is up: Making High School Fun. Not that I do that much, but we do have our moments.

What are your 5 Fav Blogs?

What IS Stressful

2011-12-29T08:47:00.000-06:00

We've slept in a bedroom 2 nights in a row; more than we have for the past 15 months. It's an odd feeling to be encased by a room as we sleep. And our bedroom is totally different than it had been. There is a long closet on the west side that our bed had been on, making the room seem longer and narrower. The old closet is gone, so we are putting our bed on that, the north, wall. Not to mention that some walls are totally new and all are texturized. Gone are the give-away old-farmhouse cracks in the plaster walls and ceilings. There are also outlets on each and every wall. It is a totally different space. Still incredibly light and sunny with gorgeous views of the valley, but different.

The living room is large and cavernous and echo-y without our dressers, bed and temporary closet. Our bedroom is crowded and messy. The closet is finished but very un-closet like. There are, as of yet, no rods or shelves or doors. My husband's pesky day job keeps interfering with the business at hand of finishing up the millions of little projects still left lying around. Though, we are getting to them, one pesky job at a time.

Re-building a house is, by itself, not stress-ful.

I repeat. Re-building a house, by itself, is not stressful. What is stress-ful is having to shop, cook, clean, do laundry, do dishes, move stuff around ad-infinitum because you are living in the re-build, replace lost stuff, find lost stuff and kick yourself for having re-purchased it, feed people again, talk to kids, ~~force, coerce and threaten~~ gently encourage the kids to do their chores and school, homeschool, have a relationship with my husband that consists of more than just coordinating schedules and car usage, pay bills, do finances, celebrate holidays and birthdays, go on walks so I don't end up crippled again, read stuff so my mind does not atrophy, get ready for school to start again way too soon, order books for 2nd semester, share the computer, be nice to others, not run with scissors and believe that God loves me extravagantly.

It's always something though, or more likely, 10 things at once, so if it wasn't the house re-build it would be some other challenge. And, I'm sure, ~~cynicist~~ realist that I am, I 'm sure that once this project is done, there will be another one. It's fun, most days. It's a blast to be creating something beautiful, and useful. But I confess, I have hit the wall being tired more than once.

I'm reading another Lamott book: Plan B....she quotes Levertov, writing of Mary, the Mother of Jesus,

"She did not cry, "I cannot, I am not worthy."
Nor, "I have not the strength."
She did not submit with gritted teeth, raging, coerced.
Bravest of all humans,
consent illuminated her."

Lamott responds, "This is so, so not me." Ayup. So, we continue. One more pesky project at a time, fitted in between meals and holidays. This is what it is; life. There is no clean, beautifully decorated Martha Stewart or Norman Rockwell snapshot, in my life anyway. It's always been like this; it's always been unexpected, a bit rumpled, things mis-placed because there is so much going on. I'm not waxing poetic, believe me, I'm just clearing my head of the jumble and demands and the needs of the people and the place that I live with, which are legion. Forgive me this therapeutic moment, because blogging is cheaper than therapy.

See, I'm better now. Off to clean the bathrooms. Miss R's beau was, literally, struck down by the stomach flu and had to postpone his flight to the Territories by a day. We hope to meet him this evening. Meanwhile, still have to finish cleaning up some of the mess from moving the bedroom to the actual bed. room.

Bed B Gone

2011-12-27T10:58:00.000-06:00

This is a grand-poombah day.
Our bed is out of the living room. Our bed resides in an actual bedroom. This is oh-so-huge. So what if it's on the floor, the closet is uninhabitable, the trim is not cut or affixed and it still looks like a construction zone more than an actual living space upstairs. It's out of the living room and it is more than 3 feet away from the front door.

We are dividing and conquering today. Miss R and I will polyurethane more yards of trim, the likes of which Viking Man and Feeche further sanded on Christmas Eve day and which we stained, assembly-line style yesterday. KB and Feeche and the notsolittles will take the girls mattresses and assorted dressers and clothes items to the 2nd floor.

My husband has been, on occasion, hardly ever, known to over-schedule himself. He truly believes that he will have time this week to work 3 full days (plus driving, notes, and management details), get ready for his on-line class which starts on Monday, affix door posts/frames for 6 doors and cut and affix several yards of trim upstairs. Along with meeting/hosting Miss R's beau for 4 days, attending a few New Year's partees, and being coherent for Cub's birthday bash on Sunday, along with eating and sleeping. He's lucky he has me to push food in his way and to remind him to sleep cause, knowing him, those items would be the first to go. Odd man. I try to smile and be encouraging at times like these instead of shouting hysterically that he is a crazed, maniacal work-aholic.

I pledge, in all honesty, that if he dies first, his tombstone will read, "I didn't get as much done as I wanted." That being said, he does get an inordinate amount of stuff done. The down side of that is, as his support staff, so do we. I might not get the next book read this week. And speaking of which, I've gotta go polyurethane more wood.

Christmas pictures to follow at some point. It was a lovely day. How was yours?

Operating Instructions

2011-12-24T09:15:00.002-06:00

Our oldest is 25 today. It's hard to believe that she is that old because, by implication, it means that we are that old. It's true just how relentless time is. My husband is aging much better than I am. Time is relentless and comes with wrinkles, aches and pains and a complete and total lack of fairness.

I am reading Lamott's Operating Instructions. It's a journal recording the first year of her son's life. She is a single, liberal, Bush-loathing, ex-addict who cannot face one more abortion. The sperm-donor in this situation has bailed and she prays for wisdom about what to do next. She has a dream directing her to save her baby. She is about as different from me as possible (other than the praying part and the belief in Jesus, though I definitely do not envision or call Jesus "Uncle Jesus"). She's only been clean and sober for 3 years at the time of this book and her writing is crude and raw. That I can relate too. Probably because I'm in a constant state of recovery, and also because I have not experienced life as very fluffy. Fluffy as in easy and comfortable. Life before marriage was not fluffy and life after marriage has not been fluffy.

While Lamott does not have a marriage partner she is surrounded by a tribe of people, family, friends, community, that have lasted the test of time, weathered addictions and deaths and disappointments, and hung together. She also lives in Northern California, in the Redwood forest, and while living in California ensured it's own stresses, I have fond memories of the weather, and the ocean and the freedom, in a sense, that is so prevalent there, that is not tangible in other parts of the world.

My husband and I have worked hard, on a number of levels since we've been married; worked to learn, to build, to create a family culture, to create community. It is much easier to create community, or be part of one, when you understand the culture, are welcomed into it, know the morays and nuances and language. We've moved too often, I think, to regions that were as different from each other as could be, the east, the west, the southwest, the upper Midwest. None of these places speak the language of my youth, and none of them have come with operating instructions. We've been alone, more often than not, though we have invited and shown up and laid the ground work for more. We have applied to a zillion jobs closer to "home" and are still part of the diaspora. We work with what we have, but it's been lean, a lot.

It's odd how, when you get a child, you hope. You hope for a fluffy life for them, success, fulfillment, for a tribe. You hope that they are not alone, not foreigners in a strange land, but comfortable in the places they find themselves, at peace with themselves and their situation. But one constant my husband and I have noticed is that when there is too much fluff, too much ease or wealth or toys, a sense of entitlement emerges, becomes part of the person, the personality, the community, the culture. Having fluff takes the edge off, but also makes one, or the tribe, less hungry, less willing to take risks, make mistakes or get dirty. Dirt, after all, emotional or otherwise, is the universal language for unkempt, as opposed to curious and involved with living.

At one point in the book, Lamott, a 35 year old, says to her mother, after weeks of living with a colicky baby and being totally sleep deprived, "Mommy, I'm so tired." I felt a twinge of jealousy at reading that because I don't think I ever said anything that vunerable to my mother, and if I had, I'm not sure that she would have had the capacity to care. I've felt those words often, weary from the stresses and the not knowing how to fix things and feeling in a constant state of failure and anxiety and worry. I can't figure things out and there is no relief from the mess that I've made. I feel, these days, this strange sense of being caught. Caught between what we've given our kids and what my parents gave me. Caught between what I've worked so hard at getting; a sense of ease with my self and the world, through therapy and faith and the crucible called marriage and just the very act of sticking with life; and the values and morays I grew up with. Get thin, get rich and then good things will come; ease and fluff and tribe and relief from the colic of life. Caught between old operating instructions and the ones I've found to be really, truly true. The true ones that include colic as reality. The true ones that say relief might not come, but it doesn't define me as a failure. The true ones that include an enemy that has designs on me, to keep me either desperate from fluff or so immersed in it my understanding of Jesus and my self have drowned and might not be resuscitated.

Fluff isn't really on my scope so much any more. For myself or my kids. Fluff is like the sticky marshmallow goo that I ate once out of curiosity. Intriguing, but nauseating. It gets all over your hands and mouth- the very parts of yourself that you need to communicate with, and is hard to extract yourself from.

Don't get me wrong. I hope that my kids don't suffer. I hope that they find a sense of ease with themselves. At the same time, I don't really want them to get too comfortable in this world. I don't want them to get too settled in cause this is not the real thing. It's a fine line between living a life of fluff and comfort and selling out to the Lady of the Green Kirtle and living in the underworld.

One of my sweet Catholic friends was talking about how her priest has been preaching on the fact that at conception, an eternal being is created. I love that on many different levels. We are going through this life, not for fluff, ease or comfort, thin-ness or wealth. We are living now, as a sort of pre-amble to the real thing. This is just the warm up. It's a difficult task to raise a child as an eternal being, wanting for them the good things in this life, hoping for enough fluff to see them laugh out loud and showing enough restraint to keep them invested in something bigger.

And then they are grown and are discovering the operating instructions themselves and in the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter what we hope. We've laid a foundation, for better or worse, and are called on to trust in the rightness or wrongness of it, the character of our kids and our hope in Jesus. I sound melancholy, perhaps, but I don't feel it. I feel relived that one child of mine is launched, making their own choices and decisions, doing a good job, working, schooling, relating, curious about the world and invested in the things of God.

Happy Quarter Century to our oldest daughter. Wishing you enough fluff for side-splitting laughter and enough reality to keep you grounded in the heavenlies.

Blessings

2011-12-23T09:54:00.000-06:00

Meet KB in town yesterday with everyone, split in to 2 cars and everyone finished their Christmas shopping with a stop for food stuffs to create really great food. It's cool to have kids with their own ideas and bank accounts and generous spirits to want to give good things to each other.

We discovered a Western Store in our fair city- very dangerous for the likes of us. You walk in and it has that rustic leather smell. It is chock full of unique clothing that is western enough to appeal to the conservatives amongst us and funky enough to appeal to the artistic amongst us, with walls of skinny jeans for the skinnys amongst us, gorgeous leather boots and hats and saddles and tack...we all waxed nostalgic about the west for awhile (Viking Man was born in NM, as were Cub and Flower). We're still sorta in the west, but the southwest is a world unto itself.

Cooking, baking, staining and polyurethaning on the menu today. Viking Man and his band of merry men are already upstairs measuring and inventorying trim. We are re-using the old door jambs from before the fire but they need sanding, stained and poly'd. The kids and I had stained hundreds of yards of trim and, honestly, it is a job I know loath. It's easy, work-wise, but it smells and you are bent over so your back is yelling obscenities at you by the end of the day, and it's now very cold on the porch, and work gloves and a nice stain job don't go together. The good news is that we have wood to stain, and stain and a husband who knows what he's doing, or at least invested and smart enough to figure it out.

Yesterday Viking Man received a thoughtful card and gift box from former clients. The card said that they were happier than they had been ever, their faith is strong, their relationship solid and they owe much to the wisdom that he offered them.

KB said to me on our way home last night, "Do you know how blessed we are. We want to buy presents for each other, so we go and buy them. Our car gets low on fuel and we go and fill it up."

We are blessed in so many ways; health, freedom, work that is meaningful. Very blessed, indeed!

Bird by Bird

2011-12-21T13:58:00.001-06:00

When I asked the Hive what their fav "how to write" books were for the list I was making for my high schooler Creative Writing class, Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird was mentioned over and over again. Unbelievably, I had never heard of her before. Sometimes the best is last and right now she is vying for "best find of the year" in my 52/11 list!

Bird by Bird is Lamott's "Some instructions on Writing and Life." It's kinda the Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance for Writers. Great points on writing and the writing life and a whole lotta philosophy on living and dealing with getting stuck- in writing and in life- and on dealing with one's own narcissism and self-doubt.

Ann is liberal and opinionated and bare bones, with enough swear words to make even me, reformed (most days) gutter mouth that I am, flinch every now and then. Along with all of that she is laugh out loud funny; evry funny; really funny; and wise. I want to call Anne and confess to her that even though I probably disagree with her political and social views I would like to hire her as my writing mentor, adopt her as my sister, or both.

I do have a better understanding of writing from reading this book. In fact, Anne makes writing for a living seem do-able. Maybe it's cause I relate to her random global rambly-connectedness. She is bunny trailer extraordinaire (and my dh thought I was!). Anne makes writing as simple as putting down thoughts, as reasonable as confession, as poetic as weather. She defines character, first drafts, plot and design. She also goes over interesting tid-bits such as why you write, getting published, and index cards, an item apparently not to be overlooked by the serious writer.

She also talks about the importance of transparency, honesty and morality. Along the way, she points to the co-dependence 98% of us live with, the importance of naming pain and treats us all to a healthy dose of 12 step and faithful living.

I loved this book. My new fav author for the year was going to be Addison Allen- mystical realism, baby, bring it on. I LOVE Allen's writing. But Lamott's nitty gritty, life's a b*tch, own your grief and anger and the damaged person that you are and be there with it, breathe, laugh about it, laugh hard and long, spoke to me profoundly. I've requested all of her titles from the library. I need the dose of nitty-gritty, and the dose of funny right now.

Lamott ends her book on writing with this: "So, why does our writing matter..."
Because of the spirit, I say. Because of the heart. Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life; they feed the soul. When writer's make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again. It's like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can't stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship."

Yep. That's what words and books and stories have been for me. She gets it, she is writing my truth, with wit and humor.

Fairy Flower Party!

2011-12-20T22:55:00.001-06:00

Instead of writing class today we had a Flower Fairy making party, complete with cupcakes, other goodies, wine and cheese and the expertise of fairy flower maker extraordinaire, Miss. R, home for winter break.

Aren't they cute? Silk flowers, wooden beads, florist wire, embroidery floss, a little glue and colored pencils.

They had a blast making them, playing with them, and giggling together- imagine that!

Embracing Odd Offers

2011-12-19T12:10:00.002-06:00

I've been reading William Shatner's latest book in the aisle at Sam's. Cheesy, I know, but reading, it's my way...He's funny, but a bit crude, but very funny. He writes about embracing the odd offer and how that can lead to amazing things you would never dream of. You know the sentiment. That's kinda my motto. Actually, my motto is "If you have 2 loaves of bread, sell one and buy a lily." Cause growing things are my thing. But I've modified it to, “If you have 2 loaves of bread, sell one and try to eek a lily and book out of it. If that doesn’t work, sell another ½ loaf of bread and add more water to the soup" Despite my motto not being exactly like his, the gist of it is, embrace as much as you can. I agree with Bill - you know, William Shatner. I feel like I can call him Bill because when I was 8 and he was Capt. James T. Kirk, I was going to marry him. Our relationship goes way back and even thought he was divorced and re-married again before I even graduated from high -school, he was still my first love. (I pretended that Jimmy Swaggart was in 3rd grade, only 'cuase my older sister had claimed John Wayne, but it was all a ruse).

I embraced a rather odd offer this week-end to discover a huge blessing, the details of which I can't share. But it was huge and wonderful and totally, unbelievably unexpected. This was on the heels of another really cool gift that a good friend of mine surprised me with ‘cause God told her to do something wild and crazy at 3 a.m. during a bout of insomnia. Two-fer. Just cause. God’s so cool like that.

Blessed, very blessed even if I think the Bill should have passed on the Priceline account.

The True Meaning of Christmas

2011-12-18T10:00:00.002-06:00

Yesterday at Bible Study the topic was "how we celebrate Christmas" (some of our study members don't). It was a great study (again) that included Astronomy (Dr. Geek saw to that) Jewish & pagan festivals, and the birth and conception date of Christ.

The conception date of Jesus is is probably during the Winter solstice (in the Northern hemisphere, where over 80% of the world's population dwells) during the darkest days of the year.

Light came in to the world. He dwelt among us.

He didn't have to.

He choose to. He loved to.

He entered into the world on its darkest days.

I like Christmas; the decorations, the tree, twinkle lights, the music and movies and church songs and services- mostly. But it can also be a time of intense pressure. Come up with presents that are meaningful from an already strained budget and create holidays that are memory making and picture worthy. It's supposed to be magical and stress free.

My Mom was not perfect, but the one thing she did better than anyone else was to create magic at Christmas. She's been gone over a decade and I've felt the loss each and every year. No one else has stepped in to fill her shoes and while I'm good to have around in a crisis and have lots of other redeemable qualities, magic making is not my gift. My husband's mantra this year has been, in response to everything I think needs to be done, is this; "Does this glorify the light coming in to the darkness. Because if it doesn't we don't need to do it."

And honestly, I think Dr. Viking Man got it right (again).. We try to create something wonderful, (I do at least) protect our kids from disappointment (maybe that's just me). When, in reality, all we need to do is really get a hold of the fact that

LIGHT

came into the Darkness and the Darkness could not wrap it's arms around it.

Because of that the darkness can not wrap it's arms around us.

The presents, food, twinkle lights, memories, it's all good. But it's not the heart of the matter. I want my kids to know the reality of Christmas. It's bigger and beyond presents and expectations (theirs and ours). It's about Him, not us.

A Blessed Sabbath!

Faith & The Pioneer Spirit

2011-12-15T08:43:00.000-06:00

Just finished Faith by Jennifer Haigh. Briefly, it is about the sex scandal in the Catholic church and the fall-out. This intrigued me because of the comments made in interviews in a book I read last year, "Being Catholic Now." Lots of moral comments, made from publically immoral people, about how the church handled things and the outrage that was felt. There is some discussion about church politics (and wow, were the priests accused really hung out to dry in such an infamous manner?!) but the real depth of this book is about family legacies, systems, fear, and petty thieves (both religious and criminal) preying on others.
This is really the story of a priest who himself was molested as a child. He laid down his life to secure a brighter future for another lost boy and in doing so, created a richer legacy for his siblings as well.
Haigh's ability to create believable characters, characters like us, who love and are disappointed and confused, and hope for love that satisfies rings true throughout the pages.
A beautiful story about redemption through sacrifice. In the end, the priest cared for his people, loved his tribe well and gave all that he had. A really lovely, believable story.

The kids and I also finished These Happy Golden Years and the First Four Years. Jeez Louise. If you ever feel like life is 1 step forward, 2 back, read this book and you'll feel much gratitude for the life you have. I love.LOVE. Laura's writing. It is simple and straightforward and sweet. I've read these books at least 6-8 times and each time another aspect of the family and gender roles and the American West stands out to me. We're now reading The Way Home, which seems so very real to us because they traveled within 20 miles of our home, on their way to the Big Red Apple.
And yes, I'm counting the series under my 52 books for the year.

Tis the Season

2011-12-13T20:51:00.002-06:00

... for suicidal deer and Christmas Trees...

Our annual trek to the tree cutting farm started with a false start the day before. They closed just before we got there, no thanks to being within spitting distant of Iowa. On the way home a suicidal Odocoileus virginianus jumped in front of the car resulting in a dead deer and $495 car damage. Great timing, right. So much for the table saw and several Xmas presents. Paying cash is a great way to live. Mostly. On the positive side, a friend of mine went to a co-workers funeral- killed by swerving out of the way of a deer- just last week. I figure body work on the car is cheaper than a funeral. And much less hard on everybody. Thank God for His protection from testosterone crazed deer!

Anyway, Feeche's grimace, above, is in response to the lack of selection for sale (the selection was great, it's just most of the trees weren't actually for sale- what?!). The trees that were for sale were over $50. What?! We decided to do one more go around before heading to Get -n-Go for a $20 Tree.

My "location" in case ya don't know is "Where the cold wind blows." There is a reason for this. The wind blows here, a lot, and it is wicked cold when it does. KB and I going for the Russian peasant look (no offense to Russian's, or peasants!)

We did find a tree, in the back of the lot, well away from Iowa, I'm talking the back.of.the lot. for much less than $50. Still, if you add in the $495 for the car repair, this is the most expensive tree we've ever purchased.

We've picked the tree. Everyone agrees it's the one.

This is the point where I abandon my husband. For one, he sweats when it's cold out, due to the many, many layers he wears, and his amazing metabolism . I get cold in, say, mid-October and slightly thaw in May. Around August I'm fully thawed, if I work out, or weed in mid-day sun, on days when it's 80 or 90 degree weather wearing a sweatshirt. So, really, the only reason that we cut a tree every year, rather than just cutting one of construction paper in the safety, and warmth of our own home, is that he likes cold weather. Seriously. Strange man.

The tree fought back, but the Prussian won. WooHaw. Saw a delightful Xmas film called Silent Night, set during WWII where German and American soldiers end up eating Christmas dinner together. The one guy says, "So you're German, right." The Paul Barnes (friend from college) look-alike proudly and properly corrects him, "Prussian actually." Ya have to know my dh to know just how funny this is. He's Prussian, btw.

Freshly back from the big, bad ~~warm and temperate~~ city of Atlanta. I said, "no gang signs" (just like Robert Downy Jr. in Iron Man I, right) but they totally blew me off.

Christmas Cuties. Ready to go home to hot-chocolate, Christmas carols (after all these years, A Charlie Brown's Xmas is stilla fav! Thank-you, Laura!) and ~~trashing~~ decorating the house.

Cub got into the holiday spirit by decorating the kissing ball. Do you see the Xmas themed bionicle lurching out of the symbol of love? (Disregard the mess. The kids were ~~trashing~~ decorating the house!)

Is your tree up? Link pics ; )

Integrated Parenting 101

2011-12-12T08:34:00.001-06:00

We have friends who are constantly commenting on their children's spiritual acumen; their profound prayers, their prophetic words. I've been a parent long enough to know that developmentally kids under the age of 7 are oft fond of mimicking their parents. It's not that I disbelieve that their children are spiritual powerhouses, it's just that, really, in the grand scheme of things, little children and their parents have not been tried and tested, have not weathered the storms of puberty, have not ~~suffered~~ mentored kids who want to argue for the sake of it, or really gone through enough as parents to do much more than dote on their kid. And really, the kids haven't gone through much either. If these kids weren't exposed to this stuff, would they come up with it on their own? In many ways, they are merely repeating what they've been taught, are seeking the praise and approval of their parents (This sounds cynical, I know. I'm all about capitalizing on a kids desire to parrot and please. I brag about the results myself. I just don't think we should count it as something it's not).

At the same time these parents are exposing their kids to lots of spiritual stuff, they take them to day care full time, drop them off at public school and pick them up from after-care. I know the day care and I know the school system. They are both "good." Good in the sense that they teach the kids academic stuff and there is very little change of bodily harm. But I see the parents actions as dichotomous. The thing that does not make sense to me is that this Christian family- and many like it- believe that they can train their kids in a certain context for a small amount of time a week, and at the same time their kids intellect, bodies and hearts are being trained in a totally different and dare I say it, adverse context, for hours and hours and hours a week and they believe that their heart training will win out. Schools are not Christian, (though I will assert they are religious, but that's a different discussion altogether) and offer paradigms and beliefs that vie for a child's heart and mind. Can a person so divorce themselves that their heart be trained in one belief system, their intellect in another and they not have to make a choice between the two?

The reality is that only 4% of kids raised in Christian homes these day, keep the faith; keep the faith in a way that is decidedly and markedly Christian; keep the faith in a way that has the appearance, rather than just the words of a moral code. Somewhere along the line, the training isn't taking, or it's falling away, or it's being snuffed out by something more alluring and appealing to the kids. Somewhere along the way, many kids believe that Christianity is "almost christian" and that "almost" is just as good. Heart felt community is lacking in the American Church. True community is lacking outside of it, but at least their is some semblance of belonging in other quarters. Intellectual training- study as worship- is a foreign concept both inside and outside the church, and "good "Christian schools often substitute legalism for education that stirs the soul and calls men and woman to do courageous things for God.

The reality is that if we want to "reach" our kids; reach their hearts and minds, and imprint something on both that is permanent and true, we must live radically, we must live in a way that is different. It's a lonely road to homeschool. It's a lonely road to be a homeschooler. I hear this from not only my older adult kids, but from thier friends. Living so radically away from the norm makes them different in profound ways. Good, Godly ways, but ways that ostracize them from the average, the norm. And, honestly, homeschooling is not the only way to tackle this arduous task, but in some ways, as my friend Jennifer says, it's the easiest (and that too, is a whole 'nuther essay). People who don't live intentionally with a thought and care to train the hearts and minds of their children, who don't understand the profound influences that will clamour and shout for their children's hearts and minds, are naive, at best.

I was served by a beautiful young woman in Starbucks last week with a tattoo emblazoned across her collarbone in calligraphy. It said, "Self Preservation." I've thought about that a lot this week. Because I don't endeavor to give my kids the tools of self-preservation. If anything I want them to see their desperate need for SomeOne bigger, mightier and infinitely more dangerous, wild and free than they can ever be. I want them dependent on the Living God, and ready, willing and able to go and do and be whatever He is calling them to.

I can't do that for them, but I can empower them to have hearts and minds open to it, uncluttered by what the world has to offer their hearts, minds and bodies.

Thoughts?

2 Much Love

2011-12-09T07:43:00.000-06:00

I was talking with a friend of mine last week who mentioned that she "probably loved her kids too much." I found that a fascinating statement. Can there be "too much love?"

As a homeschooler I have heard most of the negative comments and labels thrown around about homeschoolers - that I am a helicopter mom, enmeshed with my children, afraid and controlling. It is rarely offered up that I am a concerned, educated woman, providing, (like the financially wealthy), my children a private, personalized education, affording them time and solitude, excellent literature and home cooked meals, because I want the very best for them. Going off the beaten path is a threat to the norm, rather than the hope of finding an extraordinary path.

Can we "love out kids too much." True love preaches good news to the poor, heals the broken hearted, announces freedom to all captives, pardons all prisoners, announces the year of the Lord's grace, celebrates the destruction of God's enemies, comforts all who mourn, gives beauty for ashes, messages of joy instead of news of doom and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. True love heals, frees, brings forth joy.

The answer to the question rests on definitions. If I determine love to be Biblical (as in Isaiah 61, above) my answer will be 180 different than if I define love from a different source.

I read an interesting articles on "Why the World Hates the Duggar's" I love what this gal said in response to the ugliness floating around the net about them. It's all in definitions and expectations, world-view and theology.

What do you think?

Brr...

2011-12-07T10:10:00.000-06:00

I hope I'm getting points somewhere for living in this climate. If I've mentioned it's cold here, rest assured it's not hyperbole.

We're reading aloud the Little House books. It just blows me away that these folks lived in the Territories, in homes with no insulation and inadequate heat and lived to tell about it.

- 6 yesterday morning. Feeche and KB are in for a rude homecoming tonight when they return from Georgia.

Winding Down

2011-12-02T11:03:00.001-06:00

Another slow week. This cold is from the dark side. It just won't relinquish it's hold.

Homeschool: We did math. I have an exciting new math program, waiting for review (with an awesome give-away, too!). Cub did his work for Tutoring Center.

We had another guest speaker for my Creative Writing Class- the state co for Poetry Outloud. Another great program for the Rhetoric stage.

We read- These Happy Golden Years. The time-line for this and Little Town on the Prairie are skewed, but the kids continue to enjoy the series. Flower, Cub and I have been taking turns reading. It's nice to see Flower's ease and comfort level with reading improving.

We also watched John Adams. Loved it. I like how the producers kept it a period piece. For instance, every one's teeth ends up rotting. Love that. Not the teeth rotting part, but the fact that they didn't sanitize the production. It's one of my pet peeves about historical documentaries. As a result, you get a real sense of how physical decay was a real deal back then. The bond between Abigail and John was very sweet and the fact that they portrayed a real man- one with failures, struggles, vanity, made it very much worth watching.

Of course, I had to look up Giamanti (the actor that portrayed Adams) afterwards and was floored to see that he was the manager in Cinderella Man- cool. We ended up watching that, just for fun. Interesting actor with a fascinating family- his Dad was the prez of Yale University and the and the major league baseball commissioner who banished Pete Rose from baseball. His great grandfather, Commodore Alfred Brown, was the first and only man to swim the Panama Canal. His mom and bro were/are both in the acting biz, too.

Viking Man continued to work on the downstairs basement. The ceiling is in, he'll finish texturizing today, I'll prime and paint tomorrow. We still have wood trim to install but it's sanded so I'll get it painted tomorrow, too. Then the light fixtures and the mirror go up and last of all a door knob. Details, details. We still have a million to get too.

Next up is trim on the 2nd floor. We have lots of cuts to make and dh is deliberately considering tool choices- we'll have to purchase a couple at least. And we have stairs to figure out. I have a board on Pinterest devoted to stairs. Who knew there was such diversity in stairs?

Friday was our last day of co-op for several weeks. My kids love co-op so they are not so happy about the break. But, we'll have visitors in between and One Act Play rehearsals and the Poetry Outloud competition, Christmas and 3 birthdays, so it's not like we won't be busy. Not to mention that Tutoring Center goes for 2 more weeks, and starts up again right off on the 3rd.

Last song of the season "On That Holy Mountain." Just beautiful!

Check out my Mom Gear Give-Away. RSD are offers purses (among other fab designs). The durability, beauty and washability of these purses make them a great addition to a busy homeshool, or working mom's, wardrobe. Sign-up soon! you have a GREAT chance of winning!

Our first snowfall of the season last night. Winter usually hits here with a vengeance just after Thanksgiving. It's been a dry, khaki colored fall.

Check out my review of Chapter 4 on Give Them Grace: License and Legalism over at HSV.

2 Thumbs Down Book Review

2011-11-30T15:16:00.003-06:00

I've been doing lots of reading about how to write of late, getting resources together for my band of merry writers on Tuesday (I teach a group of homeschool high schoolers Creative Writing- lucky me!). Of course, suspension of belief, is a big no-no for writer's. In other words, your writing needs to be believable.

Which leads me to a book review: The Handmaid and the Carpenter by Elizabeth Berg. I love history. I adore ancient history, and historical fiction is my fav genre. So I thought I would love this book. It's the Christmas season, it's about the Holy Family and it had a lovely cover. The book ends with Joesph confessing that he doesn't believe in the immaculate conception, he doesn't believe that he was directed by an angel to marry Mary. He marries Mary based on his own desire to possess Mary's beauty, his own lust.
My summation of this book: Blech. The author is too shallow to understand that she toys with the divine, that she has written words that slander men in general, and God's appointed earthly father to His Son in particular. Oy vey. Sad to say that this writer could not conceive of a man that would lay down his life to serve sacrificially, to love wholeheartedly. Instead she paints a picture of a family that is based on lies and deceit, lack of trust, love that is stingy and wholly about sensuality. Mary and Jesus are the ones "in the know" while Joseph is the odd one out. I'm not a therapist or anything (o.k. I am) and it would be, oh to easy, to speculate about Berg's family based on the sad story she portrays in this one. As if it was too much to hope for something more than what we often see - a family conceived by the very breathe of God.

The virgin birth is the ultimate suspension of belief in so many ways. And apparently, Berg isn't buying it- at least she's not buying that Joseph bought it. Too bad for her.

Week-end Wrap-up

2011-11-27T21:14:00.000-06:00

The basement bathroom has a ceiling. It's not finished yet, but it's up. This was not a simple dry-walling job; this entailed having the electrician come in to do some fancy wiring, drilling a hole through the cement block foundation, building a small soffet, putting in the housing for the fan/light and then finally getting the drywall in. The first round of mud is on and by next week-end we hope to have the texturizing done. My dh is the man.

On his breaks from working on the ceiling, he pulled out a floor's worth of wood trim that he salvaged from the barn, 12" kick board, trim and 1/4 round for the doors. I sanded several pieces to trim out the bathroom door and floor, but ran out of paint so could go no farther. We'll give the rest a light sanding, paint it and trim out the entire basement in original wood trim. Booyah!

Daddy finished reading The Long Winter 2 nights ago, the kids and I blew through Little Town on the Prairie yesterday and we started These Happy Golden Years today. The only way I'll even come close to finishing 52 books this year is if I count the Little House Series. By gum, I'm gonna.

KB and Feeche are kicking back shrimp and soaking in the balmy GA sunshine, hanging with their campaign homies. They'll get back a few days before Miss R comes for Xmas vacation, then her beau, Barnie Fife will be here for a week after Christmas.It will be nice to have a full house for the holidays.

It's colder, down below freezing every night, but we got the trees and bushes covered and taped. Bring it on. (Or don't. I'm all about mild winters).

Black Friday Mom Gear Give-Away

2011-11-24T22:03:00.002-06:00

I am thrilled to share with you Rebekah Scott Designs. Rebekah is the relative of my irl friend, Jannell (artteajannell) who is a talented seamstress. Rebekah takes it up a notch and created a business with her skills.

Above is the Barbie. One lucky person will be winning a Barbie of their choice!

Rebekah creates hand-bags, cutie patootie booties for babies and more. But the item I want to tell you about are her handbags. These handbags are a homeschool/working Mommas dream. They are sturdy, attractive and washable. Not only that but you can choose the design and the fabric that you want.

I'm not really a hang-bag kinda gal, but I do have one because it's a convenient place to store my "stuff"- you know, I.D., current book, cuticle cream, kids stuff, etc. However, finding a bag that is cute enough but not cutesy, affordable, sturdy, washable and comfortable is, like, a modern day miracle. I did finally find one but it cost a fortune and within a year the zipper broke. It was large and roomy but after a while that became a liability as it morphed into my own personal black hole. The thing that I really, really like about RSD bags is that they have pockets all around the inside of them!

Love that!

On top of it all, Rebekah is a really cool gal. She's a stay at home, working Mom, who puts in long days getting the job done and taking care of her family. A great product run by a fabulous person. Win/win.

So, want to win the Barbie? Here's what you do. Go to Rebekah Scott Designs and sign up on their mailing list. Come back here and leave a comment, letting me know which RSD product you like the best. Let people know about the contest through FB and Twitter and get another chance at winning (lmk you've done so!). That's it! We'll have the drawing on December 16, 2011. The winner will have 5 days to contact me with their contact info!

BONUS: To celebrate Thanksgiving you can take 10% OFF orders placed by December 6

(use Coupon Code: THANK10)

or purchase a purse to receive acoordinating Cosmetic for only $12!

(use Coupon Code: COSMETIC12)

Thanksgiving

2011-11-22T18:29:00.000-06:00

Need some good reading? Check out the latest Carnival of Homeschooling. It's chock full of great articles. The theme this week is Thanksgiving. Totally apropos, eh?

When polled the only thing the kids all agreed on for Thanksgiving was "Pies."
We're having pumpkin, banana cream and pecan.

My patient but carnivorous husband wanted to be assured that lots of protein was on the menu. They'll be Turkey, but this year we are roasting an organic, hormone-free, free range bird.
To complement the main dish we'll be serving up
Cranberry- orange relish
Relish tray
Spinach salad
Sweet Potato souffle
NM corn
Refrigerator rolls
Deviled Eggs
Cheese Ball

Drinks will consist of home-made grape juice.

Dessert will be aforementioned pies and pumpkin spice lattes.

What's on your menu?

Work LOVE

2011-11-21T10:40:00.000-06:00

Our older kid/adults scored what they believe to be the perfect job- feeding calves.

They get up at 0'dark:30 to go mix formula to bottle feed a bunch of bovines.

We had an impromptu field trip (literally!) yesterday.

First you mix and pour the milk...

...threatening your sibs with whatever implement you have on hand...

...Cap the bottles....

Drive out to the barns, or the huts, or the field.....

....and feed them babies!...Hopefully, they aren't stronger than you are!....

...pet 'em....

...say how cute they are a million times...

.. Sweet talk them into eating...

...and then beg your Momma to add livestock to your life (NOT!)....

We've had a great time joking KB that she is

beauty queen by day,

construction worker by night,

and field hand by week-end.

Come Friday she'll be back on the campaign trail!

Love Wins

2011-11-20T12:28:00.001-06:00

A year ago my Dad died. It's been a rewarding and hard year. We are still re-building from the fire. It has been fun and rewarding and exhausting and taxing all at the same time cause we live in a house under construction, meaning we haven't totally unpacked. This has led to double purchases and entire school subjects, as well as shoes and other sundry items, being missed. We continue to homeshool. It is, as always, fun and rewarding and exhausting and taxing. Our life is about extremes. Some we've created ourselves. Some have been thrust upon us.

Coming to terms with my Dad’s death has been rough. He is the man who got down on his knees with me and led me in the sinner's prayer when I was 20 after walking away from the pastorate and the church when I was 5. He is also the man who spent the last many years trying to talk me out of my beliefs, speaking with ridicule about those who commit themselves to a "model of conformity” and pedantic religion. My Dad was a man of extremes. Like his Dad he was charismatic and passionate and could talk people into complete and total paradigm shifts. He could also be moody and cold, his lack of response to people chilling. He read voraciously and was incredibly educated but would not engage in logical debate if it did not suit his purposes. It could be fun and rewarding to be with him and exhausting and taxing. In that, I’m sure he is like any other person. The difference being that he was my Dad. Not a stranger. Not someone I was indifferent too.

My husband used a phrase this morning regarding a proposed interaction with someone: "It will only serve to underscore the basic alienation of the relationship." This is what Christ did for my father and I. Christ underscored the alienation between us. My Dad was always asking, always demanding, in his charismatic way, that I give up my religion (never understanding that it was the person of Truth, not a religion that I follow- but even that statement is divisive because who am I to declare “Truth”- as if I know and others do not? I only know because I know Jesus, the Son of the Living God), and follow something less hard, more “rewarding,” more power and wealth oriented, more “successful.”

Years ago, as a new believer I was under the naive assumption that I would pray well and hard, witness vibrantly through words and actions and those that I loved would see the Way, the Truth and the Light, embrace Jesus as a Risen Savior and life would be happy and fulfilling. The prayers of a righteous man (or woman) availeth much, true? And yet, Christ was the divisor between my family and I. Scriptural, I know; immensely painful, yes. I’ve been told, that I should rejoice in sharing in Christ’s suffering, that His followers will share in his loss, his ridicule, his pain, his alienation. Truth is I don’t; I don’t take comfort in it, not really. I know in my heart of hearts that that is the way of things. But my heart hurts.

It has shaken me to the core this year how foundational my Dad’s thoughts, paradigms, love, has been to my life, even when we both choose radically different paths to follow. I though that I was past caring what he thought. I was past being hopeful for his approval. I was past being a small child longing for their Daddy. But no; I am not.

I loved my Dad. He loved me. That is something I know. And I trust that Love – the person, the Truth, won out in my Dad’s life. Love won out.

Shabbat Shalom link up at Pebble Crossing

Opposing Views

2011-11-19T11:02:00.000-06:00

This short could be titled either, "An Apologetic for Memory Work," or "Post Modernism's Big Win."

And this, "How to Make Your Pathology Work for You" (written very tongue in cheek- this is just brilliant.)

Sick Days

2011-11-17T21:21:00.000-06:00

Under the weather this week with a bronchial/cold thang. Spent a lot of the week kickin' back the cough and cold meds and brewing tea.

Continued painting with the help of Gala and KB. Got all of the bedrooms, halls upstairs and down and bathroom upstairs done. Then re-did the master bedroom (my husband thinks off-white is an actual color- he is Neutral Man - however, I did agree with him on the first color- too peach, or something. One pink and one blue bedroom for the notsolittles. That's love, baby. The older kids are laying claim to the basment and the attic rooms. We also did the soon-2-be office room in 2 colors using a 2 part roller. It's very neutral with a lotta omph. I can't wait to get the espresso stained trim up- it's gonna look gorgeous.

Worked on Latin. Watched Plimoth Plantation videos on-line, watched Colonial Children DVD. Did a lot of mazes, dot to dots, number and word searches. Didn't get a whole lotta other homework done but reading. Cub knocked out another Redwall book, Feeche continues to work on Citadel of God and Flower discovered a new series called Animal Ark about a little girl with a zillion pets. In our world of read-alouds we are on to The Long Winter. I really, truly, do not like this book. I love Mrs. Ingalls Wilder's writing. I do. I just hate this book. We live an hour from the location of the aforementioned book. It's cold here, that much is for certain. I feel it enough already, I sure as heck don't need to read about it. And secondly, we saw the claim shanty last year, making the story all the more real, all the more cold, all the more traumatic. My take on this reading (6th time through) is that these pioneer type folks just went from trauma to trauma. Did you know that Laura had originally titled the book, "Starvation Winter" but her publisher thought it would scare the children. Um, yeah.
I watched Lincoln Lawyer during one of my sick days. Not our usual genre but great story. Loved the extras with author Connelly and his take on being an author. Loved seeing Matthew McConaughey as a hard hitter with heart. Loved the shots of L.A. and recognized highways and locations - hey, I used to work in Van Nuys! I could almost feel the balmy ocean air. Loved how the tangled web was resolved. Mysteries used to be one of my fav genres. Poirot or Miss. Marple anyone?

Discovered a church library this week that is open to the public and houses a treasure trove of literary good stuff. Read my first Terri Blackstock book: Vicious Cycle. Not bad but the believability of a couple scenes didn't work for me. I'm working on Joesph by Joyce Landorf. Interesting perspective, beginning with the lives of Rachel, Leah and Jacob and Laban.

Published author Karen Schutte was a guest speaker for my high school writing class this week, talking about writing, getting published and selling books. Next guest speaker will be Publisher Jean Tennant of Shapato Publishing. I'm hoping the kids get inspired by hearing from those involved in the real world of books and publishing.

What did your week look like?
Find more inspiration at Conversion Diaries, the Friday Blog Hop and Homeschool Chick.

Bio 101 Winner!

2011-11-17T08:01:00.001-06:00

And the winner of
Bio 101: Days of Creation DVD set is

Sandsmertz

Contact me and I'll get this out to you with the hopes that you enjoy it as much as we did!

Thank-you
to all who participated!!

Envision and Do

2011-11-15T10:16:00.002-06:00

The Time Warp Wife is having a 31 Days Challenge and today, Day 28 is a guest post on Dreaming Together. It struck a cord with me because, while my husband and I have done a lot of things ineptly in life, the one thing we rock at is dreaming. We are visionaries. And the other thing we do exceptionally well is do. We envision and then we put our hand to the plow. This explains the plethora of degrees and children that we have together, the number of times we've moved, the educational anarchy that we embrace, the house that we are working on and most of the details of our lives, including how we worship and study and the Messiah that we embrace. God's of wood and stone just don't give one ample enough opportunity to envision beyond oneself. It's so limited and narcissistic.

I was told by a friend several years ago that I am odd because most visionaries that she knew didn't "do" and most "do-ers" that she knew didn't envision. That just seems really bizarre to me cause I thought faith without works was dead and "submit yourselves one to another" were actual directives, not suggestions. The division of doers and visionaries in the current political climate of the American church seems to be a division of labor designed to stunt the growth of all involved, both queen/king and worker bee alike, perpetrated by the current business model that the American church has adopted. Those in "leadership" with the professional degrees are the ones that get to do the envisioning while the worker bees get to be the hands and feet. Leading to a lack of mutual accountability and the full development of the body beyond the head. My husband and I both have seminary degrees so maybe I've just seen too much. Maybe if I believed in the magical formula of higher ed more, or seminary more, or the head being the grand poombah of the church more I wouldn't be so cynical and keep writing these type of posts. And yet....

Back to the point of this post; what are we currently envisioning?
Our house being done. We've been sanding floors and walls and ceilings, texturizing, painting, washing out junk from clothes and brushes and rollers and talking about colors and what's next every spare moment. Our vision for this property from the time we moved here was to redeem, restore, rebuild and reclaim. We are doing that to the very best of our ability. I'm not sure what God has in store for this little acreage on the edge of nowhere but somehow we are part of it. And the character that is being built into us because of it- whew. Could we get it any other way? My goal for this week is to thank-God for the hardships that we endure. I am great at being grateful for the amazing God-answered prayers of finished but the hard won and exhausting producing "waits" or "not yets" or "suffer unto Me's," are more difficult for me.

An educational environment where study is worship; where people are challenged to go beyond themselves academically, educationally and ultimately spiritually. We have a very small circle, but we believe in being faithful in the small things (I count young children as "small things" all the time!)
A church environment that is more Biblical than American in culture. Have I mentioned being faithful in small things? It's what we do.
Writing. We have so many ideas and we are both teachers at heart. We are bursting at the seams with the ideas and are so hungry and yet we are stretched to the limit on time and money and resources with what we are doing. So far it's a "not yet" answer.

What are you envisioning? What are you doing?

Find more great reading at Time Warp Wife and at HHM.

Week-end Blur

2011-11-13T21:04:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, after a busy morning Friend Gala came over to help us paint on primer. We got the 2nd floor, ceilings and walls for 4 bedrooms, bathroom and hallway finished just after nine.

Late last night KB and bro were invited to GA for another round of campaigning, which means they'll probably miss T-day here and be gone a couple of weeks. The thought of seeing her campaign homies and having a break from school has cause KB to hum and whistle all day long, (though Flower cried for about 2 hours at the very thought of having everyone scattered for another holiday) even though she and aforementioned bro spent 10 hours feeding baby calves today. They are sore and tired. You know you're working hard when the teens are asking to go to bed!

Tomorrow we have on the agenda colorizing the aforementioned halls and walls, get classes prepped and homework ready for tutoring center. I'll get more pictures posted of the rooms ~~soon~~ before the end of the world as we know it.

By the numbers over the past 2 week-ends we have blown through 15 gallons of dry wall compound. 15 gallons of primer/sealer/ and are have 7 gallons more waiting to colorize. Not to mention duct tape (different project). The ceiling of the basement bathroom didn't get finished but bills did get paid on time, so I'm thinking it was a good trade-off. Anyone who says paint is a cheap way to decorate hasn't bought much lately.

I love how God has provided different friends along the way of this little bitty house project to offer us encouragement, willing hands and the blessing of fellowship. Thanking God for all of you who have helped in so many different ways!!

What a Week

2011-11-10T20:25:00.001-06:00

The 7th Annual Homeschool Blog Awards are up for votes! Head on over to Homeschool Post and cast your vote. Have I mentioned that I would love it if you voted for THIS blog?- you can find it under:

Favorite Homeschool Mom Blog

Best Current Events, Opinions or Politics Blog (who me? Opinionated ?!)

Best Nitty Gritty Homeschool Blog

Best Homeschool Variety Blog

In our Homeschool

Academics consisted of the usual suspects: Math (Cub finished Singapore's Story Problem 5- on to 6!), LoF, Math Minute, Spectrum, Latin - LC I and First Form, History- Midieval and World, Science- A & P for Feeche and McHenry's pre-Chem for Cub, R & S, Writing. We also go out Sequential Spelling for Feeche again. He is much improved over days of old, but asked for more help.

We actually got around to doing some time line memory work with VP cards. What I love about it is that much of what Cub is reading for World History (read aloud so Flower gets the benefits as well) is that so many of the names/ places are familiar.

Had a great round the table discussion tonight about the Spanish American War, WWI, Franco and America's development as a super power. It ended with everyone conjugating poor Franco's name. "I, Frank," Uproarious laughter ensued. This is what happens when history buffs are random/global thinkers. Dr. Logical/Sequential left the fray in self-definse.

We also did a HUGE amount of house work this week
Consisting of painting 3/4 of the basement twice, first with a primer, then the large family room (currently kids dorm) with color. (See the last post for what it looks like). Viking Man and friend Mike texturized last week-end and the 3 younger kids and I got it primed on Monday. On Wednesday we added color. There is more touch-up work to do, and we are adding a magnetized chalkboard to the area just next to the back door. We're fun like that.
Then we moved everything back into place which took a day 'cause we had to wipe down and clean everything that was speckeld with dry wall mud or dusty and do a ~~few zillion~~ 5 loads of laundry.
This week-end we'll tackle priming the 2nd floor. Then moving stuff around- again- so that we can get ready to tackle cutting and afixing all of the trim- hundreds of yards of it, already stained by yours truly and co. and ready to get cut and nailed on. It's looking good 'round here. Ait is soooo exciting to be making such great progress. The floors and texturizing were HUGE. The downstairs basement is almost done... I'm rambling and gushing. Sorry. It's just so kewl!

Just for Fun
Biology 101: Days of Creation Give-Away, just 'cause I want to pass along the goodness. Here's the review and how to enter.

A Picture to Share
KB's been having fun doing finger waves. Pretty cool, eh?

She had a blast researching Vera Ellen this week - one of our fav movie stars from the era of glam (you know, White Christmas, right?). We love the stories behind people's lives. Whose your favorite 50's actress/actor?

Story Prompt for the week for the High School Class was to create a sit-com. Oh my. I laughed so.hard. All 5 of these kids could make it B.I.G., change the world, rock your socks off. When they do, I hope they remember me fondly as their best writing teacher and convey thier gratitude in tangible ways (I'm shallow like that)! I also have my little fantastic 5 writing group (3rd grade girlies) in the a.m. of the same day. It's so fun. They are so stinkin' cute. We decided collectively that we're going to make a book together and bind everyone's weekly papers, and have a "Fables" Party, like it suggests in the book. Big smiles all around.

Took a walk tonight with the girls while Viking Man jogged and it's definilty getting cold out. We had on hats, gloves and as much wool as we could find. Passed a bow hunter coming out of the valley. The moon was just coming out, full and luminous in the east, and the sun was setting, full of vibrant color, in the west. Evening walks. We used to have that book. Loved it. Sweet and touching. Like our walk. Love my girlies.

How was your week?
For more great reading, head on over to Conversion Diaries, Homeschool Chick and the Hop

Basement Love

2011-11-09T10:36:00.002-06:00

We live in an old craftsman style 4x4 farmhouse. When we moved here it had a cellar. You know, like a grandma cellar? A bit musty smelling, bad lighting, dark corners, cobwebs, canning jars and the washer and dryer. Well, thanks to our house fire and a whole lotta working to the point of stiff and tired, really stiff and really tired, we now have a basement.

.

It's not totally finished (the floors still need done) and baseboard added (in the barn, waiting to be painted and installed), the ceiling in the full bath finished (on the agenda for this weekend) and then painted.

But, it's insulated, framed, finished (vs. cement block), lots of lights (vs. a couple of hanging bulbs), an actual paint color instead of kilz.

Don't you L.O.V.E. the texture?? Adds a whole new dimension to the place.

I realize this is probably a snore post for some of you. Sorry 'bout that. But if you only knew what it's taken to get to this point. I could cry thinking about it. Cry from being stiff, tired, and thankful. Thankful for my kids and husband who work so hard, often times singing while they do so, despite the fact that 2 of them work/school full time and 1 works p.t. (this is like a 2nd full time job, ya'll). Grateful that God, in His mercy, has torn down our home in order to create something infinitely more beautiful.

Biology 101 Give-Away

2011-11-07T22:27:00.004-06:00

Hey Ya'll. I've received a Biology 101: Biology According to the Days of Creation DVD set, brand spanking new, to give away this week. All because the makers of Bio 101 have released the second in the series, Chemistry 101, sent it to me to review and graciously threw in the Bio 101 set as a bonus. Love that!

We've already viewed Bio 101 and thoroughly enjoyed it! The information is ordered and sequential, the pictures gorgeous. There is a study guide that you can print out to ensure that students understand the material. Despite that it's what I would call "science lite." This would make a great spine for a high school biology course, but I wouldn't consider it a stand-alone. That being said, it's very much worth getting, if your kids love science, you have some extra curriculum dollars to invest, or you have the time and resources to ramp it up to a high school unit (Carnegie- 120- 180 hours of work), which would certainly be easy enough to do.

Some of you may want to know how this series stands on the age of the earth. From the creators of the 101 series web-site: "The objective of The 101 Series is to provide fascinating, visually–rich, and biblically–sound teaching, especially covering topics on which today's culture and Christianity conflict." Consequently, Biology 101 presents topics from a "young earth" perspective following the biblical chronology of six days of creation (with God resting on the seventh day).
Chemistry 101, so far, has been fabulous. Wes Olson starts off with a history of the field of chemistry, along the same lines as some of Tiner's books (the History of Medicine, et all). My 5th grader is taking Ellen McHenry's pre-chem this year at Tutoring Center and is fascinated, and thrilled to say that he actually understood something from his class that was confusing him, because of this DVD set. My high school junior took chemistry last year at Tutoring Center (using Prentice Hall) but is just as interested. Again, there is a study guide included, and I'm happy to see, it's almost twice as long as the Bio 101 set. Again, the photography and graphics are terrific and chemistry is simply explained. If you have a high schooler that won't be going into a science field, but needs to know the basics, this could be just the thing you are looking for. Again, I wouldn't consider it a complete high school chem course, but it would be easy enough to add to.

So, how do you enter the give-away you ask? It's simple. Follow this blog and then leave a comment, telling me you've done so (if you're already a follower, just lmk). Tweet or mention on FB about this give-away for another shot at it (again, leave a comment and lmk). That's it. I'll be announcing the winner on Nov 17!

Stop by HHM for more great give-aways!

2011-11-07T08:57:00.001-06:00

The 7th Annual Blog Awards are getting voted on as we speak. I'm thrilled to have been nominated in 4 categories:

Favorite Homeschool Mom Blog

Best Current Events, Opinions or Politics Blog (who me? Opinionated ?!)

Best Nitty Gritty Homeschool Blog

Best Homeschool Variety Blog

It's the little things and this made me very happy this morning. We spent the week-end texturizing the ceilings and walls in both the basement and 2nd floor. The house is in complete disarray. The kids dorm in the basement is squished into the middle of the room, they are all sleeping in the living room, there is drywall dust every.where. and we can't find clothes or books or shoes. We are one HUGE step closer to getting the house done and we are thrilled with the progress that we made this week-end but it was still exhausting, hard work and more chaos. It was nice to wake up to something fun and wonderful (not that the texurized ceilings and walls aren't, right ; )!

THANK-YOU!

There are so many awesome blogs listed. I hope you have time to peruse a bunch of them and add to your list of favorites!

And, btw,

I would LOVE your vote!

Women of God

2011-11-07T06:31:00.000-06:00

Love this.

Frosting Ceilings

2011-11-06T20:06:00.000-06:00

~~Frosting~~ Texturizing the ceiling and walls, around 1400 square feet worth, took the majority of our time on both Saturday and Sunday. I bought a bit of paint (5 gallons worth) and plan to paint ceilings and walls this week so that we can get the kids off the living room floor and sleeping in beds again.

It's hard to tell from this picture just how lovely it all looks. But seriously, the texture adds a whole lotta finished look to the place.

Now that the walls and ceilings and most of the floors are done, we'll be turning our attention to the stairs. Ayup. I found some funky, finished in paper bags stairs on Pinterest, which might be the new look we sport going down stairs. The upstairs stairs are partly sanded. It's just the long side going down that we have to finish. We figured out using a file works quite well to get the ugly between places with.

Or this?

What think you?

We love you, Mike (and Lori and kidlets- missed you, Girlfriend!). THANK-YOU for spending your Saturday with us,working like a mad- man! Ya'll are friends indeed- over and over again.

The 3 R's

2011-11-04T05:52:00.004-05:00

Homeschooling
We did a good amount of reading, writing, 'rithmatic. Not only am I a card carrying member of "I love Singapore Story Problems" but I also really dig their Math Practice books. Throw in some LoF and Prentice hall and welcome to our world a couple days a week. R & S Grammar and IEW for writing. Flower has written 3 1-page papers to date and is thrilled to pieces that she can do so. Both boys are cruising through First Form. Thank-you, Memoria Press!

I received a complimentary copy of Chemistry 101 and we all sat down to watch. It's interesting, kind of along the lines of the Tiner "Story of Medicine" series. This is supposed to be a high school course for Chemistry and so far I'm not convinced but it's longer and more detailed than Bio 101 and includes a study guide. That's not to say I don't see the definite value of the program. In fact, I'll be doing a more in-depth review of it later in the week, and including a Bio 101 give-away so stop back and check it out.
Feeche also started Apologia's Human Body. He likes Wile's style and we have a friend willing to do dissections with us, so it should be a good class. He's 2/3 of the way through TC's Shakespeare and falls deeper in love with the Bard as he goes.

House Work- Dr. Fix- It almost has the bathroom ceiling in the basement drywalled. This included building a soffet and extending the studs of the ceiling so as not to interfere with wiring or plumbing. Everything takes long. It's one of my new proverbs. The up-side is that we have a door on that bathroom and a ceiling soon- it will be so warm and cozy. Woop!!
We have friends coming on Saturday to help ~~frost~~ texturize the ceilings.We have teh best looking old farmhouse ceilings you ever did see!

By the Books
I finished The Left Hand of Darkness by LeGuin- read my review here. Feeche continues to work through Citadel of God, Cub finished The Dragon and the Raven and Earning His Spurs, both by Henty. The deal was he could drop lit at Tutoring Center if he read a book a week. So far, not bad. Flower has fallen in love with Strega Nona. They are delightful books and I can't believe we've never read them before. We're also working on The Shores of Silver Lake. Very close to home. We feel the prairie wind a blowing.

Quote of the Day
"My books are my tools. They also serve as my counsel, my consolation, and my comfort. They are my source of wisdom and the font of my education. They are my friends and my delights. They are my surety, when all else is awry, that I have set my confidence in the substantial things of Gospel truth and right." Charles Spurgeon

Artistically Yours
I'm teaching Drawing to Jr. and Sr. High schoolers twice a month using Bruce McIntyre's Drawing Textbook. It's simple, covers a lot of ground and produces results. Flower begged me to start teaching her too, so today we sat down and did three lessons together. She was humming and chirpping the whole time and has been drawing since. Cub sat down and created a rocket- go figure! (see below)

What Intimidates Me
The weather. I'm not kidding. It's been chilly and overcast. NOAA is a home-page. It is reading colder and colder, with frost on the ground. I'm getting ready for my yearly chill (I thaw about April every year). On the up-side, if you're gonna have winter, the way it's done here is nice. I live in the Sunshine State (seriously, and we don't grow oranges). Lots of bright sun all winter long, snow, city-maintained ice-rinks and good sledding. And, our valley is nice to tromp around in if your dressed for it. And you can walk on the lake, cause the ice gets so thick- broom ball, anyone?

A Picture to Share

"Flight Through the Flack" by Cubvinci

Link up with Conversion Dairies, The Blog Hop and The Homeschool Chick

The Left Hand of Darkness

2011-11-03T20:20:00.000-05:00

I've never heard of Ursula LeGuin until I came upon a book of fantasy authors, during my L'Engle-fest. Le Guin sounded intriguing and my literary friend, Enak, conquered, mentioning The Left Hand of Darkness. Oy vey, what a read! I did not like this book to begin with. For one, it's set on a planet called, "Winter." I live in the Territories ya'll and we have winter a fair bit of the time, prepare for it before, during and after, and dread it during the off seasons. (o.k. maybe that's just me- other people like the cold- go figure). That alone did not endear me to this book. In fact, it took me 2 weeks to read the first 200 pages - and a day to finish the last 100.

It's one of those books that captures you in the beginning with it's intriguing plot, wraps it's word arms around you and leaves you with a longing to know more once it's over.
For one, LeGuin is a brilliant writer. I mean, seriously. Word smith, wonder woman. She crafts a world and people that are familiar enough to relate to and unknown enough to fascinate.
Secondly, the plot was intriguing (I have mentioned that my 7th grade English teacher read us The Marian Chronicles every day, haven't I? Fond memories of other worlds)! So, in a nutshell, it's a member of the Ecumenen going to form an alliance with the peoples of Winter. They are humanoid, but....
Thirdly, the theme was fascinating. The humanoids are androgynous, and are only sexual a few days a month. A fascinating look at sexuality, gender issues, and humanity. This is something we've actually spent a fair bit of time thinking about in our home, as we've given a few talks to parents and counselors and others on "Gender Matters." Gender is, in our world, the only thing we come born with. The recent decision by the Girl Scouts of CO to admit a boy into a troop, despite obvious evidence to the contrary, is a cautionary tale that post-modernism seeks to destroy something fundamental to every single one of us.
Fourth, have I mentioned that LeGuin is a master craftswoman?

This book would make a great addition to a class for high schoolers on Human Development or fantasy lit. An excellent read and a new favorite author!

Falling Rocks

2011-11-01T07:58:00.002-05:00

Paradox: a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth

Today's writing class is gonna be fun : )

Check out my post on How to be Thankful in an Era of Entitlement at the HSV.

Creativity & Imagination

2011-10-31T10:45:00.001-05:00

We hit a fantastic book sale this week-end. Pick and donate. Love that. In the piles and stacks of books I found a small book on Creativity and Imagination by Jacolyn Mott. It is full of simple and fun activities, excerpts about people who have changed the world- an idea book of sorts. The first chapter devotes itself to developing a mind that is creative. Great stuff for artists and educators. Here's what this author had to say:

There are 4 stages to the creative process

Preparation -a time of action, gathering facts and seeking answers. Trial and error my require detailed experiments, and pacing may be involved. At times preparation takes just a little while, and at others, it is a long and tedious process.
Incubation- Your mind continues to work, though once the preparation has been exhausted, the situation may look bleak. Your mind considers and organizes the material that you've gathered. It combines it with the material that you have gathered and stored throughout your life.
Inspiration- this is the "flash" of genius- a sudden solution to a problem.
Verification- the solution that comes from inspiration needs to be verified. It is easy to recognize in science and industry (does the Wright Brothers plane actually fly, does Edison's light bulb illuminate?). It is less obvious in other forms of creativity.

"Imagination comes from the Latin word, imago- which means likeness or picture. Imagination is the ability to form in the mind a picture or idea of something that is not present. Such pictures or ideas are like the images of a kaleidoscope. They constantly change and dissolve...only to begin again. We make demands on imagination- for example; to recreate the past; to wonder about unfamiliar people or places; and to toy with ideas about the future."

One of my goals for the year with my drawing and writing students is to impart to them that creativity nurtures creativity. Being an artist in one field does should not limit or define you, though it often does, rather, it should challenge you. I used to own a book called, Doubly Gifted; The Author as Visual Artist and this intrigued me. So many brilliant authors were also profound visual artists.
Along those same lines, I just checked out a book of poetry by Bradbury. F451 is a must read, along with the Martian Chronicles and poetry is just another form of writing, but Bradbury's wit and humor, his eloquent use of just a few words to create stories and images is terrific. It's a totally different form of writing and Bradbury excels at it with as much distinction as the narrative.

The truly creative people that I have known personally are polymaths. They are constantly searching, wondering, seeking, creating with texts or symbols or wood or food. Their creative minds are not limited by one thing, such as a drawing pencil or piano or flour. Their minds are challenged by one thing to go to the next thing and the next and the next. It's an unending adventure.

How do you nurture creativity in your home?

Pagan Madness

2011-10-30T10:03:00.000-05:00

An interesting discussion in Bible Study yesterday regarding the church today and the passivity, and even at times, intimidation, that is nurtured by the buildings and the service of the present day church, vs. the synagogue. The synagogue of old had benches around the perimeter of the room. The text would be read, the word expounded on. And then the dialogue and discussion would begin. Disagreements were normal, expected, encouraged. Questioning was de rigeur. The participants were all educated, informed and invested in their fellow church members, whether or not they like or agreed with them, and deeply invested in The Way (Ha' Derech). Of course, they'd been educated in an environment that was based on memorization, inquiry and exploration. They were expected to question, to mull, to read, to inquire, to find out, to wrestle with information, the text and each other intellectually. It was the culture.

Sharp contrast to the modern methodologies of the way most of us have been educated and the way most of us approach our faith walk and church community. There is little tolerance for questioning, with the expectation that paid ministerial and educational staff is deferred to. Children and adults who know "too much" are considered know-it-alls, or show-offs, and those who question are considered disruptive trouble makers. Churches and our educational institutions are not places of discussion, interaction and intense debate amongst people who devote themselves to study, learning and each other. Most often they a places of passivity, entertainment, lectures and sermons that, while they might inspiring for the moment, do little to change lives. Perhaps that's because they are stand alones in a setting that does not value or emphasis community, mutual accountability, humility and growth. Educational institutions the country over are struggling to instill the basic of education (check out our national rankings among developed countries), while churches struggle to instill the basics of faith (just look up the stats on porn useage or divorces among church members/ pastors to be convinced) perhaps because we've given that part of our lives over to the "experts"; the people that we pay, as a community, to do the church thang or the academic thang, to know the religious stuff or the academic stuff; to be our collective archetype of faith and intellect.

My husband, professional counselor and dedicated theologian, says that we all suffer from Pagan Madness. I love those words because they keep me remembering that I am not yet Christ-like, I am ever being sanctified, and my walk needs to be just that, active, constant and current. I need to be present on my faith journey and moving forward or I fall, once again, full bore, into Pagan Madness. ("Hi, I'm Lisa, I'm a compulsive pagan.") My experience in the church is that we forget this truth and think that somehow if we show up on Sundays, if we tithe a bit, bring bars for fellowship hour and take our kids to Sunday School, then we've done "enough," we're saved, it's finished. And yet, we are still not transformed, our minds still not renewed, our lives still not laid down.

And, there is this expectation that people will look, smell, and act nice in church. Those that disagree are rejected. Those who know too much are held at arms length. Those that don't know enough are fondled, rather than taught, held accountable and expected to grow up to be leaders in the church. Catch phrases and words are thrown around like candy, with the expectation that those who "get the language" have gotten faith. The reality is that hipsterism has replaced maturity and wisdom in our pews. The church is in a crisis, theologically and politically because of our pagan madness, and our inability to question, grow and expect more from ourselves and each other. We have become passive, rather than receptive. Entitled rather than grateful. Full of ourselves, rather than full of the Spirit.

Oswald Chambers writes: "I am put right with God because prior to all, Christ died." This flies in the face of our modern way of thinking which seduces us into believing that we are the ones in control in of our destiny, that we came to Jesus because we found Him. We are saved because God wooed us, initiated, died. Only after His sacrifice could we hear, responded and obey. Our salvation is only ours because we saw that He found us.
Our faith, which we are called to work out with faith and trembling, is one that demands we question, seek, and find. We have to work the program (Christianity 101) or our Pagan Madness wins.

Thoughts?

Hard Work U

2011-10-27T23:14:00.000-05:00

Bouldering. It's climbing, without a harness.

In our homeschool this week:
Flower got started on Singapore Story Problem 4. She just gets it. I keep trying to get her to draw a graph cause I know she'll need it later but right now she just doesn't see the need. We started on long division. She's like Feeche, mathematics is just her deal. Even with that, IEW Fairy Tales and Fables is her new favorite thang. She wrote her second story this week and did it all on her own. She loves our little writing group (and so do I!) and IEW makes it so do-able. Latin is cruising along, history and science. Feeche spends hours a week writing and it shows. His organization and cohesiveness has improved greatly.

House Work: Dr. Fix-it installed a door, a real door, a real wood door, (maple, pre-hung, stained and beautiful) in the basement bathroom (our only working shower right now so this room sees a lot of traffic!). This sure beats the torn and tattered, duct taped shower curtain that was there before. Tomorrow he'll be putting a ceiling in the bathroom. This week-end we'll get the rest of the mudding done on the upstairs bedrooms and then next week-end we'll texturize ceilings and walls, paint and then, maybe, just maybe, we'll move up there, despite the missing trim.

By the Books: We finished the Wrinkle in Time quartet, (including Many Waters) and went back to Laura, picking up By the Shores of Silver Lake. We went to the pageant at DeSmet this year and were sorely disappointed, more so because our day there a year ago was delightful. Our literary friends, the Enak's have suggested the Betsy Tacy series and we are looking forward to delving into them. I picked up The Left Hand of Darkness by LeGuin this week. I'm not loving it- it's not a book that you love. But the plot and theme is intriguing enough to really capture my imagination. It's one of those books that is hard to wrap your imagination around. Hopefully I'll get a review up when I'm done. I'm curious what LeGuin will do with what she has started.

What's cooking

Sweet potatoes, winter squash and pumpkin. Mmmm. Love the smell of fresh squash being cut open. I like it plain but KB drizzles butter and brown sugar on it. I cooked some pumpkin today and this week-end we'll be eating a pumpkin pie. Just because.

On the homestead
Hauled manure from Green Acres (you wanted to know that, right?!- thank-you, Cyndi and Stan! You get the best neighbor award again!) for the garden and spent an afternoon getting beds dug in. We are on the look-out for more cause we plan to open up a couple of other areas to make a bigger squash bed and to put in sweet potatoes along with the russets and reds. Harvested Brussels sprouts and more parsley. Dried pumpkin and squash seeds and lemon verbena. Love, love, love lemon verbena. I purchased a way too twiggy potted and pitiful specimen at the end of season clearance and have been transplanting it and gently pruning, along with lavender, basil and rosemary. Scents and greenery to get us through the long winter on the Territories.

Words for the week
Voluble -Marked by a ready flow of speech; fluent
obdurate- Hardened in wrongdoing or wickedness; stubbornly impenitent:
specious-Having the ring of truth or plausibility but actually fallacious, deceptively attractive
fecund-Capable of producing offspring or vegetation; fruitful, marked by intellectual productivity
pertinacious-Holding tenaciously to a purpose, belief, opinion, or course of action
perfidy-Deliberate breach of faith; calculated violation of trust; treachery

Field Trip: Rock Climbing. It's hard work, on many levels. Wish there were a wall closer cause my kids would live there. They got in the car starving, exhausted and complaining that their fingers and fore-arms hurt, slept the whole ride home, woke up and asked when we were going again. Our kinda fun.

Rock Climbing

2011-10-26T16:02:00.000-05:00

Getting a toe-hold

Considering a climb...

Working the Wall

Chronos, Kairos & House Fires

2011-10-24T11:06:00.001-05:00

Saturday was the 2nd anniversary of our house fire. It's been 24 months that have dragged on and whizzed by. Portions of our house are beautiful and yet our bed still resides in the living room. It's an odd life we lived, made even odder by the circumstances of the past many months. We are so busy some weeks it feels like we are whirling dervishes and yet the work that we have left to do seems never to diminish. It feels, at times, like a logarithmic list of tasks; the more we do, the more we have to do.

This date that marks the anniversary of the fire, this chronological date, will be one of those dates on our calendars that will show up every year, like our anniversary, our kid's birthdays, the dates on which my parent's and sister died. It's one of those dates that is just part of our lives now, a fact, a remembrance, an acknowledgement that the stuff in our lives is just that; stuff and that certain stuff occupies certain seasons of our lives, but not others and that each season is specific to itself in space and time.

I've been reading lots of books by Madeline L'Engle lately and she is fascinated with time and space. In one interview the questioning touches on this: "What do you think about when you look at the stars?" L'Engle responds, "Sometimes I think about time. That the star I am looking at is that star as it looked a hundred or four hundred years ago. That when I stand here, in this time, and look at that star, I am not just looking at space. I am looking at time- at another time. That fascinates me." It's this juxtaposition of Kairos and Chronos time that L'Engle addresses over and over in her writing. That the small, seemingly random acts that we perform, create ripples of effect. That our lives are not for naught, but for something beyond what we can, often, see or know.

I love how L'Engle differentiates between Kairos and Chronos- it's an important distinction- the word Karios means the right or opportune moment- the supreme moment. Chronos means sequential time, a time in between, a moment of indeterminate time in which something happens. Chronos is quantitative whereas karios has a qualitative nature.

I think about these aspects of time as we educated our kids. Montessori talks about "windows of opportunity" that are available to teach students specific subjects. Developmentally, children are most receptive to learning at certain times in life. We were with some kids this past week and my husband and I observed one young person whose parents have seemed to miss one of these windows - kairos- in which to shape and form their child's character.It's not that this kids is bad or indelilibly warped. It's that the window of opportunity to teach diligence and the value of work rather than slothful or shirking behavior, is closing. He has learned irresponsibility rather than putting his hand to the plow. While we believe it's never too late to parent well, lessons learned out of kairos are more difficult to teach effectively, more difficult to absorb. Kairos and Chronos time seem for us anyway, to blend well together under the rubric of classical education. We don't have it down to a science, but we do have a framework that takes into account both ways of understanding time, and the people who live within it. . Education, parenting, character training, living is comprised of both. "Opportune" (Kairos) moments set within a framework of the chronological moments of our lives.

The fire was, for us, a kairos moment. One of many in the chronology of our lives. One that has shaped us and molded us since. We can, for instance, all drywall now. We have compassion, in a way that was distant and impersonal before, for those who have suffered a devastating loss or displacement. We know more about insurance claims, adjustor's and contractors. We know more about ourselves, our limits, our levels of patience, our faith, our desire for stability, our hurt at the loss of stuff. We know, and trust, in a deeper way than before, that God captures every one of our tears and that he holds every one of our memories. That photo albums are bound by chronos time and will fade and burn but that the Master of the Universe never forgets the Karios moments of our lives, that He stores and cherishes our memories even when they are lost to us. We know, further up and farther in, that things take time and that chronological time is a safe guard for us, keeping our own ambition or drivenness to get things done, to achieve tasks and to accomplish, in check and in perspective.

It's been an interesting and busy time in our lives, both chronos and kairos. We thank God for the fire. Which is odd and yet true of so much in our lives. The hard things, truly hard and painful and difficult things, shape and mold us in ways that we couldn't fathom or consider before thier occurance. "For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison" (2 Corinthians 4:17)

Math WOOP, Reading, Latin, Listening

2011-10-20T22:07:00.001-05:00

In Our Homeschool This Week: Math with Cub- major WOOP. We've been doing Singapore Story Problems for 2 years and LOVE them. I mean, not in a love, love way, but more in a, we are working our heiny's off and making our brains grow kinda lovey way. You know, hard work love. Usually I read the solutions and then coach Cub on how to do it. On Wednesday he got through 4 story problems in about 20 minutes, drew the graphs with no prompts and got the problems absolutely CORRECT. We were both so thrilled, and his smile was HUGE. He said, "Thanks, Mom! I get it." Happy, happy dance. Love Singapore and LOVE my happy boy ; ) Latin- it's our other big win this year, after years of puttering around with it. Flower is LOVING Leigh Lowe (and what's not to love?!) and LC I. She thrills to throw around Latin phrases and words and told me last night at bedtime, "Good-night, Feminine" (instead of feminina. Thus ensued many calls of, 'Good-night gynokose (Greek for Woman) as well as other terms of twisted endearment). First Form rocks. Latin for the lingua-phobic, that takes you far, fast.

By the Books: We read more L'Engle, finished Many Waters and started A Swiftly Tilting Planet. (Meg, dear Meg, please stop whining!). The notsolittles are still fascinated by the time travel, the social and theological implications and just how it would all work. I'm fascinated by L'Engle and read a quick YA bio of her this week. Much of the info was contained in A Circle of Quiet, and better written. I did get a couple more books from the Crosswicks series for the nightstand. L'Engle read 2-3 books a week. Makes my 1 seem paltry.

Things I'm Working On: One BIG, huge, thang which is cooking my grits cause it's related to everything else. And writing- not so much cause I'm trying to get the aforementioned organized. And teaching writing- which makes me very happy; partially cause I have really rock out students, and partially cause words rock. And getting another room DONE this week-end (fingers crossed).

What's cooking: Friend Gala gifted us with a huge bag of kale, which made it's way into chicken, rutabaga, carrots, fresh large leaves of parsley, onions, garlic and kale soup. It was so healthy and delicious we all felt like Popeye after dinner. Paired with Challah bread toasted with Parmesan. Plus Spike. Spike makes everything wonderful!

What's playing: We've been listening to "Glory Revealed II" every time we get in the car. Our good friend Laura sent it to us years ago and it is one of my all time favorite CD's. My favorite track is 7. 2 Corinthians 4:7-12 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show us that the power is from God. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

A Quote to Share: I saw this earlier in the week during moments of doubt and discouragement. Sometimes when I hear myself telling someone else about my life (they asked, really, they wanted to know) I sound like a lunatic to me- kwim?

The Americans Creed by Dean Alfange:
"I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon. I seek opportunity to develop whatever talents God gave me - not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia. I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any earthly master not bend to any threat. It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say - 'This, with God's help, I have done.' All this is what it means to be an American."

And yet, this sums it up. Beautiful, yes?

A Blog to Follow: I found a lovely blog this week: Sage Parnassus. The author, Nancy, is a CM advocating homeschooler. Her blog is gently inspiring, to the point that I re-visited Andreola's A Charlotte Mason Companion Guide. While I'm still happily ensconced in the classical camp, CM has strongly influenced our homeschooling and Nancy's blog has inspired me yet again. For example:

Get thy tools ready,

God will find the work.

-Browning

How'd your week go?

Education in Asia

2011-10-18T15:07:00.000-05:00

Tough Love: An Education is another look at education in Asia. It's tough, it gets results, and frankly, it's totally lopsided. Crafting geniuses who have few emotional or social skills and zero spiritual skills is concerning at best. Crafting geniuses who parents sole purpose is to get them into a better school, to get a better job, to make more money is crafting a house that is built on self, not wisdom.
Money, money, money can only buy the temporal.

Not that I don't think the American Educational System can't use a good overhaul. There's much we can learn from Asian schools regarding discipline and excellence. Mediocrity and average is highly overrated. Our obese sense of self esteem in the light of poor academic achievement is an embarrassment.

Back to study as worship. We were given talents, skills, abilities to serve the One True Living God, not ourselves or our pocketbook. Study as worship acknowledges our limitations, acknowledges our abilities and keeps us from thinking more of ourselves than we ought.

Thoughts?

Celebrating Sukkot

2011-10-17T19:52:00.001-05:00

We had a great time of fellowship and feasting on Saturday as we studied and celebrated the Festival of Succot.

Wrinkles & Wind

2011-10-13T20:51:00.000-05:00

In our week....Ever have weeks when your brain is mush. Uh -huh. This week. I want a room with a door for Christmas. Then when details threaten me I can go to my room, shut the door and ~~cry, sleep, sit, stare out the window~~ re-group.

In our homeschool .....we kid sat 3 extras all last week-end; non-stop fun, evening camp fires and drywalling equated to exhausted ~~moi~~ kids by Monday and Cub and I have been fighting some kind of bug every since. Monday consisted of getting stuff ready for TC and then one big long read aloud. A Wrinkle in Time was passed around like candy, and KB, Feeche, Cub and I all took turns, and finished the book in one day. The kids loved it. We started A Wind in the Door, late at night, ending where Mr. Jenkins is sucked up in to nothingness. Both notsolittles were ~~freaked out~~ concerned; Flower to the point of nudging her way into my bed at o'dark:30 to ask about just how real that whole thing was. She spent the rest of the night snuggling rilly, rillly close. We finished Thursday evening with the kids outraged that the Mrs. W's, Louise and Prognoskis fates are not duly explained to thier satisfaction.

I am loving my class of 3rd grader girlies that I am teaching writing to. They are so wiggly, giggly and eager to read and know. We are using IEW's Fairy Tales and Fables; good stuff.

On the homestead...We cleaned up the garden this week, and have big plans to visit our friends at Green Acres and haul some organic fertilizer back. We're expanding. The more we read about mass produced food the more concerned we grow; did you know that bananas are now considered a manufactured product? Oy vey.

We're celebrating Sukkot this Saturday with our weekly Fellowship group. Apple Cake and Challah bread filled the house with their delectable aroma today. We tested one of the loaves of challah with homemade chicken vegtable soup, chock full of garden veggies and fresh parsley.
Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share… Freedom.

Dr. Michelangelo

2011-10-12T11:48:00.000-05:00

We have 9' ceilings. Dr. Michelangelo is up high, on home-made scaffolding, mudding away, whistling, making puns and singing 70's songs. (Can you believe this man is kissing 50?! Dang, why is he aging soo very much better than me??!!)

This is the room leading to the attic that we took the closet out of ~~that Jack built~~. It was a huge closet but made for an awkward L shaped room that wasn't fit for man or beast (well, that's only cause we don't let the beasts ~~not counting children~~ inside, but I digress). We sacrificed the closet and now have a really decent sized/shaped room that leads to the walk-up attic room, complete with dormer window. There is lots of talk about who gets it and room trading going on and I've strongly considered pulling rank and claiming it and turning the attic into a writer's loft. It's gonna be awhile though till we get stuff moved up there 'cause this room alone needs sanded and more mud where the plaster board and drywall meet. KB did an awesome job of seaming the ceiling along the east wall. That's where we put in more structural support and created a huge wall length sized closet. (I had more pics but Blogger's not loading very well today). I did a great job of laughing at the puns (no small sacrifice) and butchering the words to the 70's songs. (I did work on mudding a bit but then made the mistake of getting up and down a ladder at which point my leg rebelled and demanded sitting and more ibuprofen.).

The Problem with Freedom

2011-10-11T14:51:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking about our homeschool. My homeschool. I've homeschooled for 21 years. I know what I want to accomplish and why. I know how to do it (mostly). These things have not always been true. What has always been true is that I wanted for my children something that I, as a child, and even young adult, did.not.have.

Freedom

What did I want that freedom to entail? Time. Time alone. Time for my kids to grow in to themselves without the stupidity and maturity stopping labels of too smart, too stoopid, too rich, too poor, too whatever. Time to follow bunny trails and embrace passions and learn and develop as spiritual beings along with their intellectual and social selves instead of being stunted and baby believers all of their lives. Freedom to hear the still small voice of God instead of being drowned in a cacophony of belligerent electronic and emotional and social distractions.

We've failed in a lot of things but in this one area, the area of giving our kids freedom, I believe that we have succeeded. Our kids have spent hours reading, listening to teaching and music CD's, grown in wonder and awe, understand how to create and learn and grow and have developed their belief in the concrete, the mystical, and the divine.

In that, dissatisfied creature that I am, I am content. I am not proud. I am satisfied. I have offered 5 people in the world something unique and fulfilling and awe-inspiring and, I believe, eternal.

What they choose to do with it, however, is not something that I can control. And that leads me to the point of this post. Freedom is easily lost, frittered away and unappreciated. Two things crowd out freedom, lawlessness and legalism.

Freedom is oft mistaken for lawlessness. True freedom is anything but. True freedom points the way to something greater but those who are free and aren't disciplined end up rebellious and ungrateful, entitled and lacking the self-control necessary to maintain or to create.

On the other hand, freedom is often, because of our very human nature, tied up in a box and restrained. We want to set controls, make rules, define, clarify and develop. Everything is created twice and those who envision something extraordinary and beyond the norm frequently get hung up on the nitty-gritty necessities of making a way in the world, the nuts and bolts, tpaying the bills. Nitty-gritty snuffs out freedom just as fast as devil may care lawlessness.

Because we are not raising children, but adults, and ultimately eternal beings, we get to a point in our parenting where we let go. The kids, adults, souls that we've stewarded make their own choices, their own mistakes, and live their own lives. Outcomes are not my responsibility, faithfulness is. I've faithfully, along with the dedicated care and provision of my husband, given my kids freedom. Freedom to think and feel and live how they are called. And if they stumble in to lawless rebellion or legalistic life-sucking forms that diminishes their call, it is their choice and ultimately, their responsibility. Perhaps they did not understand the gift they they've been given, the sacrifices made, the hardships endured to offer them this precious gift. Perhaps they wanted something else. There are voices, and always have been, that have ridiculed, badgered and scoffed at what we've offered our children. The voices, loud and bitter, were loud andoften enough heard that my children noticed. Perhaps the siren songs of other wooed them. It's not mine to speak to.

My vision for homeschooling has been that my kids would embrace freedom, revel in it, dance unabashedly because of what they've been afforded. In that hope, despite the lack of assurance of outcomes, we continue. We continue to steward well what we can give.

Memory Monday

2011-10-10T06:24:00.004-05:00

Memory work this year hasn't been as draconian as in years past. For one, the 3 scholars I still have at home have done enough memory work that they"get" it when it's required. For another, their classes require lots so that's our focus.

photo courtesy of The Conscious Life

Here's what we're memorizing this year:

Latin vocab, conjugations and declensions, phrases, songs
Choral and worship music
VP Bible Cards.
Math facts
Cub is memorizing the periodic table.
Poetry. To date we don't have one poem under our belt for the year (unusual for us). This is partly due to the fact that we continue to haul everything up and down the stairs as we work on mudding, floor re-finishing and sanding the 2nd floor and actually living in our house. It has caused no end of disruption, and lost poetry books.
Feeche is going to participate in POL this year and he'll be memorizing 3 poems for that.
He'll also participate in the Festival of One Act Plays and memorize his play for that.

In addition to that we'll review CC Cd's and SOTW Cd's and begin to learn MoH Cd's (it amazes me how much of SOTW my notsolittles have actually memorized!).
And, true confessions, my kids continue to memorize entire Charlie Brown DVDs as well as entire comic books and graphic novels, including but not limited to Calvin and Hobbs, Garfield and the aforementioned Charlie Brown.

What are you memorizing this year? What are your resources?

My bloggie buddy Miss. Moe hosts a Memory Monday link-up and you'll find lots more inspiration over at the Hop

Logosphilia & Learning

2011-10-09T14:11:00.003-05:00

Word love, baby. I love tropes and poetry and lit and foreign word lists. More fodder for word play and manipulation, which we work to make an art form 'round here.

My new words for the week (with thanks to the imitable Ms. L'Engle):

iconoclast; One who attacks and seeks to overthrow traditional or popular ideas or institutions
widdershins; In a contrary or counterclockwise direction
hubris; Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance
ontological; Of or relating to essence or the nature of being
fulsome; Offensively flattering or insincere.
soporific; Inducing or tending to induce sleep. Drowsy
poniards; A dagger typically having a slender square or triangular blade
perfidy; deliberate breach of faith, treachery
gauche; awkward, lacking social grace, crude
peutile (french); capable of panic or disorder
lugubrious; mournful, dismal or gloomy
diaphanous; vague or unsubstantial
sarxy; fleshly, pollution of the spirit

I love the word sarxy. Anything with a "x" in it deserves special mention, dontcha' think?

Over at the Hive there was a whole discussion about what home school parents are learning. I think it's an important question. If we are not learning as teachers, how are we keeping the material fresh and engaging for our students? This fall I'm teaching high schoolers Creative Writing and Drawing. I'm also teaching a group of 3rd graders writing. It is so fun to teach the very beginner writer as well as the more mature, serious writer. It jazzes me. I'm challenged to really "get" grammar so that I can engage the notsolittles with it and help them realize that it's just an engaging game, not something to be intimidated or threatened by (which I was for years, hence my struggle in foreign language study). I'm challenged to keep writing and reading myself or the high shcoolers will trounce me. Oh yeah. These are sharp kids. Their writing just thrills me. I would not, at all, be surprised in more than one of my few students ended up being a published author.

My dh, the polymath and voracious learner, is tucking another language under his belt (his 4th) and goes around waxing lyrical in Hebrew. It's is enchanting. Far more enchanting than all of the 70's songs he sings to me, (but not as funny : ). He is always learning something and can engage intelligently with a plethora of subjects. I can engage intelligently about a handful of subjects. I figure all of the recipes and kids birthday and personal info that are filed in my brain is taking up quite a bit of brain space. Still, with that, I am intentional about learning all of the time in certain areas: my faith, writing/lit, gardening/landscaping, relationships (human development/therapy/sociology, creativity and education. Our house fire/ re-build has forced us to learn about building and construction among other things. Which has been an exhausting blast.

I love the idea that to study is worship. Thinking of it as such expands the meaning and forms of worship.

What new words have you come across lately? What are you learning? What jazzes you most?

The Rose Ensemble

2011-10-08T15:49:00.000-05:00

The kids and I had the singular pleasure of attending a concert given by The Rose Ensemble last night at our fair cities newly restored Cathedral. The music- divine. The setting- fabulous. My only regret of the evening was that I purchased one, not two, Cd's.
The concert that we heard was the Life of St. Francis in story and song. Il Poverello: Medieval & Renaissance Music for Saint Francis of Assisi. A perfect tie-in to Feeche's Midieval History study.

Fall Lovliness

2011-10-07T06:38:00.003-05:00

Lots of park time this week, taking advantage of the gorgeous fall weather.

In our homeschool....We got a lot of school work done this week. Feeche is cruising through First Form. Cub is puttering close behind and Flower is happily engage with Ms. Lowe twice a week watching Latina Christian I DVD's. The workbook is challenging to her but she loves throwing around Latin words. Each night she calls, "Good-night, Mater!" "Good-night, Pater." We are still very happy with LoF. Singapore Story Problems still cook our grits. I actually came across one in "5" that I knew how to do all on my own! Woop! History, Science, Lit, and Read Alouds.
We are working on hosting a Poetry Outloud competition for high schoolers in the area.

Good News!...My Sister made it through back surgery just fine. The docs removed a grapefruit sized cyst from her spinal column. Now for recovery!

Words...Loving L'Engles Crosswicks Journal #1, Circle of Quiet. The life that she wove was so rich with art, friends, science, faith, community. Her words are nourishing. We're reading "Wrinkle" next, I was appalled to realize that Cub had never read it.

Books....Finished "Little House on Plum Creek" with Flower. This family goes from trauma to trauma. Honestly, I'm thinking they were walking around with PTSD. They get out of life and death situations over and over by the skin of their teeth. This is my 4th time reading the series out-loud. I know it's fiction. But seriously, I have the greatest respect and admiration for this family while holding in my head, at the same time, the thought that they were a bit whacked. We're taking a break from this series to read a Wrinkle in Time, et al. I need some mystical to balance the stark reality of pioneer living.

Mud works....My leg is getting better after days and days, hours and hours of keeping it elevated and sucking down Ibuprofen. The plan is to tackle the bedroom going to the attic (walk-up) this week-end and get the mudding finished. I'm going to stay earth bound and Viking Man is going to work on the ceiling (we have drywall abut plaster board. So we have to tape and made and smooth the seam.)

Dirt Indoors....Why were my kitchen counters laden with dirt? We dug the last of the potatoes, and the carrots. I don't really like potatoes. They are so bland and starchy. But homegrown are better. They actually have flavor. And carrots from the ground? Taste like a vegetable; clean, slightly sweet, full of fresh air and health.

If you are looking for something wonderful to do with your family this fall, check out my article on Celebrate Sukkot: (and why you should) for some great ideas about incorporating this joyous festival!

Yesterday was a wind-storm. The tramp sashayed across and around the yard. The wind was followed by a thunderstorm and I was awakened by rocking-n-rolling a couple of times. It's defiantly fall, heralding the coming of winter.

Responsiblity

2011-10-06T16:21:00.000-05:00

I've been having a great time reading A Circle of Quiet by Madeline L'Engle. I love the definition of

"Responsibility" - "To Respond."

Elegantly simple and magnificent.

She goes on to write, "There is a beautiful Talmudic story that when the Children of Israel reached the Red Sea, and Moses struck his staff on the shore, the waters of the sea did not part to let them through. The Israelites stood there at the edge of the water and nothing happened until one of the men plunged in.The the waters fell back.

This certainly flies in the face of our culture that makes a studied practice of showing a deplorable lack of curiosity about most everything.

Lots of thoughts brewing about this. Yours?

Fall Festivities

2011-10-04T08:33:00.000-05:00

It's clearly fall 'round here. The fields surrounding our valley residence are being harvested, the birds are flocking in our south pasture (the one bordered by the river) and the air is dry and crisp. We love all things fall and are getting ready for a Sukkot feast with friends, Thanksgiving and girding our loins for the long winters of the Territories.

We are learning about the Old Testament festivals this year. It has been eye-opening, the amount of richness and meaning that we are finding. For a basic start on Sukkot, (beginning the evening of October 12 through October 19) check out my article on How to Celebrate Sukkot. And here are some beautiful, simple chair tie-backs KB made over the week-end.

Small World

2011-10-02T15:52:00.000-05:00

We went out to dinner Friday evening after seeing Courageous as a family. It is just as good the 2nd time around! Feeche and I ordered fish, which reminded me of summer days at my grandparent's cottage. Fried fish for breakfast, caught fresh, and apple pie with milk. Breakfast of ~~champions~~ Germans, yeah, baby. Magical and delicious!
The cottage was on Lake Winona in Indiana, about 1000 miles from where we were dining. KB starts looking at the pictures on the wall and notices that the wall is a tribute to the military. The bottom picture is of a military camp. Guess where...Lake Winona, Indiana.

I loved that place. I loved the cottage; my grandparents, the lake, my aunts and uncles. Croquet on the lawn that was so green is was dazzling. Board games at night. Aunts and Uncles whose eyes shone when they looked at you because you were their tribe, their people, and they loved you that much. Grandparents who didn't say much but made you apple pie and let you eat if for breakfast and took you fishing at 0'dark:30.
Good times. Sweet memories.

A blessed Sabbath.

Dr. Orchestrated

2011-09-30T05:40:00.003-05:00

In my life this week…My life this week was orchestrated by my Doctor. The huge hematoma that developed behind my knee after a fall at the park, 2 days before I played slip-n-slide in the polyurethane, morphed into something ugly. The pain, fever and swelling in my leg ended up being a blood clot. Oy vey. Another week of sitting (flashbacks to March) with my leg elevated. The very good news is that the pain is dissipating and the swelling is going down. So much for my drywalling projects.

My mantra for the week. I am patient. I am patient. I am patient. I am. Really.

By the books: Cub started Henty's The Dragon and the Raven, while Feeche is reading Lawhead's The Warlords of Nin to him and the City of God for history. Flower and I are still making our way through On The Banks of Plum Creek. I also read Camilla by L'Engle and started A Circle of Quiet as well as The Art and Craft of Story Telling. L'Engle is not my favorite word-crafter but she is one of my favorite idea crafters.

In our homeschool this week…We are getting Latin done. I am loving First Form. Feeche and I were talking about it and both agreed that it's been the most approachable program we've tried (Latin for Dummies as it were). He is cruising through after several false starts with other program with the hope to get to 2nd Form before the end of the year. Flower is working through LC I and it is challenging. I am still loving R & S grammar. Cub started LoF Decimals. It was a rough start. We are finally getting into a routine now that Feeche is home again.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share....Steward this opportunity and time. If you are homeschooling, you are an educator. Take your job and your students seriously. Get trained, get read up, get educated and do the best job that you can.

I am inspired by…This week, to be honest, I was greatly discouraged to the point of frustrated tears. Having another week of prescribed sitting is not my idea of fun, inspiration or excitement. KB wrote on our kitchen chalkboard before she left one morning,

"Do not be discouraged nor be dismayed

for the Lord your God is with you."

I am inspired by this. It gives me courage. The Master of the Universe is on my side.

Places we’re going …To the theater (said with a quasi-British accent like on White Christmas during the modern dance scene)

Courageous.

It opens TODAY. KB and I saw an advanced showing last week. We loved it. We're going as a family tonight. The Kendrick Bros. just keep getting better and better. The humor in Courageous is touching, witty and lol funny. The plot line believable. The evangelistic message true but not preachy.

Things I’m working on…an article on Sukkot for HSV to be published this coming Tuesday. Other articles for Heart of the Matter on line and a couple of guest blog spots.

A Picture/Quote and Link to share....isn't this beautiful?! For more lovely signs, check out My *PINK* Life

How was your week? What did you get done? What inspired you?

For more inspiration check out the Blog Hop and Conversion Diaries.

Challenge

2011-09-29T05:51:00.000-05:00

My 2nd guest blog for the week is also written by my oldest son. This time he is writing about Challenge, the program that he participated in in Georgia. He had a fantastic time, came home with his clothes sopping wet and full of sand and had exploits of physical conditioning, rock-solid friendships and odd culinary behavior. In his words....

Challenge

This word might not seem intimidating, but give it a moment. Think it over. What would a challenge be for you?

Before you answer that question, let me remind you that it’s not a challenge unless it stretches you, which means its going to hurt. Yes, hurt. That’s what a challenge is; stress, pain, difficulty, sometimes all of the above.

Now ask yourself “What would be something that challenges me?”

Most of us know that once something like a car-wreak, house fire or someone dying hits, you have a couple of options: denial, deal or addiction.

But what’s a challenge that we can get in our day to day life, which we know isn’t going to damage us, much, and still builds us up? If you’re a young man between the ages of thirteen and twenty one, then there is at least one option available: CHALLENGE.

The Timothy Group’s mission is to train up strong men of God, who don’t fear the challenges of the world; men who will take the pains and troubles they are faced with and use them like stones to build great things!

Yes, this is a faith based organization; and yes, they make you figure out how to work with your team and get hundred pound boulders out of the woods and across the parade-field. God’s parade-field nonetheless!

In Challenge you will do lots of things, which are…how to say it?... Challenging! And you will undergo stress, and you will experience pain. And you’ll see some crazy stuff, like a kid shooting a BB out of the air with a BB-Gun! I am not kidding. You will learn the value of seconds, and the value of good food. You’ll meet people from lots of places, and you will see them grow.

You will also feel like a fish out of water. Though you won’t get scorched and you won’t get burnt, you will get smoked. A lot! But that’s OK, because smoked fish lasts longer.

You’ll end up running through the woods, trying to get your squad through a successive chain of obstacles. When you get to the end of the line, you’ll find yourself faced with something like a rope and a tree and a creek. And even though the instructions don’t make any sense, you’re still going to try and carry them out. You may end up doing a face-plant in the creek. But that’s fine, because by then you’ve already been in the water; either on purpose or by accident. And even if the waters wet and tastes like fish, you know its not going to kill you!

You’ll grab that rope, and you’ll face that obstacle, and you’ll give it what for! You’ll get messy. You’ll get smoked. But at the end of the week when you’re standing on that parade-field; and you’re feet are soaked; and you’re BDU’s are falling off; and you’re stomachs growling; and the Officers are lurking just behind you, waiting to dish out PT; you’ll be able to look inward, and realize: “I’ve grown!”

And then you’ll know that you’re ready for the next level:

Challenge EXTREME.

A Day at a One Room Schoolhouse

2011-09-28T15:30:00.000-05:00

Last week 20+ kids and a couple of moms spent the day at a One Room Schoolhouse.

This Schoolhouse was in use in the Territories from 1883-1978.

The kids started the day with singing, saying the pledge,

singing "America the Beautiful,"

and "Oh, South Dakota!"

Handwriting lessons, as well as art, a Spelling Bee, and a math challenge!

Recess occurred twice and was the highlight of the day! The merry-go-round, teeter-totters, giant slide and swings were hot items. The yard came complete with outhouses!

The day finished with a flag ceremony...

and a group picture!

Back to D.C.

2011-09-26T12:26:00.000-05:00

I have a guest blogger today; my oldest son. He just returned from a 2 week expedition to both Washington D.C. and Atlanta, GA, where he participated in 2 fantastic leadership programs. Today he is sharing about Teenpact's Back to D.C. program. Stay tuned 'cause later this week he'll be writing about Challenge.

Go here for more information about TeenPact Leadership Schools and to find a state class near you!

‘Back to D.C’ is one of several alumni events for the Teen Pact program. It takes place in Washington D.C. in mid September. But what is Back to D.C. about? Why would one to three dozen students want to travel hundreds of miles to get behind on schoolwork and drug all over the nations capitol? The answer can be found in the simple question: what are their priorities?

One might be surprised, when they looked at the numbers and realized just how small of a number of American citizens actually care about how their government works. A lot of people theses days are ignorant about the details of how a bill is passed. Many don’t even realize that they are ignorant, or they simply don’t care. Part of Teen Pact’s mission is to fight this ignorance; to educate young people about how their government works; to get them to care about their country and where it is going. It doesn’t work to just let the politicians take care of everything. Because, just like anyone else, the candidates rarely know what’s best for more than a few people at a time, and even if they do, they might not care about you.

This is why young people are taking the time to become Teen Pact alumni and make the pilgrimage to their nation’s capitol. For four days they attend lectures, which will range from the topics of clear communication to running a successful campaign. During this time they will also live up to the message blazoned on their shirts: We came, we saw, we walked; A lot. A mock presidential campaign is also in order, as well as getting intimate with the local metro system. Not to be forgotten is the chance to play ultimate Frisbee in front of the Washington monument. And what trip to D.C would be complete without a chance to get inside the capitol building itself. It’s a chance to learn, to grow, and make friends form all over the nation. You get to walk until you’re legs hate you, and do all sorts of touristy things while still looking professional.

Washington D.C. is truly an amazing place. The capitol mall is huge; the buildings are big and beautiful; and the water tastes like tax-payers dollars! Don’t ask how I know this. Just go and find out for yourself. Parents are welcome to go as well, and see the things their progeny are seeing. Because in politics, everyone should be a student: no one trusts the experts anyway. It’s an opportunity everyone should take. To go and grow as a person; learn as a citizen; witness their government in action; meet the people they’ve elected; and to have some honest to goodness fun!

On Becoming a Better Teacher

2011-09-25T13:16:00.000-05:00

There was a recent thread over at my fav on-line hang-out about "what has made you a better teacher." It's a great question and one I hope lots of homeschoolers take time to think about. Lots of folks homeschool and yet I doubt that many of them think of themselves as teachers or educators. Perhaps they aren't vocationally (I'm not), but I do believe that if homeschoolers took the time to think of themselves in a more professional manner, they'd have an easier time of it on many different levels (by that I mean a whole lot- probably best left for a whole separate post).

To get to the question.

What has made me a better teacher?

1. Actively Reading, thinking, writing and growing as a person and as an educator. Being intentional about learning about education. Teaching is a small part of being an educator, imho. Teaching is to education as drawing is to art. The foundation but not the whole. I've read scores of books on education. I've written scores of articles on education. I've thought for scores of hours about education, have written a 90 page thesis on it and I'm constantly on the look-out for ways in which to gather more education myself and to provide educational opportunities for my kids. I don't worship education but I do believe that to study is worship.
Also I am personally invested in growing. I convey that as I teach. The point of teaching is to engage the child, to enlarge and expand their understanding, to lead them to a more mature place, be that intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, socially, physically. If I'm not doing that personally, how can I ever hope to do that for someone else? It helps that I am married to a polymath that breathes ideas. He is always challenging me to think and grow about areas that I am not naturally inclined towards. I do the same for him. We are iron, sharpening iron. So is my on-line book club, so are several of my friends. Who is challenging you to grow? In what areas are you growing?

2. Creating educational opportunities and environments. In the past 21 years of homeschooling I have started co-ops, academic class days, run day and drama camps, brought TeenPact to our state, led workshops for kids and parents and sent my kids to the ends of the earth (literally). Working with others to create opportunities not only builds and strengthens the community around you but gives you a great sense about what actually educates and what is time wasting twaddle.

3. Teaching groups of kids. The more I teach, the more mastery as a teacher I experience. Why? Because I loathe staring at a group of bored, miserable students. If you are wasting their time, they'll let you know (usually politely). As I've grown as a teacher, I have find myself less about cajoling the kids into learning and more about setting expectations of excellence and insisting that they rise to meet the challenge.

4. Spending time in Creative Pursuit. I have grown as a teacher by taking time to do the things that energize me as a person; reading, mulling, gardening, writing, Bible Study, talking with my husband, doing movie, curriculum, book reviews, etc.

5. Participation in our Beit Midrash Bible Study. This study (which has morphed over the past 5 years from a Bible Study to a Fellowship Group) has taught me to think and express analytically and critically. We read, make observations, make application. It is a not an easy process and one that few adults (let alone kids) engage in naturally.

6. As I've said Ad nauseam, having a clearly defined pedagogy. This doesn't necessarily mean that you align yourself with someone elses thang. It means you define, for yourself, what your pedagogy is. Mine is basically neo-classical with a lot of "classical" unschooling thrown in. More than anything it is a life-style of learning. You can read more about that here.

7. Realizing that I am not raising kids, or adults, but that I am raising spiritual beings that have eternal souls. Education isn't all about grades or scholarships or honor or prestige. It's about stewarding the life and capabilities of the people God has entrusted to our care so that they can live the life and do the work that God has called them to. I'm an ambitious person with some very intelligent kids. It's my natural inclination to want my kids to "win," to "be the winners." The God-reality is that God calls us to a life of servant hood and humility. Put in that context, my kids gifts are not theirs so that they can "win." Their gifts are there for them to honor God with, to serve His people, to bring glory to His name. That might mean winning, it might not.

What do you do to grow as a teacher and as an educator?

More Busy Days

2011-09-24T16:36:00.000-05:00

In my life this week…It was one of those weeks. The kind that are busy and scattered and leave you feeling like you got nothing done, hence the inadvertent blog break.

By the books: We finish Martin LaPorres for Cubs lit class as well as Farmer Boy. We started By the Banks of Plum Creek. I am still getting through Almost Christian and have started a book on writing, which I am loving. It is chock full of good stuff, but I can't remember the exact name of it and I'm not home to find out. Don't worry, I'll let you know more about it later.
In our homeschool this week…We started VP Bible Cards, worked on Math, Latin (First Form and LC I), Poetry, Grammar, Lego League, IEW's Fables. I'm co-teaching art for co-op so twice a month I'm teaching drawing to the Jr. and Sr. Highers using Bruce McIntyre's excellent "drawing textbook." Along with 20+ other students we spent a day at a One Room School House that was in service to the Territories from 1883 -1978 (pics soon, I don't have my camera with me either!). The grandson of the gentleman who built the school house was a special guest during the kids visits and recited poetry, sang songs and tried to trip them up on Latin words. Not bad for a man of 96 years old!

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…show up to homeschool.

I am inspired by…way too many things. The book we are reading, the excellent conversations I've been privileged to be a part of with the ladies in our homeschoooling community, the soon to be released Courageous film and the Kendrick brothers (really, they inspire me big time!), Allen Addison, the book on writing I'm reading and Pinterest. I'm visual, what can I say. I love researching ideas on there. I'd love to get my own pinboard but the days have been speeding by.
Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…Picking up Feeche for 10 days gone this evening. We'll love hearing about all of his exploits and having him home again. His quiet, strong presence has been missed.
Stopping on the way to visit with Don and Ricci. They are the real deal and I love hanging out with them!
Our Saturday morning fellowship/study group. It just gets better and better.
Again, Courageous. Make plans to go. You won't be disappointed! The humor is laugh out loud funny, the plot touching and inspiring. The message evangelistic.
Oy vey. My brain is full. I have a zillion things to write about but I haven't had time to mull and sort it all out so it's kind of all in a giant random global brain jumble right now.

Things I’m working on…
An article on Sukkot. It has taken on a life of it's own. I'm learning a ton about Jewish holidays and festivals right now. It's amazing what we learn as we get ready to teach!
Mudding the bedroom that goes to the attic. Viking Man put paper down on the floors upstairs, put down drop cloths and got everything ready to go for me. Now for time to get it done! Then we're going to texture and, hopefully move our bed into a bedroom (Lisa, doing the grand pumbah happy dance!).
Squash recipes! My friend Mary has gifted us with butternuts! I'm thinking bisque and squash baked with sausage, apples and onions.
I’m reading…How to write a book with a stack of about 30 others waiting. The weather has been glorious, making it too nice to be inside reading.

How was your week? What's inspired you lately?

White & Nerdy

2011-09-21T10:06:00.000-05:00

We never get tired of Donny rocking with Al.

Release from Floor Purgatory

2011-09-19T13:01:00.000-05:00

Last week we found ourselves trapped in floor purgatory. At $90 a coat you'd think the floor would have look incredible in the 4 coats we'd lovingly swathed it in. But, as the 4th coat dried there were some serious discrepancies in sheen and coverage that couldn't be ignored. Viking Man donned his ~~super suit~~ knee pads and sanded again. Then he threw out a new fleece (literally, you apply the poly with a sheep skin) and applied coat #5. It's not perfect. One of the joys of diy, ~~you know every.single.flaw~~ knowing when to call it done.

Next up, we have more wall repair to do. Mud ~~pies~~ works are becoming my spec-ee-ality. Then we'll texturize walls and ceilings and paint. We are mulling over how we are going to get the hundreds of yards of trim on doors, windows and along the floor. Oh, and we have the tub surround to tile, and lights to install. Dh zapped himself this week-end putting in a lighting housing. He'd killed the switch to the room, but the closet light was connected to the hall...huh? And we realized that the big, beautiful new master bedroom closet has no light. Oy vey. It's all good. Little by little, one travels far (and one gets a house re-built). Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Busy, Busy Week

2011-09-16T06:54:00.001-05:00

In School this week
We started Tutoring Center and Co-op last week. It was a lot to handle with the house in dissarray from working on the floors- we had to move our office down to the front porch and cram all the stuff we'd store'd on the 2nd fllor onto the porch and other small places. Anyhoo, besides the lack of organization and 2much2do we started.
Good stuff: Lego League, during which I'm teaching writing (IEW's Fables, Myths and Fairy Tales) to the younger siblings. Very fun. Other definite wins: First Form Latin, History (of course), Literature, and pre-Chem. I'm also teaching Creative Writing to high schoolers.
We tried to get math, thinking skills, read-alouds and poetry in during the rest of the week but it was a stretch. We had a freeze warning and ended up clean picking a lot of the garden with lots of produce to figure out what to do with. It wasn't the best year for gardening, that's for certain, but it wasn't a complete wash either.

Things we're working on
Floors. The 4th coat of polyurethane was weird. It came out high gloss in some areas and no gloss in others, even though the 2 gallons we used were from the same shipment. We are going to have to sand, again, and put another coat on. I played slip-n-slide last week during our 4th coat and ended up kissing the floor. How does one explain floor induced whip-lash? Needless to say, this project is getting a little old.

Things we're thinking about
The too early freeze warnings. We clean picked most of the garden and covered the rest.
In retaliation to cold weather we made this:

Pumpkin Spice Latte

2 cups milk

1 cup very strong coffee (4 tablespoons coffee grounds to 1 cup of hot water)

2 teaspoons vanilla

2-4 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon (plus extra for dusting)

2 heaping spoonfuls of pumpkin

Pour all of the ingredients into a pot and heat over medium-high heat until the coffee is steaming hot. Pour into mugs and top with whipped cream & cinnamon. Enjoy!

Prep Time: 5 minutes, serving Size: 2

We used the rest of the can of pumpkin to make pumpkin muffins, topped with walnuts. Very yummy.

We've also made some great garden stir-frys and soups.

Move over horse whisperer

Cub always trains our current crop of kittens to ride on his shoulders. It is tres endearing (or else heart stopping if you are weeding, lost in thought and they jump on your shoulders). This year he took it a step farther. Penelope is his "Attack cat." (we name our kittens by theme every year. This year we went with a Muppets theme- you know, Penelope, Rizzo's chicken girlfriend?).
Places we're going
KB is counting the days till her program is over and she can move on to other things. She is loving the actual cosmetology part of the program. The social aspect, not so much. In the mean-time she is doing lots of very cool art work and planning what's next.

"We live at home, quiet, confined with nothing but our feelings to prey upon us."

Feeche is field tripping in D.C. this week. So far he's been to Arlington Cemetery and Capital Mall. He's heard great speakers and is getting worn out already. I'm praying that he doesn't get too tired cause it's just day #3 of the 10 day adventure. Shipping his soldier of fortune gear today for part 2.

A picture to share

Just cause I thought it was so darn cute

Before & After

2011-09-14T09:45:00.000-05:00

Before.

And After.

Feeche ready to fly the friendly skies and head on off to the capital. A 4 a.m. run to the airport and he is now sitting at his lay-over stop waiting to get airborne again.

There's not much occasion for ties in the Territories, necessitating a Tie Tutorial.

Carnival of Homeschooling PSA

2011-09-13T19:57:00.000-05:00

This week’s Carnival of Homeschooling

has been published at

Notes from a Homeschooling Mom.

Homeschool Blog Meme

2011-09-13T13:19:00.000-05:00

1. One homeschooling book you have enjoyed:

2. One resource you wouldn't be without
Library Card

3. One resource you wish you had never bought:
Saxon Math for High School

4. One resource you enjoyed last year
Writing With Ease

5. One resource you will be using next year
2nd Form Latin
6. One resource you would like to buy
A couple more laptops!

7. One resource you wish existed
High School history set up like SOTW with CD's.
8. One homeschool catalogue you enjoy reading
Veritas Press

9. One homeschooling website you use regularly
TWTM boards

10. Tag six other homeschoolers:
If you're reading this, you're tagged! Leave me a comment so I can stop over and read your list

Hi, My Name is Lisa, and I am not Wonder Woman....

2011-09-12T09:04:00.000-05:00

everyone wave and say,

"Hi, Lisa!"

I've had 2 friends make comments in the past couple of weeks that my blog intimidates them because it looks like we get so much done.

Oy vey.

Let me 'splain.

1. Our house is 1/2 done. We decided to re-build after the house fire instead of bulldozing based solely on financial reasons. That, in itself, is cause for a thesis but I won't bore you right now with the details. We are now at the part of the show where the money is worn thin and the demands of the house still loom large. My bed is in the living room, in front of the front door. I live with zero privacy, no doors, no room to go to, dh and my clothes are in the living room, my "dressing area" is the main bathroom. Do we have to get all this stuff done? No, but frankly I will be doing the wild and crazy happy dance when it is because some days I am doing the wild and crazy losing my mind dance over having so little personal space. We are working hard now to get to a better place as soon as possible.

2. Life is short. Way short. Having my family drop around me like flies has brought that point home in a powerful way.There's a lot I want to do, a lot Viking Man wants to do, a lot we want our kids to do. I'm not intimidated by death in the least, but I will have regrets if we don't steward the days of our lives well and remain true to our vision, mission and goals.

3. I am not a patient person. Ask my kids. Ask my husband. Ask anyone who has know me for more than10 minutes. We are not getting through the work, building, reading, home school every day with sweetness and light. Some days we get through gritting our teeth, sweating and crying- literally. Apologizing is one of the life skills we teach around here because we are in need of doing it so often.

4. While we do get a lot of some things done, we don't get a lot of other things done. My list of wannaget2's is long. Some of it is necessary, like working out, but it just doesn't happen daily. Life is seasonal and I have hope that this season will end and a new one will begin, with different challenges and rewards.

This is not to say that I don't second guess what we do. I toy with the idea of going to work professionally often. If I worked, we could be paying for the house to get done, we could pay for the lessons our kids aren't getting, we could go on vacation every year. Yep, we could. But then we wouldn't be raising our children in a manner that is personal and personalized. We would be outsourcing, not only the re-build and the lessons,but the stewardship of our children. And we're just not there. We remind ourselves often that in doing one thing we are choosing not to do something else.

5. We get exhausted. Some days I am so tired it hurts. You know you are working hard when even the teens beg for mercy and sleep. I went to bed several nights last week wondering if I really needed to make the effort to brush my teeth. My love affair with my choppers won out, but it was a close battle.

6. Part of my goal for this blog is to illustrate what a normal family can do with a vibrant faith in the Living God, obedience to what He has called us to do, and the faith to do it. I hope it is an encouragement and that you realize that you can try something you don't know how to do; like re-finish floors (I didn't) or dry-wall (I did.not), or garden, or make something new (our first batch of wine is a lovely rose but needs aged. If it doesn't work out as a beverage it could certainly be used as antiseptic!) or homeschool, or pray over the large and small things and wait for God to answer. And I hope that you realize what it is God is calling YOU to do. Which is totally different than what He is calling me and my family to do.

7. “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” CS Lewis, Weight of Glory (1949)

I hope my blog and our life is a testimony that drives some people to envy and that they turn off the T.V, step away from the computer, put down the Halo controls and go outside to walk or garden with their children, build a Succut shelter, cook together, read more, laugh out loud, talk to the Living God, turn off the media, listen for His still small voice and see and hear the people in their lives in a new and vibrant way.

So, now you know. I'm just a regular Jo, like you. Walking in obedience (most days) on the path I find in front of me. I hope that is an encouragement to you. I don't have small kids at home anymore, I'm old enough to have done some things a lot. I'm old enough to realize that lack of obedience and running away leads to uncomfortable situations, like staring at the innards of a whale. So, even though I'm totally intimidated by some things, I do them anyway because the alternative is something I've done already and don't want to go back to. (would you call this "life by intimidation? How 'bout, "life by experience." = )

I'm not Wonder Woman. Nope, not one little bit.

(If you are, please lmk. I've got some questions for ya!)

2011-09-09T05:35:00.035-05:00

In my life this week…We sanded, did an inordinate amount of vacuming rooms that we haven't lived in in almost 2 years, moved and hauled stuff and wood trim around some more (100's of pounds of it.) I should really, truly, look far more buff than I do.

In our homeschool this week…We did a lot of reading. The rest of the week, besides Tutoring Center and Co-op, focused on the floors. Oy vey. I am so not ready for this fall.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…Little by little, one travels far. Wash, rinse, repeat.

I am inspired by…Addison Allen's writing. It's a bit too romancy for me (I really, mostly, don't ever read romance, but her stories are mainly delightful and even the romance isn't, generally, too sappy or discontent-making) What really captured my imagination was the new to me genre -mystical realism- that she writes in. It's the story behind the story, the unseen that becomes seen, the unspoken that is said, the scents of places and people that take on lives of thier own and become characters. I am enthralled.

.Places we’re going.... Feeche hops on a plane in less than a week to fly the friendly skies. D.C. and the Land of Dixie are on the agenda. Suit & tie and BDU's. He deserves a break from all of the sanding, vacuming, hauling and poly-ing, along with every other -ing we've been doing.. He has earned every bit of this trip but I'm gonna miss his being around when Viking Man isn't.

...and people we’re seeing…Drs. Dan and Mary Ann. Stopped by over Labor Day on their way from Hoosier ville to the coast, and ate, cooked, helped with the floors, went to the UBuildIt store with us, sat at the fire and ate rhubarb apple pie- a delish dish! These are our friends who lived on a yacht for a year, sailing to Fiji,, whave written a book (The Last Reunion) and are busy re-modeling a huge old farmhouse very close to our college stomping grounds.

My favorite thing this week and the things I’m working on…the floors. Booyah, baby! Another coat of poly today, then 2 light sandings, 2 more coats and the floors are done.

A link to share...How to Educate Your Kids by yours truly, over at HSV. I'd love to hear your thoughts!