Thursday, March 27, 2008

There is no Frigate like a Book

A Book

There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take       
Without oppress of toll; 
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!


The poet we have been studying this term is Emily Dickinson.  The poem of hers that we decided to memorize was this one.  I love this poem!  It is so true.  Each book we read is like an adventure that takes us to places that we have never imagined before we enter it’s pages.

We just finished our second term for the year and have had some wonderful adventures that have just come to an end.  Today I thought I would share a few of our favorite excursions.  Isaac and I read a couple of books that we both loved.  The first one was The Little Duke.  It was based on the life of Duke Richard of Normandy, who became the Duke at the age of eight, when his Father was cruelly murdered.  It was a fun and exciting story, but also taught beautifully the virtues of courage and mercy.  We were sad to see it end.  We also read The Wind in the Willows this term and it has to be one of my favorite books of all time.  Kenneth Graham has such a magical way with words!  He has the ability to express things in a way that often left me wanting to reread the phrase again and again to soak in the beauty of the words and the scene he had created with them.  Here are a few of my favorites, although almost any sentence he wrote could qualify.

Never in his life had he seen a river before -- this sleek, sinuous, full-bodied animal, chasing and chuckling, gripping things with a gurgle and leaving them with a laugh, to fling itself on fresh playmates that shook themselves free, and were caught and held again. All was a-shake and a-shiver -- glints and gleams and sparkles, rustle and swirl, chatter and bubble.  The Mole was bewitched, entranced, fascinated.”

“It was a cold still afternoon with a hard steely sky overhead, when he slipped out of the warm parlour into the open air. The country lay bare and entirely leafless around him, and he thought that he had never seen so far and so intimately into the insides of things as on that winter day when Nature was deep in her annual slumber and seemed to have kicked the clothes off. Copses, dells, quarries and all hidden places, which had been mysterious mines for exploration in leafy summer, now exposed themselves and their secrets pathetically, and seemed to ask him to overlook their shabby poverty for a while, till they could riot in rich masquerade as before, and trick and entice him with the old deceptions. “
My favorite chapter was #7 “The Pipers at the Gates of Dawn”.  It was a beautiful chapter that pulled at my heart. 
“Slowly, but with no doubt or hesitation whatever, and in something of a solemn expectancy, the two animals passed through the broken tumultuous water and moored their boat at the flowery margin of the island. In silence they landed, and pushed through the blossom and scented herbage and undergrowth that led up to the level ground, till they stood on a little lawn of a marvellous green, set round with Nature's own orchard-trees -- crab-apple, wild cherry, and sloe.  ‘This is the place of my song-dream, the place the music played to me,' whispered the Rat, as if in a trance. `Here, in this holy place, here if anywhere, surely we shall find Him!'
   Then suddenly the Mole felt a great Awe fall upon him, an awe that turned his muscles to water, bowed his head, and rooted his feet to the ground. It was no panic terror -- indeed he felt wonderfully at peace and happy -- but it was an awe that smote and held him and, without seeing, he knew it could only mean that some august Presence was very, very near.”

Isaac loved the book too, but he was more partial to the adventurous chapters.  Especially the exploits of Mr. Toad.  I am sad to have ended the book, but look forward to reading it again with Grant in two years.

Harrison had longer books this term, so his are still being continued into next term, but we did finnish our second Shakespeare play, Measure for Measure.  We liked it, but I think it is a play that is better suited for an older audience.  I had to use some very guarded explanations of what was going on.  We enjoyed last terms play, Twelfth Night, much more.   It has been exciting to see Harrison begin to understand more and more of the Shakespearean language.  There is still a lot I have to explain to him, but I’m surprised he is getting as much as he is at age 9...

There are many more books we are still in the process of reading, and loving.  All of the wonderful books we get to read, and great ideas we are able to discuss because of them, is one of my favorite things about homeschooling.  When I was in school I didn’t get to read any of the amazing classics I am reading with my kids and I am so grateful I have this opportunity to experience them even though I am not so young any more.  There is nothing like sharing the new worlds and ideas found in a book with your young and eager children.  These are memories I will cherish forever.






Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Green Hour Challenge #6




I have not had much time to post lately, but we are trying to keep up on our nature study. However, with our beautiful spring weather (notice the shorts?) we have moved our focus to the garden.  Part of Barb’s challenge this week included starting a collection in your area of focus.  Well, our area of focus is birds, so we are not collecting anything related to that.  But, if I’m not stretching things too far, I would say that a garden is a collection of sorts. ;D  Truthfully, it is one of the greatest ways  I have found to get the kids fully immersed in nature.  There is something about using your hands to prepare the soil for life, planting seeds, and watching them grow that bonds you to the earth.  

I am always planning a garden and each year they end in varying degrees of success.  Last year I was very pregnant in the spring and had a newborn in the summer, so our garden was not well tended.  This year we have a lot of work to do to get it ready for planting.  We have six 4x4 square foot garden boxes and yesterday, and today we got four of the six ready for planting this Saturday.  Here is what we had to start with.





YIKES!!!

The kids were troopers though, and helped quite a bit to get the weeds out and prepare the soil.  Here is H. Man working diligently in one box.





We found a caterpillar in here and had a fun break observing him for a while.




Here is G. Diddy with his mostly finished box.




And here is I. Mac with his completed box, and the caterpillar.  




I. Mac decided that the collection he wanted to start was a “bug zoo”.  He has an ant farm and he thought he could add to that the potato bugs and caterpillar he found in the gardens.  Unfortunately, mom was supposed to be keeping an eye on Fred (that’s what the kids named the caterpillar), and he somehow got away.  

Perhaps we should change our area of focus to insects.  We didn’t see a single bird in our yard either of the two days...  It sure was wonderful though, to be out in the fresh air and warm sunshine so much!  We had some great conversations about weeds and how they relate to the habits we allow to form in our lives, and how we need to constantly be on the lookout for sin and root it out of our lives.  All in all, I would say that our nature study was a success this week. 


Thursday, March 20, 2008

Confessions of a Happily Organized Family




No, this is not about me.  I wish it was.  This is the title of the book I just finished. (One more down on my 888 list!)  I saw this book on Cellista’s 888 list and decided to read it.  It was basically a collection of many different ways to keep your home and family organized.  I certainly need help in these areas, hence the reason I decided to read this book.  I feel that I gained some valuable tools to help me in my quest to be more organized.  Most of the tips that she gives were ones that I ended up saying “Duh, why didn’t I think of that?” 

 Here are some of my favorite ideas from this book.  The “three bag” cleaning tool.  When you are cleaning a room, bring three bags and put anything that goes into another room in one bag, garbage in the second bag, and laundry in the third bag.  When you have finished cleaning that room, you can then put away the items in the three bags in their appropriate places.  That way you (or your kids), aren’t constantly running to different rooms and getting side-tracked while you’re cleaning.  I loved her creative storage ideas, (using shower hooks on your closet rod to hang belts, using drawer dividers for socks, underwear, p.j’s, using a shoe bag in the bathroom to hold often-used toiletries, using towel hooks in the bathroom to make it easier for kids to hang their own towels...).  One of my favorite ideas was something she did with her kids in the summer.   Since we homeschool and the public school here is on a year round schedule, I think we will use this year round. She made a sign with the picture of a bee that said, “Sorry, kids, we’re busy as bees, come back later if you please.”  The neighborhood kids knew they couldn’t knock on their door until she took down the sign.  I love this!  We have kids here who ring the doorbell every fifteen minutes to see if the kids can play yet.  It drives me crazy!  I am so going to start using this!   There were many other ideas that I am excited to implement too, but I’ll leave some things for you to discover on your own...

My only problem with this book is that it is apparently the sequel to another book she wrote, Confessions of an Organized Homemaker, and she would frequently mention a tool or method she uses, then tell you that if you want to know about it you have to read her other book.  There were times when that was so frustrating and I felt like she had only written this book to get you to buy her first book.  I did end up getting her first book from the library because I wanted to see what her detailed menu-planing ideas were, and she only hinted at those in this book.  

All-in-all, I thought this was a valuable book for the organizationally challenged, as well as for those who want some creative solutions to every day organizational problems.  We’ll see if I become a more organized person as a result.  Wish me luck.





Wednesday, March 19, 2008

15 Amazing Years!

I can’t believe it, but fifteen years ago today, Doug and I were married.  In some ways it seems like only yesterday, yet it is also hard to imagine life when we weren’t together.  These have definitely been the best fifteen years of my life.  In honor of this day, I thought I would share my fifteen favorite memories of our life together.  

1- Our Wedding Day (of course).  It was the most beautiful, amazing day ever.  There have been few times in my life that I have felt Heaven as near as I did that day.




2- Our Honeymoon to San Francisco.  Our first trip together, my first trip to San Francisco, and the whole thing was awesome!  Great food, amazing sights, exploring the art galleries, sleeping in, and enjoying being together and the newness of being married...




3- Our first Christmas.  We were young, and poor, but it was so fun to be together starting our own family and traditions together.  (Doug, do you remember the Newton...? :D)
4- The trip to Kanab.  Most people have never heard of it, but it was one of the funnest trips we ever took. We spent the week riding mountain bikes, golfing (my first, and only attempt) and enjoying the beauty of Southern Utah together.





5- Starting Doug’s first business.  We were still young and naive, and we both quit our jobs to start a business that we really knew nothing about.  I loved working together to try to achieve our goals.  It was crazy, but an adventure that led us to where we are today...
 6- Harrison’s birth.  That day and every other child’s birth was the only other time that compared to the spirituality I felt on our Wedding Day.  We had tried for 5 long years to have a child and it was such a miracle to finally have him here.  Watching Doug immediately fall in love with him, made me love Doug even more.




7- Isaac’s birth. The first child was scary for both of us, so we hired a doula, but for Isaac, it was just Doug and I.  He was so calm and supportive and knew just what I needed.  My labor was so fast, that it was literally just the two of us until it was time for Isaac to be born.  It was a beautiful experience.




8- Our Disney Cruise.  This is something we will probably never do again.  I have always loved Disney, but there is such a thing as too much Disney.  It was way too hot, and humid and our kids were too young to enjoy (let alone remember) any of it, but that is what made it so memorable.  It was beautiful and fun, in it’s own miserable way. ;D  Any time that we can spend alone together as a couple, or as a family is always wonderful, just because we’re together.






9- Our trip to France.  Doug served his mission in France and Switzerland, and he always talked of taking me there someday, but it took us 7 years to be able to afford it.  It was definitely worth the wait!  Six days in Paris, three in Aix-en-Provence, three in Cannes, and then back to Paris (with lots of side trips in between.)  It was a dream come true!  Amazing food, awe-inspiring sights, shopping, train rides, beautiful beaches, time alone after three years with kids...  I could go on, and on.




10- Grant’s birth.  We had Grant at a birthing center and were able to do things how we wanted.  Every child’s birth is amazing, and every one has brought us closer together as a couple.  There is something undefinable about the beauty of bringing another child into this world.  It is a miracle that never grows old.





11- Camping in Santa Cruz.  This was our first trip alone since France (about 4 years) and  it was wonderful.  There were beautiful hikes, fun at the beach, a scary visit to a certain beach..., the best sushi I’ve ever eaten, bike rides along the coast, and the fun day in San Francisco watching the bike race.  It was a much needed break.
12- Harrison’s Baptism.  This was an amazing spiritual high for our family.  It was so awesome to have Doug baptize and confirm him.  Harrison was so excited, and so prepared.  It was one of those crowning moments in the history of our family.  It is hard to put into words.





13- Our trip to yellowstone.  This was a week of fun with the whole family.  Two years later, we are all still talking about it, and wishing we could go back.  Camping, fishing, canoeing, watching geysers in the sun and rain, enjoying the majesty of God’s creation, church in the most amazing setting imaginable, campfires, etc, etc, etc...




14- Our trip to Vegas.  (More alone time!)  I hate Las Vegas, but we had to go for a convention and it turned out to be a ton of fun!  We stayed in a great hotel (in a non-smoking room that was actually free from the smell of smoke), we had fun at the convention (it was a bike convention, Innerbike), did some shopping, went to the temple in St. George, and just had fun being together.




15- Carol’s birth.  We were rather adventurous with this one (for lack of a better word) and we had Carol at home.  This was the quintessential birth experience for us.  Everything was so calm and relaxed.   As always, Doug was so supportive and helpful.  We had planned to send the kids to my mom’s when I went into labor, but after a few false alarms, we ended up letting them sleep.  (I had her at 1:00 in the morning.) After Carol was born, Doug woke up the kids and it was so awesome to have everyone there to welcome her into the world.  It was a major bonding experience for our whole family.  It was so wonderful to be home and not in a hospital and rest in our own bed, and begin our own family routines together.





These are obviously our major memories, but there are lots of little wonderful ones in between.  From the time Doug told me he thought my hair was “pretty” (on our first date), to all of his funny jokes, the kind and thoughtful acts he is always doing for me, cheering for him at his bike races, him cheering for me at my triathalons, his unconditional support and love, the birthday celebrations, and and all the little things that have made our life together better than a dream come true.  I love you Doug!




Tuesday, March 11, 2008

The Road Less Travelled

As I have mentioned before, when I began homeschooling I did so because I felt directed by the Lord that this was what was right for our family.  However, every now and then it can feel very lonely.  Sometimes I question,  if this is so right, why aren’t more people doing it?  I usually gain sufficient comfort and encouragement in scriptures like Dueteronomy 26:18 And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his apeculiar people”, and 1 Nephi 18:2 “Now I, Nephi, did not work the timbers after the manner which was learned by men, neither did I build the ship after the manner of men; but I did build it after the manner which the Lord had shown unto me; wherefore, it was not after the manner of men.”  I know that the world’s ways are not God’s ways, and that just because “everyone else is doing it” doesn’t make it right, but sometimes I miss the comfort of “fitting in”.  I realize this sounds rather juvenile, but sometimes it can feel  frustrating to be the “only one”.  Luckily, I don’t feel this way very often.  Unfortunately, right now just happens to be one of the times that I do.  It has been building for the past week, or so, and since writing my thoughts always seems to clear my head, I thought I would give it a try. 

 I have had several conversations lately that have got me thinking about this.  The main topic I always get hit with is socialization.  No one ever asks me how I could possibly educate my children at home, but most people seem to think it would be impossible for them to be “properly socialized”.  We don’t sit home alone all day every day.  My children are involved in various sports and study groups.  They play, almost every day, with kids in the neighborhood, and typically seem like pretty normal kids.   Why do most people feel that a child will be better “socialized” if they are exposed to the foul language, back-bighting, crassness, dress, rudeness, immorality, drug abuse, and violence that is the norm in almost every public school.  The comments I often hear about this behavior at school from concerned parents is, “luckily they get used to it”, “it used to really bother them, but now they don’t even notice”, or “that is how it is in the real world, so they better learn how to deal with it.”  I don’t know what kind of “real world” other people are living in, but my world looks little like the halls of the schools I went to, let alone the ones our should-be-innocent children have to endure now.   There is so much talk of the dangers of “desensitization” that occurs when we watch movies that exhibit this sort of behavior, but somehow it is o-kay to be desensitized by our peers?  I am not saying that a child can’t survive this and do alright, but I wonder why I am made to feel like the one who is crazy, because I don’t want this for my children.

I have to admit there are times that I have prayed that someone else would either move into our neighborhood, or someone here would decide to start homeschooling.  Somehow it seems like that would make it easier, somehow validate my decision.  Most of the time I don’t need that, but every now and then it sounds really nice.  Until then, I will keep reminding myself of the reasons I do what I do, and trust that some day this poem will ring true.

The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.


Friday, March 7, 2008

Book Reviews

I am going to catch up on my reviews for my 888 list.  I have a whopping two books completed, but I’d rather not get too far behind.  I have already commented about The Goose Girl here, but Anne has been asking for more details, so I am going to oblige.  I will also include a review here about Just David.
I will start out by saying that I enjoyed The Goose Girl, but I really wanted to love it.  The premise was very interesting to me.  It is about a princess (Ani) who was born “with a word on her tongue” and did not open her eyes for three days because she was trying to figure it out.   The tale reveals her process of coming to discover what that “word” was.  The story was well written and very engaging.  As I mentioned before, I had a hard time putting it down.  A lot of people have said that they had a hard time getting into the book, but that was not my problem.  I loved Ani’s relationship with nature and how that developed from the beginning.  The book became less compelling for me the longer it went on.  My big fall-out with the book occurred towards the end when out of nowhere someone tells a story about the women who go to war with their husbands and end up getting naked to spur their husbands on to victory.  It seemed so out of place with the rest of the book.  I had a hard time enjoying the rest of the book and the ending felt forced and unsatisfactory.  Like I said, I wanted to love it, but I didn’t.  To quote from my previous post, “it was a fun story, the kind that is easy to loose yourself in.  It was light, but adventurous, slightly thought provoking, but didn’t require too much brain power, and romantic” but it was wanting something for me.  A great book always leaves me reveling in it for days, this book just left me.
Now for Just David. Again, I have already mentioned this book here, but I will give you the complete review now.  As I said in that post, “ The book is about a ten year old boy who has been raised in the mountains by his father.”  He teaches him to “play” the beauty he finds in the world on his violin, and only exposes him to things that are beautiful and good.  He teaches him that he has a “great work” to do in the world, and the story is about David’s attempt to discover what that work is.  I loved this book.  It was a very simple, story.  It was written more for older children, but the message in it was so pure and uplifting.  It made me want to be a better person, and a better parent.  It was touching and insightful.  I will admit that it was rather predictable in the end, but the message made up for that, for me.  This is a book that I would highly recommend, and is on my list for a future family read-aloud. 
Well, now that that’s done, I have about 8 other books I am in the middle of reading, so hopefully I will have some more reviews soon.  
Happy Reading!


Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Green Hour Challenge #3






“Nature-study should be so much a part of the child’s thought and interest that it will naturally form a thought core for other subjects quite unconsciously on his part.  In fact, there is one safe rule for correlation in this case - it is legitimate and excellent training as long as the pupil does not discover that he is correlating.” HNS p. 16

“The correlation of nature-study and drawing is so natural and inevitable that it needs never be revealed to the pupil.” HNS p.17

I wish I would have read the assignment before we headed out today.

We have a canal near our home that is the year-round residence for many Mallard Ducks.  That was the site for our nature walk today, if you can call it a walk.  As soon as we arrived at the canal the ducks came running to the street to meet us.  




The kids were fascinated by the boldness of the ducks and stood admiring them until it was time to leave.




We had fun seeing them up close and personal and had the opportunity to observe some interesting facts about them.  We do picture study with famous pieces of art a la Charlotte Mason, and I told the kids to observe the ducks like they do the art, and tell me something new that they noticed about the ducks.  Isaac noticed that the head of the males looked green in certain lights, but blue, purple, or even black in other lights.  We noticed that the males tails all have feathers that curl up, something we had never noticed before.  H. Man enjoyed one of the duck-calls that he described as sounding like an “evil laugh”.  G. Diddy's favorite observation was that the ducks could hop.  We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly and obviously had plenty of subjects to study.





I wish I could say our note-booking went as well.  As I said before, I wish I would have read the assignment before we went.  When we got home I told them that they all needed to get their nature notebooks and draw something from our “walk” before they could play.  Nice motivation, right?  Well, wether it was their feeling like this was an assignment, and not a means for expression, or the fact that this was their first nature journal entry, our results were less than stellar.


We will keep at it, and in the future I plan to sit with them and draw.  We will try to make it an activity, rather than an assignment.  I am a horrible artist, but I will share one more quote from this weeks reading that was encouraging to me:
“Too much have we emphasized drawing as an art, it may be an art, if the one who draws is an artist; but if he is not an artist, he still has a right to draw if it pleases him to do so.” HNS p.17

Hopefully this will get easier for all of us...







Monday, March 3, 2008

888 Challenge

I have been feeling the need to be a more well-rounded reader.  I am really good at reading “fun” books, or books about education when I need a boost, but everything else that I feel I should be reading, I have a hard time motivating myself to get to. I have been toying with the idea of making a list of different categories of books I would like to read from, and rotating through them to be sure I have a more balanced approach to reading, but I haven’t done that until now.  I found this challenge here and here, and thought that it sounded like the perfect plan for me.  Granted I am starting two months late, but better late than never, right?   The idea is to pick 8 books in 8 different categories and read them in 2008.  You can double up on 8  books for a total of 56 books.  Here are the books I’ve chosen so far:

Government/History

Spirituality
Rough Stone Rolling (I started this last year, but never finished it...)
Each Ensign from cover to cover this year

Classics (Including Children’s)
Just David  (read the review)
*1984 (read the review)

Education
Help for the Harried Homeschooler
TBD

Harrison’s Readings (as Harrison is reading more books on his own, I have been feeling the need to read them also, so that we can discuss them.)
Isaac Newton (read the review)

Book Club Books
Goose Girl  (read the review)
*1984 (read the review)
The Hiding Place (read the review)
Aunt Dimity’s Death
The Giver
Approaching Zion

Health/Fitness/Nutrition (I’m still looking for selections here.  If anyone has any recommendations I would love to hear them.)
7. The 3-Season Diet: Eat the Way Nature Intended
8. Chris Carmichael's Food for Fitness

VIII. Motherhood
TBD
TBD

*Books that are repeated in another category.
Books I am currently reading.
Books I have completed.

When I finish each book I will try to leave a review about the book and link to it here.  I am excited for this challenge and am hoping that this list and the accountability of posting here, will give me some additional motivation.  Wish me luck!