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From the monthly archives: July 2009
Today is St. Martha’s feastday!
From today’s meditation in In Conversation with God
Concretely, our activities and concerns that refer directly to the Lord’s service should never cause us to forget the one thing needful, the Person of Christ. In our ordinary life we need to keep in mind that matters which seem terribly important, like work, financial gain and social relations should never take precedence over the family itself. These means are worth little if family life suffers. Only in extraordinary situations may it be necessary for the head of the family to work far away from the home as in the case of immigrants or sailors. If a father or mother earns more money but neglects the children, what good can this result?
This has been a constant struggle in our household: discerning what’s “good” and what is “best”. Increasingly we have come to realize that what is best is putting FAMILY’s needs first — sometimes over individuals’ needs, often over community’s needs. If the family’s needs are not taken care of, be they mental, emotional, physical or spiritual, service outside of the family ultimately suffers. You cannot give of yourself if you don’t get the nourishment you need first. Our children need us to give of ourselves, before we can give ourselves to others, or expect our children to give of themselves. When the very nucleus of society is neglected, i.e., simply expected to grow on its own, it won’t. As my husband puts it, “People usually say ‘It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality. But at the same time, you cannot have QUALITY TIME when there’s no quantity to begin with.” Serving Christ means paying attention to the most basic needs — putting Christ first means a commitment to prayer, especially family prayer… which in turn enriches every other aspect of our lives. Then and only then can we focus on the essential. And when we focus on the essential, we realize that so many things in our lives are just… fluff. Even service becomes fluff when they take us away from our #1 job: making sure our family’s needs are met.
This is closely related to our goal of living a slower, simpler life…. which we discuss more in detail here.
The whole document can be found here.
And you have guys like these, who think it’s too long to plow through, and therefore let’s just vote on it?
You know, my mom always used to say, “If you’re not sure, don’t.” Think Conyers et al. ever heard those words of wisdom? Apparently not.
From RTL: “The Congressional Budget Office is saying that this bill could increase the current federal budget deficit by $239 billion over the next 10 years, despite attempted “cost saving” revisions made to the bill last week.”
… I try not to worry about my children’s future in this country, but it’s difficult. And I’m not just talking about money here. I’m talking about the morally-depraved society/government that thinks abortion = health care.
I *heart* Dick Blick. Why? Because, like Amazon, your shopping cart stays put until you push “Place Order”. I’ve ordered from other places where your stuff only stays in the cart for a set number of hours, and then it’s gone and you have to start over. Not at Dick Blick. This order has been sitting in my shopping cart for over two weeks. I tweaked endlessly while continuing to organize our school room (which we just decided last night, is being MOVED to another part of the house LOL). One thing I did differently this year: organize first, then shop. In previous years I wasn’t organized enough and just placed an order guesstimating just what we’ll need for the year. I usually place another order mid-year to replenish and that’s when I adjust things. This year, I took careful note of what we still have in stock, so I don’t end up with too much. We’re trying a few new things and going with some tried-and-true.
Armada Wire Scissors Rack
Tracing Paper
30-pack of Sculpey III
Derwent Coloursoft Pencils — a change from our usual Prismacolors
Body Crayons from Klutz
Pacon Peacock Construction Paper
Blick Modeling Clay
Hardwood Modeling Tools
Daler-Rowney Wirebound Sketchbooks
X-Acto KS Pencil Sharpener — I am tired of having to de-clog our electric one!
Richeson 8-well Slant Mixing Tray
Blick Liquid Watercolor — I really want to go back to tubes, but not this year — thought this would be easier with a baby in the home
Kneaded Erasers
Vinyl Erasers
Palmer Prism Acrylic Craft Paints in Regular and Metallic/Pearls
Staedtler Calligraphy Pen Set — this one’s for me as my two oldest kids have their own sets
Royal Soft Grip Golden Taklon Brushes
From Amazon, I’m getting
Moleskine Ruled Notebook Large
Fiskars 12-93007097 Paper Edgers Set Classic
Dixon Ticonderoga Wood Cased Black Core #2 Pencils, Soft, Pre-Sharpened, 12 Count, Yellow (13806)
and from Costco,
Sharpie Permanent Marker Fine Tip Assorted 24 Pack
gel pens
Scotch® Magic Tape, 3/4 in x 1000 in , 16 Rolls per pack
I still have drawing paper, watercolor paper, tempera paper, and would you believe it, some special Arches and Fabriano watercolor papers in the jumbo sizes, from an order I placed 19 years ago when I was pregnant with my 18-yo? I was doing watercolors at the time, and got distracted with the pregnancy.
Gotta go, baby needs me. I’ve been trying to find my organizing post on art materials a few years ago, but no luck so far. Will try again tomorrow.
If you want an explanation of the title, ask my kids. I don’t know exactly what that means. Except my 18-yo kept saying, “Mom, you got owned.” Whatever. (Am I allowed to say that at 41?)
My 13-year-old is amazing. Okay, I probably shouldn’t say that before I’ve explained why. But wow.
Yesterday, he was doing some research on Environmental Science, for scouting. So I gave him some help, a book, some links, etc. At lunchtime I went into how some environmental activists can take it to extremes and slide off into the extreme end of the spectrum into “anti-life” territory, as in: we need to stop having children because the world can’t possibly support all these humans! Or some such nonsense. His next statement took me by surprise (surprise because I ddin’t expect it to come from a 13-yo’s mouth, although in retrospect, I should have known): “What’s the point of preserving the environment if there’s no one to enjoy it?”
And then today. I’m getting ready to place a huge order for art supplies. I only need $8 more so I can take advantage of a $20 discount (LOL, funny how that works). So I asked them what specific art supplies they’ve been wanting. The 10-year-old: more paints. The 7-year-old: body crayons. The 18-year-old: (what I thought I heard) ceiling wax. (My head: is she planning to redecorate her room before college?) She meant, of course, sealing wax. And the 13-yo goes — “Hey, me too!” I frowned. Isn’t that a girly thing? 18-yo concurred.
Then he goes, “The Emperors used them, and they’re not girls!” We laugh and I admit that he’s right.
But he goes one step further:
“The Pope uses them!”
Yeah, yeah. I got owned. What can I say. I love homeschooling! And I love my kids. They make it so much fun. 
Since this is my blog, I’m allowed to brag once in a while, right?
I also post this as an encouragement to myself and other homeschooling mothers who worry about their children’s writing skills. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it in the past but Aisa was very resistant to formal writing classes/lessons. I tried so many books on her — The Latin Road to English Grammar, Voyages in English, Exercises in English, an online writing course, etc., etc. Finally around the 10th grade I gave up. I just continued to feed her good and great books, fueled by my own passion as well as hers, and just let her write, as she wished. Mostly on her blog. There was very little (emphasis on the VERY) in the way of formal writing in our homeschool. I did give her Format Writing to do on her own (because by that time I was frustrated with her non-cooperation and I frankly didn’t have time to go through her work and put up with the little annoyances of back-and-forth argument about what to do and how to do things. I don’t want to give the impression that she’s argumentative or stubborn. She’s very sweet, but I had to learn to strike a careful balance between giving her advice on her writing and basically just keeping my mouth SHUT. Most of the time I ended up doing the latter, just to avoid unpleasantness. Sometime before 12th grade I gave her The Elements of Grammar, figuring if she at least read that short book she’ll have the basics, even if we never did anything with it.
Well, she finished high school a year early and took several months off to relax and travel with us. She starts college in the fall. She’ll be in Honors English and asked a couple of people to write recommendation letters for her to submit to the committee. Yesterday, she got this from her Anglo-Saxon lit teacher, and needless to say we are mighty proud of her:
July 22, 2009
To Whom it may Concern:
I highly recommend Aurora (Aisa) P for entrance into your Honors Experience program. Her writing ability and critical thinking skills stand out in my memory as exemplary. I had the pleasure of teaching Aisa in the Fall 2008 semester of Virtue and Heroism: An Introduction to Anglo-Saxon Literature. This class is presented to junior and senior homeschool students as an honors-level writing and literature class. Its structure was based on the honors seminar classes I had in college and emphasized critical, text-based interpretation of literature and written analysis. Assignments included reading Anglo-Saxon works in translation, answering 3-4 analysis questions weekly, and writing a final paper incorporating elements of the semester-long study.
Aisaʼs writing throughout the semester was pointed and precise, supported with detail from the text. It was technically proficient, devoid of grammar errors and small mistakes, and submitted punctually. She followed directions precisely, except where combining answers to two questions on an assignment produced a more complete essay. She also far exceeded the minimum paper length, and yet her work was focused and didnʼt ramble. Her vocabulary is expansive, having been fed from a steady diet of great books.
In addition to writing competently, her thought was well-formed. The question on the final paper was to sum up the virtues of a good Anglo-Saxon man and woman. She drew connections between the class-assigned literature to works she had read in different courses, and to her contemporary faith and to her extra-curricular role leading a youth group. Chesterton was quoted alongside Bede, and Peter Kreeft, along with Beowulf. She was able to see the big picture, and often compared or contrasted one weekʼs assigned reading with that of a previous assignment. These skills are often found in upper-college level work; finding it in a younger student is a rare treasure.
Aisaʼs insights and academic ability would make her an excellent scholar in your honors program. I would be happy to answer any questions you have, and can be contacted by phone and e-mail. With my highest recommendation, I hope you accept her in your program, beginning her freshman year.
Sincerely,
All: More Adventures of the Great Brain
Migi and Yena: The Queen’s Feet by Sarah Ellis and Dusan Petricic
Blaze and the Lost Quarry
Planet Mars by Seymour Simon
Rocks in His Head by Carol Otis Hurst
The Donkey’s Dream by Barbara Helen Berger
Blaze and the Gray Spotted Pony
Mr. Popper’s Penguins
Maria’s Comet by Deborah Hopkinson
Frosty’s New Friends
Yena:
Butterflies Fly by Yvonne Winer
Christmas in Mouseland
Angelina at the Palace
Angelina Ballerina
The Woods Scientist by Stephen R. Swinburne
Migi: The Silmarillion
baby’s awake. more later!
It’s summer, so a particularly appropriate time to think about thinking. This is the season when I usually go through past curriculum, evaluate what worked for us and what didn’t, get rid of books taking up space in the shelves, buy books and materials that fit our philosophy and learning styles better (yeah! my favorite part). It’s also time to not only evaluate the what, but more importantly, the why. These are my favorite authors, whose works I come back to over and over… I have their books scattered in various parts of the house — my bedside table, my planning shelf, our living room, etc. They’re beneficial not only because they’re Catholic but because they’re the products of great thinkers… and I find myself wishing often that when I grow up, I want to become, think and write and like them.
Peter Kreeft
Mortimer Adler
but I want to read more. Here’s a website with his works.
Here’s a guy whose works I really need to delve into more [sigh]:
New to my wish list:
My oldest child is 18. She’s done with high school. We promised each other we’d have our own little book club — she “prescribes” a book for me and I prescribe one for her. Right now I’m reading Anne of Green Gables
