Miscellaneous Musings

Starting Places: On the Rightly Ordered Schedule
An encouraging article on the Circe Institute blog written by a homeschooling mom on ordering the day.  This is something I always strive to do but somehow always end up falling flat but Cathy has some wonderful suggestions for making it work.

Seven Thoughts on Time Management
Keeping with the theme of schedules and time management, Doug Wilson wrote out seven thoughts on time management:

1. The point is fruitfulness, not efficiency.
2. Build a fence around your life, and keep that fence tended.
3. Perfectionism paralyzes.
4. Fill in the corners.
5. Plod. Keep at it. Slow and steady wins the race.
6. Take in more than you give out.
7. Use and reuse. State and restate. Learn and relearn. Develop what you know. Cultivate what you have.

Finding Free Christian Kindle Books

Words of Grace has a post on finding free Christian book for the Kindle.  I love my Kindle, but as my husband has reminded me, those seemingly small charges for books add up quickly.  So I'm on the lookout for as many free books as I can find.

"The Art of the Commonplace" by Wendell Barry

On a related note, this Kindle book is now being offered free for a limited time.  I highly recommend anything by Wendell Barry.

Prodigal Sons and Daughters

On a completely different note, I thought this blog post by Sherry of Semicolon was very good.  It's an encouraging article for all of us with Prodigals in our lives.  And don't we all have Prodigals in our lives? 

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

In my life this week…

Company, company and more company.  I also had to take my son to get an MRI Arthrogram.  I was told it could take 3 hours….it took 5!  I don’t understand how sitting in a waiting room for 5 hours makes me SO tired!  The radiologist says he has some kind of tear in his shoulder which explains why it pops out so easily.  Looks like he will be having surgery soon.

 In our homeschool this week…

Did I tell you we had company this week?  It’s hard to school with company…even with very wonderful, supportive, washes my dishes company.  I really think it’s me…I get so distracted!

 

I’ve decided that since the two older girls will be done with online classes soon that I will just hold off on doing History now for those couple of weeks…then we will be doing all History all the time in June. 

My favorite thing this week was…

Realizing how far my 4^th grader has come in her reading this year.  She was barely reading at the beginning of this year…now she is inhaling books.  She’s just like her brother was…a late bloomer when it comes to reading.

What’s working/not working for us…

We need a schedule…and we need to stick to it….that’s all there is to it!

Thoughts I have…

This whole crazy thing called homeschooling really works.  It’s hard and messy and disrespected but the results are worth it.  My son got on the Dean’s list for the 4^th time of his 4 semesters at college.  Very cool!

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

“True education is a kind of never ending story-a matter of continual beginnings, of habitual fresh starts, of persistent newness.” --J.R.R. Tolkien

The Homeschool Mother's Journal - 12

In my life this week…

I’m frustrated because I’m still dealing with some health issues that are making me feel SO tired.   Which means the house is falling apart around me and school is not getting the amount of attention that I feel it needs.

In our homeschool this week…

Things are chugging along despite my fatigue.  I’m thankful for online classes that take the pressure off me and keep the kids working.  History is the big thing we are behind on.  What I will probably do is spend big chunks of time on history once the online classes are done at the end of May.  Looks like we will be schooling well into June this year.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

The girls are going on an orienteering weekend with the local Boy Scouts troop.   Yes, they are allowing girls to participate.  They are so excited to get the chance to camp and run around in the woods all weekend. 

I will be going to the Opera.  LOL!  How’s that for a contrast.  I’m going to see Juan Diego Florez in Le Comte Ory at the Metropolitan Opera!  I’m so excited.  This will be the third opera I’ve attended this season.  I’ve come to appreciate and enjoy opera more and more. 

What’s working/not working for us…

I still love Math U See and despite not feeling well and not getting everything done….we are getting math done and the girls really understand it.  Another thing working for us is Latin for Children.  This is a very well done and well laid out curriculum. 

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…

I’ve been thinking about how I can order or train the affections in my girls.  I’m reading Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis.  Such a little book with such depth!   Here are some quotes from Lewis on the subject of training our children’s affections:

“The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts.  The right defense against false sentiments is to inculcate just sentiments.  By starving the sensibility of our pupils we only make them easier prey to the propagandist when he comes.  For famished nature will be avenged and a hard heart is no infallible protection against a hard heart.”

“St. Augustine defines virtue as ordo amoris, the ordinate condition of the affections in which every object is accorded that kind of degree of love which is appropriate to it.  Aristotle says that the aim of education is to make the pupil like and dislike what he ought.  When the age for reflective thought comes, the pupil who has been thus trained in ‘ordinate affections’ or ‘just sentiments’ will easily find the first principles in Ethics; but to the corrupt man they will never be visible at all and he can make no progress in that science.”

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

For more on ordering our children’s affections check out Cindy’s blog, Ordo Amoris.  She has a lot to say about it and many practical ideas as well.

The Homeschool Mother’s Journal - 11

In my life this week...

Has it been a week ALREADY?!  It was a quiet week…my favorite kind!  I prefer to be home rather running around every day. The major happening of the week was: My oldest turned 20!  How did that happen?? 

In our homeschool this week...

We were not as productive as I would have liked but not bad.  We got most things done.  Because I’m feeling tired, I’m moving in slow motion…which means school moves in slow motion.

We did get our online classes picked out for next year and the girls are all signed up.  I love Potter’s School.  I find it a huge help with my older students. It allows me to farm out those subjects that I don’t feel comfortable teaching…mainly English!

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

We picked up the girls’ Civil War Ball gowns after they had been altered.  The girls will be attending a Civil War Ball put on for homeschoolers in our area.  They looked beautiful and are SO excited.

My favorite thing this week was...

Sitting down with my sophomore and getting her opinions on her classes for next year.  We also discussed colleges and looked at a few websites. I love making plans!  Looking at colleges for child number 2 is much less stressful than it was the first time through. 

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

Here’s my question…where DO all the pencils go?  Do you think they are in the same place as the missing socks?

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

This is a photo my daughter took for her Potter’s School Photography class.  It’s a great class.  Oh, and this is our dog, Kay. 

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

In my life this week...

I have not been feeling well which means not much of anything has gotten done. 

In our homeschool this week...

Since I haven’t been feeling well…we didn’t get much school done either.  My kids got all their online class work done but everything they do with me didn’t get much attention.

My favorite thing this week was...

My fourth grader had to do a presentation about the sun for her co-op class.  She’s never done a presentation before and required lots of help.  I was resting and when I finally dragged myself into the schoolroom to give her a hand, there where my older two daughters helping her find interesting facts about the sun and printing out pictures for her display board.  Love it!

What's working/not working for us...

It’s not working that I’m not feeling well.  :P  Besides that I have been happy with this school year so far and our curriculum.  I THINK I’ve finally given up my perfectionistic attitudes about homeschooling and have learned to ride the ups and downs of each day.  After 14 some years of homeschooling, I find that it is a constant “falling off the horse” and getting back on again.  It doesn’t look like the cover of the Teaching Home….and if you know what the Teaching Home is then you have been around for quite a while.  :)  But it’s all of God’s grace…and sometimes I think that, no one is more familiar with God’s grace on a daily, hourly, minute by minute basis, than a homeschooling mom.

  

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

I have tried to follow the Classical Method of educating my children in our homeschool.  It is a lofty goal and I fall far short.  As I study Classical Education, I find that there are different understandings of it in the homeschool community.  I see two camps.  The first I call the Nouveau Classical Educators or what I also like to call the "drill them and kill them" crowd.  Then there are those that seek to find the ancient definition of Classical Education which focuses on literature, dialogue, and the training of the appetites.  This is the camp that I try to align myself with.  The more I understand what true Classical Education is the more I see that Charlotte Mason was a true Classical Educator. 

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

“Christian Classical Education is the cultivation of wisdom and virtue by nourishing the soul on truth, goodness, and beauty by means of the seven liberal arts and the four sciences so that, in Christ, the student is enabled to better know, glorify, and enjoy God.” Andrew Kern of CiRCE Institute

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

I'm joining The Homeschool Chick with her weekly Homeschool Mother's Journal.  Here's my entry for the week:

In my life this week...

We had Spring Break last week and went to Quebec to ski.  It was lots of fun but this week we had to face the music.  The girls had lots to catch up on for their online classes.  I had trouble getting out of vacation mode and getting back into “real life”!  So for me, most of the week was spent unpacking, doing laundry, grocery shopping, catching up on my To Do list.

In our homeschool this week...

The girls got all caught up and we did the main subjects.  But as usual History, Logic, Morning Time and all those important things…at least I think they are important…didn’t get done.  Sigh!

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

We are seeing WAY too much of our orthodontist.  The older two girls each had an appointment this week on different days.  Ugh!  I don’t like having to leave the house so much…I do much better all round when I get to stay home.

My favorite thing this week was...

Date night with my hubby.  He’s the best!!

What's working/not working for us...

Math U See is working great for us!   I am so impressed by it and wish I had been using it the last 13 years of my homeschooling career.  What’s not working….finding time for History and Morning Time.  I feel like if we could just get up and moving a little earlier then we might have time for those very important things.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

It’s time to start planning next school year for my sophomore soon to be junior in High School.  Is Chemistry a required subject for High School?  What is the minimum requirement for science when applying to college?  My daughter’s strengths lie in the area of English rather than Math or Science.  She has taken Biology and Marine Biology (both lab sciences) in High School so far.  I wonder if she must take Chemistry. 

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

“The ability to speak exactly is intimately related to the ability to know exactly. “

Wendell Berry, “Imagination in Place”