Smile - It's Saturday!

Read the Unbound blog here, one of my favorite places online.

Less Math and More Poetry Memorization

We've just finished our Spring Break and have hopefully stored up enough relaxation to gird ourselves for the weeks ahead. I find we tire of the outside activities at the end of the year. Sometimes it's hard to remember how good and worthy they are, but we will persevere.

First Son has finished third grade math!

We have accomplished the required number of hours of school for the year!

Sadly, that makes it a little bit harder to focus on what remains to be done. We all long to go play outside in the spring sunshine instead. We'll use some of our math time for other subjects, though, so we'll start to finish other things a bit quicker now.

In other news, Brandy shared a link to a Memoria Press article that touts the benefits of memorizing poetry. It's nice to see someone agreeing with at least part of my post on poetry memorization.

More Thoughts on Memorization

For those of you who don't follow Brandy's blog (and why not?) and haven't seen her Musings this week, she's posted two links to articles about memorization, specifically of poetry: A Lost Eloquence and Why We Should Memorize. They are both more poetic (pun intended) than my own little post on the memorization of poetry.

Brandy on Entertainment in Education

It's been a long time since I posted three different times on the same day, but Brandy has some wonderful thoughts on entertainment in education at Afterthoughts today.

What I Loved About Last Week (28th Ed.)

1. This article about Father Kapaun, a Servant of God from Kansas.

2. First Son begged me to read the third part of Jason and the Argonauts in Classic Myths to Read Aloud. (I refused. I've found it's good for him to have at least a few lessons he can happily anticipate in the coming week.) I was particularly happy about his response to the myth because it seemed every other lesson that day went badly. And we even skipped math!

3. Big Truck Night, even if Second Son cried the whole time.

4. Playing with friends at the church playground on a beautiful afternoon with a surprise visit by Kansas Dad.

5. My last Catechesis training class of the year - It's been great, but I'm ready for a break.

6. The thank you note we received from First Son in the mail. His PSR teacher had all the students write one - what a wonderful idea!

 It's hard to read in the picture, so here's what it says:

Dear Mom and Dad

I wanted to thank you for... giving me a rosary, and a crusefix. I also wanted to thank you for helping me prepere for first confeshon. I relley want to thank you for prepereing me for first comiunoun.

Love [First Son]

7. First Daughter's donut. I don't know why, but she colored it, cut it out, and proudly presented it to Kansas Dad.

8. Next week is week number 32 in our homeschool year. We're in the final four weeks!

Next week is a big one! We've got our last soccer practices, our final day of basketball camp, our final choir rehearsal before the concert, our final Catechesis class followed by a family picnic, our last story hour, our last two soccer games, our last Sunday School class and our choir concert. Sometime in there I'd like to make some loaves of cranberry nut bread to present to all the wonderful people who have been leading all those activities and we must bake two dozen cookies for the concert. And those pesky homeschooling lessons, too. Whew. I'm tired just thinking about it, but I'm looking forward to feeling overwhelmed by free time when all these activities are finished!

What I Loved About Last Week (27th Ed.)

1. The kids and I shared a quiet Easter Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday without lessons in celebration of the holiday. (It was a bit of a shock coming back on Friday.)

2. We took a lovely field trip with our story hour friends to the art museum. The kids were shown a few portraits, heard a story, and then had a chance to make their own portraits. First Son and First Daughter did wonderfully. Second Daughter pasted the templates together along with a feather. (The museum guide was very accepting.)

3. Kansas Dad found this video and shared it with me. This boy is awesome.

4. The kids sang at a parish praise and healing service in celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday. They were sweet, if a little restless during the parts when they weren't singing.

5. We had a real tornado scare on Saturday night. Kansas Dad and I spent the evening watching TV and checking a flickering Internet before waking the kids and taking them to the storm shelter through a thunderstorm. It wasn't something I really loved about the week, though I am very grateful we had a clean and safe place to be and that the tornado did not actually come over us and that all of our friends were safe, but it did mean I didn't have a chance to write much this weekend, so this post is the abbreviated version of the week.

Considering Chores

As I plan for next year (Oh, it's fun!), I have been contemplating chores. I think a goal for this summer will be to teach everyone a new chore and clarify the ones they've been doing as their own responsibility.

Someone at Faith and Family posted a link to this article that I found timely: What can children do? A guide. I'll be keeping this in mind as I look around the house to find jobs for everyone.

What I Loved About Last Week (Second Edition)

1. First Daughter played in her first soccer game last Monday night. The U6 (under 6) AYSO teams are awesome! She has a wonderful coach, some fun team-mates, and they played a great game. She even scored two goals! Next week we'll tie her shorts better so she's not holding them up so often while she runs. She and First Son had their second games over the weekend. First Daughter scored three goals in the first half and had two close misses in the second half. (It helps the U6 teams play without a goalie.) First Son's team had improved dramatically after a week of practicing together. He could be a really fast player if he stopped running with his head down and his hands flung behind him. (I think he's pretending to be flying Mario.)

2. First Son's spelling practice. I love how he adds the "(s)" all on his own and insists on writing his "a" like it is typed.

3. Second Son's speech-making. Kansas Dad jokes he'll grow up to be a politician, but maybe he'll be a missionary.

4. Carmy and Claire in this video:


Watching Second Son watch this video is awesome.

If you have time, this video is also enjoyable:



5. The Medicine Lodge Peace Treaty Pageant - We went on Friday. The kids watched their first ever parade in town, then we drove out to the park for the pageant. I thought it was a wonderful and loved watching the horses and wagon train. I thought it was useful for First Son and First Daughter to see real Native American dancing, hear their war whoops and get a better feel for at least a bit of life here in Kansas from the first forays of European exploration. They were hot and had little patience for the more explanatory parts of the performance. There is a great need for help in continuing this tradition and I hope very much energetic people step forward because I would love to attend in the future as my children grow older.

6. First Daughter's birthday! She turned five this weekend, complete with a pancake as big as her head, cupcakes and ice cream with the family and a princess party with a few friends. She was delighted, dancing and laughing. The girls went through 500 Adhesive Back Jewels decorating some party hats (their princess crowns) and goblets (for their pink lemonade, of course). The pinata was a success and then the girls played a complicated version of throw and catch with a ball in our living room, princess dresses, tiaras and all. Hopefully her birthday post will post later this week. (I'm still writing it, of course.)

7. Our parish - I was thinking again this weekend of how wonderful our parish family is. We are blessed by a friendly congregation who cares deeply about the faith formation not only of their own children, but of those in the entire parish. Second Son's godparents recently moved into the parish and Kansas Dad and I were honored to be asked to be godparents for a baby due very soon. Whenever our physical house is frustrating, which happens when Kansas Dad is too busy with his university duties to work on his wish list for the property, I remember our parish family and know this is where we're meant to be.

8. Homeschooling and the ability to take a break. I've had an exhausting schedule for a few weeks and need to take a breath, wash a ton of dishes and fold a kind-sized bed pile of laundry. So this morning we're taking a break before First Daughter's well-child check up. We'll be back to our regularly scheduled lessons tomorrow.

What about you? What did you love about last week?

Charlotte Mason Study for Mother

I followed a couple of links to this article on teaching in the Charlotte Mason style: Becoming a Charlotte Mason Teacher. I was particularly convicted on the point on narration. I have been far too lax with narrations because they are so painful for First Son (and therefore myself). It's not that we never did narration; he did some every day, but not every lesson. That must change.

I've also been inspired to read another volume of Charlotte Mason's writings this summer. I'm considering A Philosophy of Education. I've read only her first one (Home Education). Those who have read them...is this a good choice?

More Than Just Rules

Rachel Balducci over at Faith and Family:

What these boys are starting to understand is that living a Christian life ultimately means dying to self. It means putting others first not merely out of a desire to obey the rules, but out of a deep love for God.

Read more here.

Answered Prayers

There's just a lot of great stuff out there today!

Read this heart-warming and inspiring story of how God answers prayers -- even for clean laundry.

HT: Chris Cash

Fascinating Post on Cloth Diapering at No Cost

Even if you choose to use disposable diapers, thinking ahead a little could help you diaper your baby in an emergency (like stuck between towns in western Kansas or a natural disaster like we've seen in Japan). Cotton Babies has a great post full of ideas for cloth diapering with a minimum of supplies.

Of course, you might lose the Internet in the case of a natural or national disaster, so you might want to print the post out for a Disaster Binder. (I don't have one; my main plan is to depend on our copy of The Encyclopedia of Country Living.)

HT: Arwen at Faith and Family

Read a Favorite Book Online!

One of my very favorite books can be read online for free! Check it out. I can almost guarantee you'll want a copy for your kids by the time you're done reading. (Read my review here.)

Why We Have Children, A Link

There was no part of me, as we rushed to the emergency room that night, that wished my daughter gone and my freedom restored. Not the slightest part of me thought I should be happier without her. Instead, I knew with terrible certainty that if this small, fragile, quivering creature against my chest were to leave me, she would take all my joy with her. And no part of me would have preferred that she had never come to be, if she could only be for thirteen months and then be no more. Her thirteen months had made my life worth living.

Read all of it over at Patheos.

HT: Creative Minority Report.

Twelve Questions of Christmas

The children and I have been enjoying Clive and Ian's Christmas Tour. Clive and Ian are characters from the What's in the Bible? DVD series. We've heard good things about them but haven't seen them yet ourselves. First Son is receiving the first one for his birthday on Saturday.

Just thought I'd pass the word along.

Backyard Fun

Have you seen this lovely video?

My kids wanted to watch it three times in a row...and then they wanted to play some guitars in our backyard. That kind of fun will have to wait until this unbearable heat wave is over (two record-breaking days in a row...so far), but I love that they wanted to immediately run out and play.

HT: Faith and Family

No Baby Yet

But I was reading this article at Faith & Family and reminding myself baby will come soon.

More About Health Care

I found this article fascinating. I missed it when it came out (not too surprising since I don't usually read The Atlantic and only read it today because Kansas Dad printed it out for me). I don't agree with everything Mr. Goldhill says, of course, but the idea of completely changing how we pay for and consume health care is an intriguing one. Kansas Dad in particular is a proponent of changing to health insurance as catastrophic insurance rather than something we depend on for routine care.

As I was reading it, I couldn't help thinking about the state of public education as well. In many ways, I believe we need to completely reconsider how we provide education to those who do not have the luxury of learning at home. (You'll find some similar comments in Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling by John Gatto, reviewed here.)

Quote: Surrender the Choosing

Marion Fernandez-Cueto at Faith & Family:

Yet trusting God doesn’t mean trusting He won’t let tragedy strike, writes Houselander; the truth is, He may. Real trust means knowing that even when catastrophe falls, God still cradles you with absolute love, with a divine purpose that fathoms every life, every frustration, every heartache, every fallen hair from our heads. “Surely He has born our grief and carried our sorrows,” Isaiah tells us...I realize God doesn’t want us to parcel out our chosen sacrifices to Him piecemeal — He wants us to surrender the choosing itself.

Read more here.

What He Loves

I don't try to see things from my husband's perspective because I want a "good relationship" with him. I want to see what he sees because of something I learned from Sheldon Vanauken years and years ago: I love him (my husband, not Vanauken). Because I love him, what he sees is worth seeing, his perspective is worth knowing, and what he loves must be worth loving.

Because I love him, I will learn to love like him, and he like me, over time.

If our method doesn't pour forth from a heart full of love, it is nothing but an empty technique, or an interesting experiment in perspective.

Read more here.