Follow This Link!

 Homeschooling

Art plans and assemblage project

Our unschooling friend Theresa has some pretty cool art history plans and projects for this homeschool year for her daughter.  They have been fun to follow and are hugely inspiring.  Do follow this link to see how the first project turned out....it is pretty cool.

Here is the list of artists that they are planning to study this year:

• Louise Nevelson
• Marc Chagall
• Pablo Picasso
• Alexander Calder
• August Rodin
• F. Hundertwasser
• Rene Magritte
• Alberto Giacometti
• Vincent Van Gogh
• Leonardo DaVinci

Folk Art

• Jean Debuffet*
• Jerome Couelle*
• Alexandro Farto*
• Lisa Kokin*
• Slinkachu*
• Huichol Nierikas* (not an artist, a style of Mexican folk art)

Her second assemblage project is pretty cool....check it out!

See her Marc Chagall bulletin board here.  Clever idea, that board.

See her Rene Mangritte study ideas here.......I wonder how they turned out? Theresa?



Year End Pictures and Interviews

Wow!  What a great idea!  I wish I had seen this about 15 years ago. 

I am not sure how I ended up at Amber's blog.......but I really like it.  In this post, she shares how she takes photos, makes a list of what her kids accomplished in the past year, and "interviews" them, placing their responses on the pictures themselves.  Looks fabulous!  Do go see this.....and plan to be inspired.  :)

Apparently she gives credit to Sarah, who is often linked from TUAR, for this idea. See Sarah's End of Year blog post and prepare to be even more inspired........


Health & Fitness

Chocolate craving comes from total sensory pleasure

Yeah. We already know that chocolate is a necessary food group.  Right?

An excerpt from the article:


"It's difficult to tease apart which chemicals may be contributing to which psychological functions. There are over 500 chemicals in consumer chocolate products, so there's a lifetime of chemical analysis still to be done," says Prof Wilson.

His hunch is that the "almost seductive" texture of chocolate is as important as its ingredients.

Dr Barry Smith, director of the Centre for the Study of the Senses at Birkbeck University of London, agrees.

He says the combination of the smoothness and creaminess of chocolate in the mouth, the sweetness of the taste - boosted by vanilla flavouring - and the smell of it before it even hits the taste buds make chocolate-eating a hugely pleasurable experience."


My Catholic Faith

Our Easter Mantel

Something to think about for next Easter.  I really like the idea of using chalkboard paint on that silver tray........and those cute little eggs.

Doctor keeps medical practice in line with Catholic teaching

This is so uplifting.  I am so glad to know about a Catholic doctor out there in the world, doing the right things.


You Were Not Made for Comfort…

This is a wonderful little nugget of a post reminding us:

“The world offers you comfort. But you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.” 

These are words of wisdom from Pope Benedict XVI. 

Take them to heart. 

Share them with your children and friends. 

Remember them during the big and especially, the little  sufferings.


And offer those sufferings up to God as a gift!

Parenting

 

14 Ways for Dads to be Engaged with their Breastfed Babes


As a childbirth educator and obstetrics RN, for the last twenty-some years, I cannot tell you how many times I have been told that dad will feel left out if he doesn't get to feed the baby.

And this absolutely drives me crazy........if dad's were meant to feed the baby......well, he would be able to breastfeed.  But his body does not do that.  God, in His wisdom, has determined that the mother will be the primary source of nutrition for the baby.

Sometimes it's just the mom who is feeling guilty because she gets to hold the baby all of the time.....the dad isn't even interested.  And sometimes, the fathers, especially the young ones, are putting pressure on the mother to teach the baby to take a bottle as soon as possible so dad can have some of the fun. 

I teach over and over:  dads have many other ways that they can bond with baby....and to help make the wee one smarter simply by bonding in the unique ways that a dad has.

I tell them to avoid using the small baby tub that makes babies cry because they are cold and wet.......and put dad into a bathtub, submerge baby to neck.....baby who is usually happy to be floating in the womb-like warmth.......and now mom has four hands to bathe the slippery baby.  And after baby has been cleaned, dad and babe can stay longer in tub for bonding while mom gets a few well-earned moments to herself, even if it is just doing dishes.  :)

I love the advice on this blog post.......just might print it up for my clients to read.

Food

Recipe: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

These cookie bars look really yummy.  And easy.  Let's try them!!!  Willa, I bet Aidan would love to help you.....make them and eat them! 


Tips---Ingredient Substitutions



A Happy Home Life


10 Simple Things to Make You Happier at Home

 

Memento-Box Version of a Blog Post

I can't capture my thoughts enough to pull together a real post -- too much to think about, scattered everywhere, a bit like the junk drawer in my closet I was trying to sort out this weekend!  So I am just going to spill a few pieces out on the type-screen and see what happens.

First of all, I haven't been reading blogs for most of the summer -- I even took down all my feedly subscriptions in order to simplify my life -- but I started browsing through our sidebar blog feed last weekend and found Melissa Wiley's recent post Facebugged.   Lissa is the best meta-social-media-commentator I know of, and this post is thought-provoking in so many ways.  Make sure and take a look at the comments as well.

I have been reading a lot about habits recently because of my summer systems-tuneup habit and found this interesting blog:  Develop Good Habits.   I am presently reading the book Habit Stacking:   97 Small Life Changes that Take Five Minutes or Less.    Interesting ideas -- maybe I will blog more about it sometime.

Also found this post:  10 Creative Ways to Declutter Your Home.  (I need to declutter -- but am not motivated -- so was looking for fun ways to tackle the problem).    I like the idea of "one object per day" -- it is #2 on the list.   I may do some version of that because what is needed at the present season isn't so much getting rid of things -- I did a lot of that last year -- but getting myself back in touch with what we have around the house.   It seems that when you are out of touch with your things, they become clutter since they are not accessible to your mind.   So I thought maybe going through one box or drawer a day and choosing one focal object might help me interact with our household inventory.

What I've been reading:   mostly non-fiction, self-help type books.    Quite a few of them are diet books because the best way I have to keep the momentum up with a plan is to read and write and think about it a lot.   Also some on habits and on OCD (I don't have OCD but some of the cognitive behaviorial strategies useful for that condition also help me with my issues).

Aidan had his yearly GI/ liver clinic yesterday.   The doctor who sees him at our regional center was actually one of the team who cared for him at San Francisco pre- and post-liver-transplant.   He told me about this pilot study of liver transplant recipients who have been phased altogether off anti-rejection meds.     Aidan is on "mono-therapy" meaning only one anti-rejection med and is on a very small dose, but the med does have long term carcinogen and other effects and it would be cool to get him off completely.    Another advantage would be that we would be that much less dependent on insurance to cover his costs, since the med is pricey, and that would be a good thing in several ways in today's shaky health -provision climate.

I can't remember if I mentioned this before on the blog, but I am a grandma of an unborn child!  My daughter is expecting her first child in August, so I get to go across country and be with her.   Very exciting.       I keep picturing this fantasy neighborhood that looks something like Avonlea or perhaps Nazareth, where I could just walk over and visit my adult children -- right now two are in Oregon and one is in Virginia and it is one of the hardest things I've encountered during my 28 years of being a mom.     Two of the ladies that attend our Bible study are like that -- a mom and grown daughter (the latter with grandchildren of her own) -- who live in the same tiny mountain town and can walk over to each others' houses.  Sigh...

I guess that is all for now... time to start the day.   Here is a picture of Aidan in front of his grandma's condo yesterday down in town in the boiling (106 degree) heat.   Fifteen years ago almost to this day he "crashed" (code blue) at the regional hospital and was rushed to San Francisco.     Now he's a great young man who has taken over lots of the household chores and likes to write funny stories on his laptop and design scrapbook pages.    And he loves his grandma and grandpa and their house, where he gets to play with grandma's collection of tops.  

TUAR Links: A Toast for Tolkien and More New Year's Post Links

First, yesterday was JRR Tolkien's birthday.

  More Tolkien illustrations here. 

Here are some Lord of the Rings Quotes to Live By

You can drink a belated birthday toast in honour of Professor Tolkien

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More words for 2014 at 4Real Forum.

Still trying to decide on my word, but I think I am getting close!  

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Brain Pickings:   How Long It Takes to Form a New Habit

Longer than you would think!  I want to read a book about habits, maybe the one reviewed here!

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Leonie writes about Filling that Page

She quotes Sr Carmela of the Holy Spirit

“I think of this new year as a white page given to me by Your Father on which He will write, day by day, whatever His Divine good pleasure has planned. I shall now write at the top of the page with complete confidence Dominie, fac de me sic it vis, Lord, do with me what you will, and at the bottom I already write my Amen to all the proposals of your Divine will.” 

That's how I feel about new years and new days, too -- that they are blank pages to fill.

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Faith writes about Housekeeping in 2014

....some mom said that she simplified housekeeping by having a ten day plan. She divided up her house into 10 zones and 5 days a week she worked through it. So I came up with my own version. I've also included the daily stuff too.

I used to write a lot about housekeeping (and health/fitness) at House and Hold.   Maybe I will see if I can dust off some of those old routines.   I think they helped.  

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Angela at Three Plus Two writes Food and Fitness Goals for 2014

Food and fitness are two other areas besides housekeeping where I need to start paying attention again.

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Dawn at By Sun and Candelight writes a New Year's Eve Note

She reflects on how her family's life has changed in the last year.  This is a good idea.  Maybe I will try that.  

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Susan at Tending the Burrow talks about why she is blogging.  

Not exactly on the topic of New Year's goals and new starts, but close enough because it is in early January and it is something I have been thinking about too, why I (we) blog and WHAT I should blog.    Chari has no problem with WHAT to blog -- her challenge is finding enough time in the day to get to what she wants to do.   I have more time, but my level of focus is inconsistent.   I think when I have a filter for all the incoming thoughts in a day, I do better.  

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This is weirdly interesting:

Celebrities Edited into Classic Portraits

HT:  Sarah at Knitting the Wind.   Many of the men look just fine in Renaissance garb.   Some of the women look pretty good, but others just don't fit.    Something about female celebrity publicity stills just make the women look way too hungry, predatory, even literally starving/emaciated to fit in a classic portrait.    Sarah wrote some commentary on some of the pictures, very interesting.    

TUAR Follow This Link: Still More New Year's Posts

Still collecting links as I try to figure out my plans for 2014!

The above quote from Newman is what I was thinking of for my word/motto this year.  But I still haven't quite decided, and I have some other possibilities as well.  

I have been experimenting with PicMonkey -- a good way to procrastinate, uh, get in tune with technology.     This one didn't turn out the way I wanted, but I like the picture of Newman in his study.

I was experimenting with editing this divider on PicMonkey, and Paddy wanted me to put a bunny in the center of the curlicue.   Hello Bunny!

Here are the links of the day:

 Heart of the Matter:   Word of the Year -- Breathe

I like that word.   Still trying to decide on mine.

Simply Convivial:  Word for 2014:  Habitus

Ooh, this is a good one, and I love the way Mystie describes it!    I was thinking of "repetitio" which is somewhat similar, but didn't seem quite inspiring enough.    Still thinking....

Letters from Nebby -- What Kind of Resolutions Will You Make?

She quotes an author, Frank Boreham, who says:

“When, at the end of December, we pledge ourselves so desperately to do certain things no more, we entirely forget that our worst offenses do not consist in outraging the Thou Shalt Nots; our worst offenses consist in violating the Thou Shalts.” (p. 64)

Ouch -- that convicted me.    That was my main conclusion when I read Evangelii Gaudium,    So my resolutions/goals have to go in the direction of doing some of the things Jesus specifically mentioned, like finding ways to help the poor.

Mere CS Lewis -- Apologist's Prayer

I am not an apologist, but still I could relate, plus I just liked it.

Dappled Things -- A New Kind of New Year's Resolution

This was about Mary, the Undoer of Knots.  A friend introduced me to this devotion by sending me a prayer card.    Can you imagine the feelings of the wedding couple at Cana (or their parents --  even worse!) when they realized they were running out of wine?  Or have you experienced the same sinking feeling upon being in a tangled situation?  Mary's tact and her willingness to go straight to the Source blessed their wedding and provided an exemplar of intercession.     Really, I think the Undoer of Knots should be my patron this year.

Here in the Bonny Glen -- January Notebook

Nothing specifically about New Year's Resolutions, but I like all things papery and pretty.

Dewey's Treehouse -- 12 Posts of 2013 

I liked this idea and had fun chasing the links to old posts.  I would like to do something like it, perhaps next year.

Ordo Amoris -- Of the Reading of Books

Nothing specifically about New Year's resolutions, but I love book posts and got some new ideas for my to-read list here.

Duchy of Burgundy Carrots Lists of Five for 2013

Another good idea that I would like to do.

Afterthoughts:  Seven Quick Takes

As my first child reached the age of 12, about a decade and a half ago, I started reflecting on the verse "Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man," and praying through it.   So I liked Brandy's idea of using the words as a structure for goal-setting.

I also like her point that January is a good MONTH to plan new things, because that is what I have been doing!

The Wine Dark Sea  New Year's Resolution: A Daily Dose of Art and Poetry

I like this idea too! (HT: Lissla Lissar) Melanie writes:

So here’s my New Year’s resolution: I’m going to try to post a poem every day. A poem and a picture to go with it. The connection between the two may be thematic or non-existent, I’m not going to strain myself too hard. Just something beautiful. Beautiful art, beautiful words. A space for loveliness. A pause for contemplation.

Found on Facebook:

11 Resolutions for a Better You

From a popular-science perspective.   But a bunch of them correlated with Charlotte Mason's ideas or with others I agree with.    If you want a scientific reason to justify your kids' literary education or your own occasions for curling up with a novel, here's a start:

4. Read fiction. Recently, researchers have begun studying the physical impact reading stories has on our brain. As you might expect, they are discovering reading results in heightened connectivity and brain activity—sometimes, even up to 5 days after the book has been completed. If you read fiction, you already know this to be true. If you don’t, this could be your year to start.

How to Have a Clean House Every Day

Presently my 20 year old son's room is more orderly than the rest of our house by several degrees, and he keeps on mentioning it smugly.    So I am collecting "clean house" links and plan for this to be a family project.  Including the 20 year old authority on cleanliness.  Heheh.

Chari and I hope your 2014 is going well so far!    

TUAR More New Year Links

I hope you are all having a good 2014 so far.     Since the blogosphere abounds with New Year's posts this time of year, and New Year's/ Epiphany is one of my favorite times of the year,  I am going to mostly be posting links for the next few days.     Eventually I hope to write my own plans and goals for 2014, but not yet -- I'm still thinking and waiting.

Words for a New Year:  2014.    

Sarah's word is rest, which is a very wise thing to reflect on when you are a mom of 3 little ones under age two.    My word for 2013 was Beloved.  My word for 2012 was Diligence.     I haven't decided on my word for 2014 yet -- still praying about it.

A new way of thinking of New Year's resolutions.  

Jessica writes:

So, this next week on the blog, I'm going to look at these different areas of my life: -Loving God -Loving my husband -Loving my kids -Loving myself (this is that stewardship thing!) -Writing (i.e., working well - insert your particular calling here) -Keeping House -Misc. And journal through what I'd like to work on this year.

I like this approach and these categories!  Here is her first post:   Resolution 1:  Love God.

New Year thoughts from Naru Hodo:

It doesn't really matter though how one frames ones questions as long as one prays, because God has a way of blowing away the froth and uncovering the heart of the matter. And as long as we don't panic at being denuded He will get the job done rather quickly.

  8 Weeks to a Less Cluttered Home:

Did I mention I need to go through the house thoroughly?  My last complete tour was in May, and I didn't blog much about it (too much going on with a dear only daughter's wedding and graduation!)      I usually make a Household Journey twice a year, though I should do it about four times a year, really.

Well, that took a while, and my family is waking up, so time to put more logs on the fire and make some muffins (peanut butter muffins, at my 11 year old's request) 

TUAR First 2014 Follow this Link

I found the Chesterton quote on my friend Angie's blog, Family Answers Fast.  Good one!

Just a few New Year's-related posts that I want to bookmark.    In no particular order....

January 1 Plenary Indulgence.   According to Father Z,  you can pray the beautiful Veni, Creator Spiritus and gain a plenary indulgence today under the usual conditions.     On other days, you can gain a partial indulgence.  

Every Day is January 1st.     Yes, I agree!   That is what gets me out of bed before sunrise in the morning.  I love new starts!  

“Let go of your plans. The first hour of your morning belongs to God. Tackle the day’s work that he charges you with, and he will give you the power to accomplish it.” (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross — Edith Stein)

10 Books that Stuck
I like this idea.    This was a bad year for reading up until October, and then I read a lot.   Not sure whether to list it all out or not, but 10 books sounds doable.

Start Here -- 4 Things to Do Every Day
Daily cleaning tasks.   I need to start cleaning the house.  I can't even take pictures without including a mess.

2014:  Word, Goals.  From Erin at 7 Little Australians.

Goals for 2014.   From Bookworm.

Angie at Family Answers Fast has a reblog called New Years' Goal Setting that Works.

Finally, if you want to retrospect 2013 and check out some new blogs, Amongst Lovely Things' Most Posts of 2013 Linkup is still going strong.


Blessings on your New Year,

Willa

Veni Creator Spiritus

Most Posts of 2013 -- Linking Up

I'm linking up with Sarah at Amongst Lovely Things for this post.   From her blog, in case you want to play too:

If you have a blog, we'd love to see some of your best stuff from the year. Join in our "Most" Posts of 2013 link-up! Create a post of "mosts"- highlight five of your own posts from the year that fit into the following categories:

Post with the most clicks
Post with the most comments
Post with the best picture
Post that was hardest to write
Post that was your personal favorite (not your readers' favorite- your favorite)

The only rules are that the posts should be from your own blog, and they should be from 2013. Link-up at the bottom of this post!

So here goes with TUAR Mosts from 2013: 

Most Clicks

I am going to cheat a bit and say it was Counsels of Perfection for Christian Moms Reading Plan



It got the second-most clicks in actuality -- the first in number was the division lapbook.    But the Counsels of Perfection is more representative of our blog, so there you go.  

Most Comments

Looks like it may have been Resting in God with One's Children.   Does it still count if some of the comments were my replies?




Best Picture

Probably one of Chari's nature photos.   There are a lot of good ones, so I had trouble choosing.





Hardest Post to Write

I'm guessing it was Chari's 2012 list of books  as far as just being hard work to finish.

For me, On Being Sick was the hardest, in that it pulled at my heartstrings the most while I was writing it and when I read it now.  



Favorite Post

Probably The Choices of Master Samwise.  

Seven Links for Sunday

I

Snapshots from a CM-Influenced Household

In In This House of Brede, English writer Rumer Godden’s novel of Benedictine religious life, the wise Abbess Catherine, confronted with winds of change in the early 1960s, observes that the Rule of Saint Benedict was made to bend – not to break altogether, but to give, to accommodate. So, too, I think, Charlotte Mason’s method has a lot of “give” built into it, so that an individual homeschooling family, faced with curriculum and scheduling decisions, might ask not, Did Charlotte Mason do this, but Might Charlotte Mason, in our shoes, possibly choose this? Or, and possibly more to the point, Is this decision compatible with what both Miss Mason and we believe about the child, and about education?

II

Think of It as Creative Therapy and Pockets of Peace Lots of ideas for making homemade things, but I'm keeping it for the title. Pockets of peace rather than heaping up seasonal demands? I like that way of thinking about it.  

III

Is Your Sports Program More Classical Than Your Academic Program?

Sports are on the hearts of the students. Students have taught themselves sports diligently. Students talk of sports when they sit in their houses, when they walk by the way, when the lie down and when they rise up. “Be warned,” writes Solomon in Ecclesiastes, “much study is wearisome to the flesh.” Not the study of sports, though. Perhaps this is because students don’t so much study sports as they live sports. There is no kind of paideia so living and active in America as the paideia of sports.

IV


Saintly Stories

Homeschooling mom Dessi Jackson, who writes beautifully for Seton Magazine, and Lydia Grace, daughter of Kimberlee,  have teamed up in creating a children's picture book, St Felix and the Spider.   Exciting!

V

JRR Tolkien on Fairy Stories
Lots of nice quotes and illustrations here.

Mythology is not a disease at all, though it may like all human things become diseased. You might as well say that thinking is a disease of the mind. It would be more near the truth to say that languages, especially modern European languages, are a disease of mythology. But Language cannot, all the same, be dismissed. The incarnate mind, the tongue, and the tale are in our world coeval.

VI

The Four Rivers of Meaning

All revelation has four dimensions, or can be approached from four directions, which we may call the historical (or literal), doctrinal, moral, and mystical. The doctrinal, moral, and mystical meanings taken together constitute the “spiritual” meaning of Scripture. The modern crisis over religion is due to the confusion of these four meanings...

For context, see Augustine On Christian Doctrine, Pope Leo XIII on the Study of Holy Scripture,

VII



Pope Francis Talks of the Way of Beauty

Every form of catechesis would do well to attend to the “way of beauty” (via pulchritudinis). Proclaiming Christ means showing that to believe in and to follow him is not only something right and true, but also something beautiful, capable of filling life with new splendour and profound joy, even in the midst of difficulties. Every expression of true beauty can thus be acknowledged as a path leading to an encounter with the Lord Jesus. This has nothing to do with fostering an aesthetic relativism which would downplay the inseparable bond between truth, goodness and beauty, but rather a renewed esteem for beauty as a means of touching the human heart and enabling the truth and goodness of the Risen Christ to radiate within it. If, as Saint Augustine says, we love only that which is beautiful, the incarnate Son, as the revelation of infinite beauty, is supremely lovable and draws us to himself with bonds of love. So a formation in the via pulchritudinis ought to be part of our effort to pass on the faith.

Oh, and St Ambrose read without moving his lips!   More on Silent Reading and St Augustine here.

Sunday Seven Links

I missed posting yesterday!  Instead, we got up at 5:30 and drove south and south for 12+ hours (counting an hour spent at Chari's house -- I dropped my kids off to visit her kids while I visited Chari at her workplace (the hospital -- she is an RN).

Today I don't have much inspiration, so I am going to list some inspiring links.   I'm calling them Sunday Seven even though it is Monday just to keep some kind of continuity on here.

1

Dreams Do Come True.   Beautiful reflection on marriage by my newly married daughter.  

2

Remembering the Present.   Very interesting, from Stratford Caldecott, on the importance of memory in an education.

3

Loki I Have Loved, But Thor Have I Hated.     I haven't seen the new Thor movie.  This post was interesting, though.  I think I owe a hat tip for this one to Jessica at Homemaking through the Church Year.

4

Neville Longbottom is the Most Important Character in Harry Potter.  Another interesting take on a book/movie.    I got this link from Brandy at Afterthoughts.  

Both this post and the last one made for a very interesting literary discussion with my 10 year old and 17 year old.

5

Peter Favre soon to be canonized!  He is one of my favorite Jesuits.  

6

The Joy of Copywork.  A thoughtful post by Sally Thomas.   The link takes you to a nice new blog called Thoughts and Things co-written by some of my favorite Catholic homeschool bloggers.

7

Worship of Technique.     Also, Prudence and Appetite.     Seems to relate to some of the things I am thinking about right now.  

Seven (No, Eight) Quick Links for a Saturday

I've caught up on Feedly!  That hardly ever happens.  I thought I would share some links I especially liked this week.  I'm doing well so far at this daily blogging in November!

I

First, editing to add an especially  cool one that came in after I wrote this.  Sarah from Amongst Lovely Things is blogging at Circe Institute!  On Teaching from a State of Rest.-- beautiful reflection.

We choose anxiety as our guide, instead of humbly submitting to God and letting Him guide us. But God is good! He isn't going to let us pour out our hearts for our students only to be left choking on the dust of our mistakes. God doesn't call us to this work and then turn away to tend to other, more important matters. He promises to stay with us. To lead us. To carry us. He assures us that if we rely on Him alone, then He will provide all that we need.

II 

Laziness and Liturgical Living from Riparaians at the Gate.  This is pretty much my kind of Advent Prep.  I like the idea of "Waffle House Day", "Gingerbread House Day", etc.    Maybe I'll actually be able to hold some kind of Advent this year, historically a difficult thing for me (I do it fine in my heart, but the outward expressions have often defeated me).

III

Our Quiet Nature Walk:  Opening Your Senses.  At Handbook of Nature Study.    I feel so out of touch with what's happening outdoors in my favorite season of the year.  I want to do this.

IV

CS Lewis on Books and Reading.  At Circe Institute.    Several good quotes -- here's one:

“Those who have greatly cared for any book whatever may possibly come to care, some day, for good books. The organs of appreciation exist in them. They are not impotent. And even if this particular boy is never going to like anything severer than science-fiction, even so,
 'The child whose love is here, at least doth reap One precious gain, that he forgets himself.’”

V

 Be Like Little Children:  How Not to Lose Wonder.  Did you know Mitchell Kalpagkian was a regular columnist at Seton's blog?   I didn't, until quite recently.   I love everything he writes.

As the freshness of childhood and the exuberance of youth fade, and life assumes a regularity and familiarity, it is all too easy to become jaded and blasé. Instead of seeing the world with the child’s eyes of wonder—as full of goodness, beauty, and love—or as an adventure always filled with surprises and hope, the world appears déjà vu—the same old thing.

The art of living keeps alive the vision of the child and resists the tendency to look upon life as a dreary monotony full of disappointment. No matter a person’s age or experience, he can be childlike, fun-loving, and see with clarity and amazement the enchantment and magic of the real world. .......Instead of seeing the drama of man’s life as a series of sad disappointments or anti-climaxes, the adult who has retained his childlike nature sees the chapters of the human journey as adventures with surprises that await him with each new age.

VI

Sketched from Life at Starry Sky Ranch.    About little St Therese's home schoolroom.  Short quote, but beautiful.   And Kim's photos are always a contemplation in themselves.

VII

Homeschooling for the Disorganized.   Another from Seton Magazine.    This article is from a father's perspective and it is not about how to get organized.   Rather, it says:

....homeschooling is not only for the systematized, any more than Christianity is only for clergy. Homeschooling is for the disorganized as well. Being “organized” is a talent. But if I had to list the most important elements of effective homeschooling, it isn’t even near the top of my list. Instead, it would include things like charity, faith, hope, perseverance, prudence, fortitude, and wisdom.....  Don’t get me wrong: organization is on my list—but so are good erasers.

VIII

November 13 was Mother Frances Cabrini's feast day.   She was the first American citizen to be canonized as a saint.  She was a foundress of schools, and I read in Stratford Caldecott's Beauty in the Word about her idea of "education of the heart."  Sounded like something I would be interested in, so I dug online and found this PDF:  To Educate the Heart.      It is good reading if you are interested -- reminds me of John Bosco's Preventive Discipline, and a lot of what Circe says.

Here is a long quote from Beauty in the Word, but since it's the last part of this post, I don't feel too guilty leaving you with it:

The Philokalia sums up the ancient Biblical and Patristic tradition. The ‘heart’ for Biblical Christianity, say the English editors of this classic anthology of spiritual writings, is not simply the physical organ but the spiritual center of man’s being, man as made in the image of God, his deepest and truest self, or the inner shrine, to be entered only through sacrifice or death, in which the mystery of the union between the divine and the human is consummated.
 ‘I called with my whole heart,’ says the Psalmist—that is, with body, soul, and spirit.7 The ‘innermost aspect’ of this heart they identify with the organ of contemplation, the intellect or nous, which knows the truth through direct experience or intuition, unlike the lower reason or dianoia which operates on the basis of abstract concepts and deductions. In Scholastic terms it is the synderesis or ‘spark’ of conscience, where the knowledge of good and evil are ‘written on our hearts’ (Jer. 31:33; Rom. 2:15).
This is the inner chamber into which our Lord asks us to withdraw in order to pray, so that ‘your Father who sees in secret will reward you’ (Matt. 6:6). It is the inner precinct, the ‘Holy of Holies’ in the Garden of Eden where the Tree of Life springs up. Mother Cabrini, with her devotion to the Sacred Heart, would have known all of this quite well. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is not simply the physical organ but the whole Person of Jesus gathered into one and given in love

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Happy Summer Day to all of you!  I am trying to take the time to get in here to blog a quick post......

 

 

I thought I would posts short posts from my phone while I was in Hawaii, but my iPhone charge only held till 1pm each day......so, alas....I had to spend time enjoying my experiences, rather than reporting them.  :) I did get a fair amount on Facebook......if you were following me there, you are well aware of that fact.  :)

 

I was planning to blog a little each day after I returned home.......but I came down with what felt like the flu.......even to the point of calling in sick for work.  And then I did go to work a day....only to find the next day after my 16 hour shift that I now had bronchitis.......oh, and that we no longer had water in our home. :/

 

So, I have been thwarted in my efforts to blog.  Today, I am stealing the time to blog from whatever endeavors I am supposed to be at.  :)  But it shall be a simple post.....should be easy. Well, my body and mind are obviously still in Recovery mode......maybe not so easy, to think.

 

Education

 

Story Telling & Judgment: Cultivating the Imagination

 

My interest is always to make the case for liberal education, an education in the art of freedom, developed through the study of works of great literary and imaginative merit, so that our students might come to see how they can free themselves from the received opinions of others, conventions of the day, prejudices that have bypassed the examination of their reason, and the chains of their own ignorance. They require this liberation in order to make a life that belongs to them, freely chosen, once they have developed the capacity to distinguish between means and ends, the good and the bad, the prudent and the careless, the courageous and the foolhardy, and to judge well what kind of person they wish to be because they have reflected on the question and considered their options with care.

 

Wow.  This an incredible article.  Written by the president of a liberal arts college. All homeschooling parents should read it for inspiration......especially if you have teens or are about to have teens.  I did not get to finish reading the whole thing yet.......but I have skimmed those parts. Willa, you will enjoy this.  Let me know what you think.

 

Literature

 

Summer reading - family style

This is just a short & quick reminder.....along with one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite books......that we can keep on educating ourselves.  For some reason, while I was voraciously gobbling up books as a kid and teen.......I missed most of the Classics and have been continuing my self-education since.  I know this of which Kim speaks.  The fog of raising littles does eventually clear. 

 

And this short post also shares how the olders can lead their siblings into the literature that they love. I just love that about older homeschooling kids.  And the two books they are reading???  Do not miss either of them.  If you have yet to read To Kill a Mockingbird or Farhenheit 451.....please do put them at the top of your to-read pile.  Come back and tell us how much you love them.  ;)

 

Early this summer, my 22yo and my 18 yo were trying to lead the 11yo into a more well-rounded education.  They were attempting to inspire and stimulate him.  It was adorable.

20 Books You Pretend to Have Read

Because part of my temperament is that "I cannot tell a lie.....", I can easily admit to not having read a book.  Though, it is hard to admit that, being a serious book geek. I think this is a fun idea to consider........

On this list, I can admit to having read 9.  Too bad for me......I wish it were 17.  Maybe someday.....as I whittle the Classics away on my to-be-read list.  I actually have no interest in reading the three modern books on there.  :)

Do you every pretend to have read a book?  If so, which ones?  Any on this list?  How many of these have you read?

The funny thing is.......I CAN discuss a book I have not read.....because over the years, I pick up on lots of stuff Dickens, for example.........just by hanging out in literature-based places with literature-loving folks.  Willa calls that something......cultural literacy?  I remember looking that term up......that wasn't it.

I have read 32 of the top 80 books mention on the full list.....



10 Books I Didn’t “Get” Until I Was Older

Haha, I love her reaction to  The Metamorphosis.  Too funny.

Willa and I both plowed through books beyond our age level.  Oh, my.  Someone really should have been paying attention to our reading choices.  We were both insatiable and would just grab adult-themed books off of our parents' shelves because we needed to read something and we needed to read it now. 

One example was "Helter, Skelter"........ugh.  I was 12 years old.

Some of the titles are so bad........I will not even name them in public.  ;)

I read most of the Classics at a time when I could understand them well enough........it was the current modern lit that I exposed to........just ugh.  Really messed with my literary innocence.

How about you?  Any book(s) that you read too soon???

 

 

Health & Fitness

Sleep and the Teenage Brain

      I think it is really important that we understand this about teenagers in general.  I try to let my teens sleep in when they can.  And parents of teens are always talking about how their teens only get started talking at night......it is all body chemistry.  At least this research validates teens.  Love this quote.....love the analogy at the end.....

Biology’s cruel joke goes something like this: As a teenage body goes through puberty, its circadian rhythm essentially shifts three hours backward. Suddenly, going to bed at nine or ten o’clock at night isn’t just a drag, but close to a biological impossibility. Studies of teenagers around the globe have found that adolescent brains do not start releasing melatonin until around eleven o’clock at night and keep pumping out the hormone well past sunrise. Adults, meanwhile, have little-to-no melatonin in their bodies when they wake up. With all that melatonin surging through their bloodstream, teenagers who are forced to be awake before eight in the morning are often barely alert and want nothing more than to give in to their body’s demands and fall back asleep. Because of the shift in their circadian rhythm, asking a teenager to perform well in a classroom during the early morning is like asking him or her to fly across the country and instantly adjust to the new time zone — and then do the same thing every night, for four years.

And then........the research that comes in from the high schools that had later start times:  was "flabbergasting"



Heart Surgeon Speaks Out On What Really Causes Heart Disease

I really think this chronic inflammation, whatever the cause, is seriously a problem in our culture......I work in healthcare, and there are so many people (patients) who ignore the advice to sleep well, exercise, eat healthy foods and generally take care of yourself........and yet are willing to put drugs into their bodies and require hospitalizations and other procedures......when if they could have prevented so many of the problems in the first place.

There is no escaping the fact that the more we consume prepared and processed foods, the more we trip the inflammation switch little by little each day. The human body cannot process, nor was it designed to consume, foods packed with sugars and soaked in omega-6 oils.

There is but one answer to quieting inflammation, and that is returning to foods closer to their natural state. To build muscle, eat more protein. Choose carbohydrates that are very complex such as colorful fruits and vegetables. Cut down on or eliminate inflammation- causing omega-6 fats like corn and soybean oil and the processed foods that are made from them.

I think I have read other research supporting this doctor's claims about the cholesterol. 

Either way, the bottom line:  "What you can do is choose whole foods your grandmother served and not those your mom turned to as grocery store aisles filled with manufactured foods. By eliminating inflammatory foods and adding essential nutrients from fresh unprocessed food, you will reverse years of damage in your arteries and throughout your body from consuming the typical American diet. "


Turmeric Tea

I actually found this article before the one above........but it ties in nicely to follow.  I have a daughter who has unusual health problems and I can see how  chronic inflammation could be a part of her problem.  I have given this page to her and she has since done more research.  Buying the turmeric in capsules is way too expensive for several of us to take so we are going to buy some organic turmeric and make our own capsules.  I am not sure that we can get enough in our diet just with cooking.

I also have a teen who is a serious athlete.  For some reason his body rebels with aches and pains.  He pushes himself very hard on the fields.......even doing two sports at once.  I am hoping that the turmeric will help with the chronic inflammation he is obviously suffering.

By helping to reduce inflammation in the body, turmeric seems to be able to accomplish much.........

1. It is a natural antiseptic and antibacterial agent, useful in disinfecting cuts and burns.
2. When combined with cauliflower, it has shown to prevent prostate cancer and stop the growth of existing prostate cancer.
 3. Prevented breast cancer from spreading to the lungs in mice.
4. May prevent melanoma and cause existing melanoma cells to commit suicide.
 5. Reduces the risk of childhood leukemia.
6. Is a natural liver detoxifier.
 7. May prevent and slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease by removing amyloyd plaque buildup in the brain.
8. May prevent metastases from occurring in many different forms of cancer. 
9. It is a potent natural anti-inflammatory that works as well as many anti-inflammatory drugs but without the side effects. (I really want to explore this....) 
10. Has shown promise in slowing the progression of multiple sclerosis in mice.
11. Is a natural painkiller and cox-2 inhibitor.
12. May aid in fat metabolism and help in weight management.
13. Has long been used in Chinese medicine as a treatment for depression.
 14. Because of its anti-inflammatory properties, it is a natural treatment for arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
15. Boosts the effects of chemo drug paclitaxel and reduces its side effects.
16. Promising studies are underway on the effects of turmeric on pancreatic cancer. 17. Studies are ongoing in the positive effects of turmeric on multiple myeloma.
18. Has been shown to stop the growth of new blood vessels in tumors.
19. Speeds up wound healing and assists in remodeling of damaged skin.
20. May help in the treatment of psoriasis and other inflammatory skin conditions.
(Borrowed from the link above)

I really think this is worth a try.  When I mentioned this turmeric idea to a few friends.....turns out at least three them were already taking it.......how is that they never bothered to mention it to me.

Hey, Willa.  I think this might be worth trying for a certain offspring of yours.....let's talk.

If anyone else decides, after your own research, to use turmeric, please share your experiences afterward.  Thanks!

 

Homeschooling

A good week

I happened on Theresa's post while I was at her blog for another reason.  It is just a short post, but filled with several moments of inspiration for me.  Theresa also only has one left to homeschool.....and our styles are similar and the ages of the one left are close.  I know most folks are just getting started with their homeschooling year.......and are yet to be in the throes of "spring doldrums", but I personally feel the doldrums almost continuously right now......and her designation of Mondays as “curl up and read day” may be something I need to keep in mind, especially now that Malachy and I may have most of our Mondays free (minus driving his brother all over....).  I also like the reminder for Tuesday teatime.  She was doing poetry.  That is how we used to do our teatimes when the older kids were younger.......but Malachy will get tons of poetry from his older sister's writing workshop......so maybe we will do Shakespeare stories or composers or........oh, maybe natural history books.

Thanks, Theresa, for reminding me of the simple stuff.......that goes far in making good memories and fun learning.  I really needed to be taken back to my favorite homeschooling ideas......Now, to remember these things.


Food


Homemade Sprouted Whole Wheat Crackers

Num.  If you make these, I want to know.  They look yummy. They sounds yummy.  I would love a healthy substitution for wheat thins......which I only eat a few times a year......I DID just get a giant jug of coconut oil.....


Healthy Snack Substitutions for Kids.....and Adults, too

My kids grew up with Stretch Island Fruit Leathers as a special travel snack........way back when. Might be cheaper at Costco....when they have it.  They used to have it.

Yummm.....the cheese crackers look good. 


Real Snacks: Make Your Favorite Childhood Treats Without All the Junk

These links led me to this book.....it sure looks like fun.  Does anyone have a copy of it?  Can you give a review?



Okay!  Time to post this!  I have been working on it for a couple of weeks......I finally moved some of the links to another future blog post so that I could finally get this one wrapped up.  I think I have saved at least a hundred links for us........


Blessed last days of Summer to you!


                                                   Chari       

PS  I am pretty close to being healed now........just trying to find some kind  of rhythm.....in our crazy changes-every-week kind-of-life.  NOT really finding it yet  :)

 

Follow These Links!

 

Good morning, my friends!

 

 

 

I have been reading so many great articles online lately.  I am stockpiling them, in fact. 

 

But first.......prayers for my 16 year old son currently in surgery for a congenital defect repair (not heart).  Thanks! (Everything went well....home now for recovery and healing)

MARRIAGE & S*X

Should We Bring Back Young Marriage? 

This article is a good read.........and has much food for thought, maybe helpful for thoughtful conversations with our older kids......and a reminder to help all young marrieds.

You can follow this link, posted in the above article, about a girl's story of marrying young.

ETA: I remembered that I wanted to add that I was 21 and my husband 24 when we got married.  I did not think I was all that young at the time.....and apparently not even now.....because as I read those articles, I never even felt compelled to realize I had that in common with them.  :)  On the other hand, my father definitely thought I was too young and kept trying to talk me out of it.  And, we certainly did not wait till we had everything in life all lined up......I was starting my 4th year of 6 years of full-time college. Anyway......just thought I should add a personal relationship to this article.  I believe Willa was still pretty young as well.......we were married in the same year, 1985 (Happy June anniversary to Willa and Kevin!).  Since she is so much older than me.........she was not 21  :)  I think she was 22? or 23?

How old were you and your spouse when you married?  Did you have everything in life all lined up?  How many years has it been now?

Willa and I have both been married 28 years, this summer. 



How Pre-marital Sex Rewires the Brain
 
Short, but fascinating article.  The more I learn about oxytocin, the more impressed I am with this body that God designed.  Oxytocin may well be my favorite hormone.  :)  You will learn why s*x outside the marriage is not a good idea physically.........how it works well biochemically WITHIN marriage.......and related to p*rn. May be useful in talking with older teens and young adults about these topics. This ties in so well with the most recent book that I just finished reading: The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and in Business by Charles Duhigg This book was also fasinating.......the brain is an incredible machine. (sorry...cannot seem to get rid of the bold)


PRO-LIFE
 

Experts: Abortion Not Medically Necessary to Save the Life of a Mother

Medical experts in Dublin came to these conclusions:

-“As experienced practitioners and researchers in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, we affirm that direct abortion is not medically necessary to save the life of a woman.
-We uphold that there is a fundamental difference between abortion, and necessary medical treatments that are carried out to save the life of the mother, even if such treatment results in the loss of life of her unborn child.
-We confirm that the prohibition of abortion does not affect, in any way, the availability of optimal care to pregnant women.”

Fascinating. I love that they are scientists and that they say this.  God bless those Irish.  :)

LEARNING & EDUCATION

An Introduction to the Creative, Right-Brained Learner

An excellent reminder that we don't all learn the same.  I have one very strong right-brained child.  On her own she compares herself to her left-brained siblings.  I am always explaining to her that she simply learns differently and that she has amazing gifts that none of her siblings can match up to. She is so going to shine.  Please read this article, look at your own children, and remind yourself to bask in the gifts of those right-brained learners.  And then, build those kids up.  It is hard to be different in a left-brained world.



If Students designed Their Own School

"The Independent Project"  "Students having their say in how to reform education in the 21st Century."

Love this video....."unschooling" in a public school setting. Clever of the principal to allow this opportunity for these students.  I believe these students will now be forever life-long learners.  What a gift that she has given to the students who go through this program........hope it catches on!

The method of "question of the week" and their own "personal endeavor" for the term is obviously inspiring to these kids.  No tests or assignments.  Good idea.

Don’t Go Back to School: How to Fuel the Internal Engine of Learning

The historic photos in this article are certainly worth a look on their own.  Here is the opening paragraph to this article:

      “The present education system is the trampling of the herd,” legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright lamented in 1956. Half a century later, I started Brain Pickings in large part out of frustration and disappointment with my trampling experience of our culturally fetishized “Ivy League education.” I found myself intellectually and creatively unstimulated by the industrialized model of the large lecture hall, the PowerPoint presentations, the standardized tests assessing my rote memorization of facts rather than my ability to transmute that factual knowledge into a pattern-recognition mechanism that connects different disciplines to cultivate wisdom about how the world works and a moral lens on how it should work. So Brain Pickings became the record of my alternative learning, of that cross-disciplinary curiosity that took me from art to psychology to history to science, by way of the myriad pieces of knowledge I discovered — and connected — on my own. I didn’t live up to the entrepreneurial ideal of the college drop-out and begrudgingly graduated “with honors,” but refused to go to my own graduation and decided never to go back to school. Years later, I’ve learned more in the course of writing and researching the thousands of articles to date than in all the years of my formal education combined.

SOCIAL MEDIA

 
What Hate, Entitlement and Stupidity Look Like in the Digital Age

 

The author is ".....writing this blog post to send to my two young adult sons for their continued edification on the importance of communicating honestly, respectfully and intelligently in the digital age."  Take notes and remind your own children.......and keep care yourself. Short.





GRAMMAR

Apostrophe now: Bad grammar and the people who hate it

Just more fun for those who like to read about grammar.......humorous, of course.  Love this quote:

"Semi-colons can provoke strong reactions; the novelist Kurt Vonnegut Jr advised people to avoid them altogether. "All they do is show you've been t.  I lovo college." " 

I myself did not actually fully get the semi-colon till I taught about it in homeschooling my 3rd and 4th high schoolers.  So I just avoided it altogether.  I love it now that I understand it .  :)

 

FAMILY LIFE

Big families..what we wish you knew.

Just more fun about big families from someone is there.......not that I count myself one.  I do only have 6 children.  :)

List Topics: Top comments at the grocery store......top mean comments.......what a mom on many wished others knew.......what people think......myths to bust.....best things about a big family

Do you have any comments to add?

The Heart of a List Maker

 

An excellent and clever way to keep family memories or keep a running tab on a family journal.  This is especially good for those who do not feel that they can scrapbook their family memories either because of time or because of a lack of creativity.  Short. Oh, and this could appease those who feel guilt (which they shouldn't! :) ) about not keeping track

CONGENITAL HEART DEFECTS

Non-inherited mutations account for many heart defects, Yale researchers find

Did you know that the rate of congenital heart defects is actually 1-2 out of a hundred births?  And that it is "...the most common form of birth defect."    Crazy.  How many people do you know with a congenital heart defect?  I don't know or see as many as that it seems.....but I do have one of my own.  I am posting this link because I think it is interesting that in the study they have discovered about where the mutations take place.....and may be near the same place where autism also finds its mutation.  Short, not much meat here.....but interesting enough.

HEALTH & FITNESS

Is stress making you sick?

Probably. Come....read about those adrenal glands.  I know so many women who have been plagued with adrenal fatigue.  We must take care of ourselves........so we can hang with our children's children's children.

I just ordered that book, recommended in the article....Adrenal Fatigue: The 12st Century Syndrome....from the library.  I do not think I have adrenal fatigue.......but there are many who I do think suffer from this malady.


Early Elective Deliveries Reduction Halves NICU Admissions

The hospital corporation that I work for made a new rule about doing elective inductions before 39 weeks as not allowed unless medically indicated. That new rule was at least 5-8 years ago.....so long ago I cannot remember when.  What I do know is this:  our babies now have less trouble breastfeeding, we have less "sick" babies.......and our doctors are even less inclined to do elective inductions.  This makes me so happy.  Glad to see the number two busiest hospital in the country is doing the same thing, and that in only six months they have reduced their admissions to the NICU.  This is great support for the waiting till "babies will come when babies are ready" science. Because the research states that babies are ready to be born at 39 weeks or later, for best brain development for feeding.........we are giving our moms and babes a much better start.


Warm Blessings,

                   Chari