The toilet plunger king

Wanted to share Psalm's leggo creation: the Toilet Plunger King. lol!

Welcome, Noah! Happy birthday, Bethany!

We've had a great couple of days. Bethany had her very first birthday! I can't believe she's getting so big. While we decorated blueberry cheesecake pudding cake for her with letters and a candle, she enjoyed a fine fare of pumpkin pie for her birthday dessert, one of her favorite things. :)





Also, Noah made it up here yesterday for his winter break from school! We're all very excited. As always, he is gigantic, handsome, and very sweet!

The building of a body of knowledge

One of the comments on my last blog stated:

I’m resisting planning, because I want to follow [my child’s] lead as far as learning styles, structure, and areas of interest. But I don’t want to unschool, per se. The three R’s and civics are a must, I think, though I do hope to avoid curriculums for at least a little while and find those things more naturally in the world, if that makes any sense (the math of cooking, that sort of thing). But really, I think it’s about going with what works, like so much else of parenting.

That’s really why I’m resisting thinking too much about it. I’m waiting to see what works. And I’m trying to untangle my mind from school, like really assessing what of school is necessary and useful and how much of it is more for the institution’s sake than the students’.

Yes, to "find those things more naturally in the world" makes perfect sense. I agree. Making subject matter accessible and applicable to "real life" is a major gap in today's educational system. I hope that will change in time, but there seems to be a significant lag time between the pace of today's life, technology, science, etc. and how that is taught in school. Even just balancing a checkbook and budget escapes the curriculum of a student who may otherwise be taking Advanced Placement courses in economics.

It is vital to me (and them) that the children master the fundamentals of reading, writing, and arithmetic. You bet. Does that require a schedule of worksheets and testing? I'm not of the viewpoint it does, unless that's the style that serves them best, but I'm not anti-test either, as I mentioned earlier. As they go on to further their education or even simply apply for a job, it will serve them to have experience with the formats of institutionalized learning. As someone who "bucked the system" for years, I ultimately determined that path to be more of an impediment than anything and wish I had kowtowed to "the way things are" more than I did. I am now in the utterly institutionalized process of becoming an institutionalized nurse-practitioner in a federal position, so I stand humbled. :)

Two of my favorite activities of high school were Academic Decathlon and writing for the school newspaper. When I look back, what appealed to me was the high degree of freedom, personal responsibility, and creativity I had in those endeavors. Academic Decathlon was awesome...we spent 9 months studying a wide variety of subjects but with a high degree of independence and freedom. A general outline of subjects for the competition provided a framework for our studies, but the style and nature of that studying was completely on our shoulders. We also were encouraged to explore these areas as deeply as we wanted to, and the material itself (Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus, for example, comes to mind) stimulated and excited me. An overriding theme would provide a context for studies in numerous areas, somewhat like a unit study in homeschooling where all different study areas are brought together into an overriding theme or context.

I feel comfortable planning a general direction for now but with the expectation that their interests will shine through and we can explore that direction from the perspective of their interests. While I want to ensure those "3 R's" are nailed, as you put it, I even more importantly want to create a context for current and future understanding. It is very important to me that the children learn history and geography but not simply as a set of facts and figures. I also want them to learn how to evaluate sources and determine what is worthy material in the first place. I want them to look at original sources, in addition to interpretations of those sources. My hope is to create a system so that the different events and developments can be seen as part of a larger whole, not just as a single piece of history, and so that these studies today and next year can be understood next to the studies of three and four years from now.

So, as a basic example, Wolfgang's interest in photography can be looked at historically, as in "the development of the camera in history;" sociologically, as in "what impact the camera had and has on our culture;" artistically as in "how photography has developed as an art form and also how it impacts our ability to appreciate art;" scientifically, as in "how does a camera work?", etc. This is certainly not revolutionary from a homeschooling perspective, just from the standpoint of standardized education.

I believe standardization is not the evil it is so often made out to be. I have my complaints about it, but mostly, I think it serves as a baseline to ensure that most children acquire a basic level of skills. What that standard consists of, however, is up for argument, and certainly from me. I don't think it's unreasonable that children be encouraged to think, rather than simply learn. When I look at Hirsch's suggested curriculum for each grade level, I see that it is very well-intended, but the idea of establishing a common body of knowledge for each and every child is so deflating!

Psalm's sweet bent

A friend of ours gave us several bags of clothing that her kids had outgrown, as well as a few sundry things. One of those items was a device that hooks up to the T.V. and comes with a microphone and cartridges. The kids were delighted to learn that they could watch themselves sing and dance on TV while the music plays. It may be karaoke, although we haven't found a way to bring words up onto the screen. Either way, after jumping around for at least an hour with this machine, Psalm decided a better use would be as a viewing station for his Lego creations.





Also, we recently had the pleasure of attending a gingerbread-house-making party! What a treat! A friend of mine hosted it and made 50 graham cracker houses and laid out tables of candy and frosting for us to enjoy. So Psalm made a little house very meticulously and then showed us, when he brought it home, that he devised a candy stash inside it too. Always thinking ahead, that boy!

The seven seals of the scroll

I spent much of last week worrying about my hearing in my left ear. It seems to be getting worse. While reading aloud to the kids at night, it's like I have a dead zone in my head, and, while very minor, I notice some balance issues here and there.

This was freaking me out. It certainly could have been nothing and, upon consulting with my father who also has a bad ear, a problem has never been identified with his hearing, even after getting a CT scan. I had to consciously remind myself to hand this to God and try not to be so afraid.

I'm the kind of mom who stands in front of the big scary rock at the park while the kids are sledding to make sure I can veer them to the side just before they bust their heads open. I would be very happy if they wore their bike helmets (the big kind, with full skull coverage) every waking moment outside. So this was certainly a brain tumor. This might seem out of line with my so-called faith. Why bother with faith if I freak out about boulders? That is a subject for a later blog.

On Tuesday, my totally unbedsidey doctor (who has to work hard to smile, let alone chuckle at my unreasonableness) reassured me that there is no reason to think anything bad is going on, other than that the middle of my three ear bones seems to be loose and has caused my ear drum on the left to be rather wobbly and not have as much tension as it needs to facilitate normal hearing. It is, in the world of ear, nose, and throat specialists, a non-issue. So yay! I had written some of this blog prior to the doctor's appointment and it was full of trepidation. This one has turned into a yippee. But back to my big a-ha moment.

I had planned to get some prayer at church Sunday during the worship time. Then Sunday came and we went to church, and the selected Scripture deeply moved me. Pastor Mark spoke about chapter 5 of Revelation:

1Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, "Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?" 3But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 4I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. 5Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals."

John turns, probably expecting to see a Lion, as Pastor Mark pointed out, but seeing instead a slain Lamb, who takes the scroll.

9And they sang a new song:
"You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth."

11Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12In a loud voice they sang:
"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!"

13Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
"To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!" 14The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="566" caption="Albrecht Durer's "Adoration of the Lamb""][/caption]

Without attempting to do this chapter justice, I simply lost all interest in praying for my ear. I mean, don't get me wrong. You're more than welcome to pray for it, and thank you! I certainly wouldn't complain if God tightened up my ear bone. But He has had other plans in store for my heart this week.

Reading Revelation is an intense experience, with such a contrast between the saints and angels who are worshiping the Lord and the dismantling of the world as we know it as the seals of the scroll are opened. As time goes on, I find myself not so much focused on what God has done for me, Mindy, and changed in me, Mindy, as I am simply amazed and appreciative of His gift to us all in Jesus Christ. My focus is shifting more to a basic appreciation that "it is done." (Rev. 21:6) I feel I am getting just a smidgen more of what it means to "let the peace of Christ rule in [my] heart," as Paul wrote in Colossians 3:15. He is nudging me on as I let go of myself a bit more. I wish I could say it as a more sweeping and total statement but I hold on more tightly to myself than that. It is one small yet joyful step at a time. My prayer for this year is that I can leap with both feet joyfully into the freedom He offers, rather than touching down a few toes into the top of the water.

Women of the Bible Series ~~ He Browses Among the Lilies...

I've been having a quasi-blog-conversation about Song of Songs with my friend Sarah. Sadly, Sarah is a friend I see in person and wave a hello to but very rarely talk with face to face. (Hi, Sarah.) I think we would have a blast getting to know each other but in the meantime, we comment on each others' blogs. I feel hers is a particularly good one. Here is a link to the two recent posts I'm referring to at the moment, although I encourage you to start from the top and enjoy them all.

Wilder Shores of Love

Loving Foolishly

She asks in the first blog,

Are we supposed to love lavishly? Are we supposed to lose our senses and make foolish decisions? Is that how God designed us?

My first encounter with Song of Songs in any meaningful way was in a college course entitled, "Women of the Bible." I have taken several courses pertaining to the Bible but never as a Christian. Thus, while looking back at my writings from that time, I must keep in mind that I learned about the Bible from a place of academic interest while also finding it very attractive. I did not, however, believe it to be a living text as I do now.

I commented on Sarah's first blog "I have always interpreted Song of Solomon to be more of a warning about that kind of thing," meaning, "Losing our senses and making foolish decisions." Sarah responded to me in her second blog that my comment made her "really curious" and she wrote:

1) Christianity is foolishness (I Corinthians 1:18)

2) We can look pretty foolish when we follow God (see... the entire Bible. But really, any of the disciples will do.)

3) The two major commandments are about loving God and loving others (Matthew 22:37-39)

It stands to reason then that, at some point, we will look foolish for loving someone. But looking foolish for loving someone is not always the same as loving foolishly.

I appreciate Sarah's summarizing of these point, agree with them and find that last sentence particularly interesting. But it calls into question this book, once again, about the young Shulammite who adores a young man and engages with him in a romantic and sexual way. Is she looking foolish for loving someone, or is she loving foolishly? Is she loving foolishly in a Corinthians kind of way (surely that's an adjective by now) or is she loving foolishly in a destructive way?

As you may imagine, this course I took dealt with issues of feminism and the portrayal of women in the Bible. Also, most college courses pertaining to this subject begin with the default premise that women are not fairly or adequately represented in the Bible. I'd like to write a series of blogs on this subject because I don't agree with that perspective.

When last I visited this subject, I wrote that "I read Song of Songs with a certain horror for the book's young subject." I am certainly not a Bible scholar and do not have any insider's knowledge on how the Jewish community has interpreted this book through the ages. From a brief examination, it appears that the Jewish tradition holds this book as exceedingly holy ("Holiest of Holies," says one rabbi). Certainly, there is great beauty in the text. Sarah quotes some of that poetry in her blog. Near the end of the book are the famous lines,

Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.
Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot wash it away.
If one were to give
all the wealth of his house for love,
it would be utterly scorned. (8:6-7)

However, its very placement between Ecclesiastes and Isaiah, a book of fatalism and a book of prophecy respectively, leads me to ponder its reputation as a depiction of the love affair between God and Israel (or Christ and the church, as Christians have interpreted it). Ecclesiastes is an assertion of the inherent futility of finding lasting meaning on earth where everyone ultimately dies; Isaiah prophesies devastation but also the birth of the Messiah and the deliverance of Israel.

Solomon may have written this book or he may have been written to in this book; scholars disagree.

Ecclesiastes

One thing that interests me is the thread of the vineyard, a recurring theme throughout the Bible which appears in each of these three works. In Ecclesiastes, the vineyard is referenced in the context of an earthly pursuit, not only as a means to "cheering [oneself] with wine" but as a "great project" and means to earthly wealth.

1 I thought in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good." But that also proved to be meaningless. 2 "Laughter," I said, "is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?" 3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly~~my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.

4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well~~the delights of the heart of man. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.

10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my work,
and this was the reward for all my labor.

11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun. (ch 2)

This is just one tiny portion of a similar theme recurring throughout the many pages of this book. Solomon ponders upon all matters of earthly pursuits such as wealth, creativity, etc. and asserts their "vanity" and "meaninglessness." It is one of my favorite books of the Bible and kept a door of the Bible open to me when I struggled substantially in the past with this type of existential crisis of the meaninglessness of it all. I find that Solomon's ponderings of the world color my interpretation of Song of Songs, as it is also known as Song of Solomon and somehow has a hand in it, either as an author, a character, or the subject of criticism, as some scholars have suggested.

Song of Songs

In Song of Songs, the vineyard appears in a different context. The young Shulammite, the subject of the book, uses the metaphor of the vineyard as a reference to her own body and awakening sexuality.

6 Do not stare at me because I am dark,
because I am darkened by the sun.
My mother's sons were angry with me
and made me take care of the vineyards;
my own vineyard I have neglected. (ch 1)

A few more occurrences of the vineyard as the sexually awakening body appear. The couple is embracing one another ("His left arm is under my head"), possibly consummating their relationship, and seemingly content in the first 13 verses of chapter 2. Then, in verse 14, the book takes on a different tone. The character of the young woman begins to look for her lover in the "hiding places on the mountainside," entreating

Show me your face,
let me hear your voice;

15 Catch for us the foxes,
the little foxes
that ruin the vineyards,
our vineyards that are in bloom.

After that, she rather wistfully states, "My lover is mine and I am his; he browses among the lilies." Where has the subject of her earthly love gone?

Chapter 3 is markedly different from the previous chapters. She searches until she finds him:

1 All night long on my bed
I looked for the one my heart loves;
I looked for him but did not find him.

2 I will get up now and go about the city,
through its streets and squares;
I will search for the one my heart loves.
So I looked for him but did not find him.

3 The watchmen found me
as they made their rounds in the city.
"Have you seen the one my heart loves?"

4 Scarcely had I passed them
when I found the one my heart loves.
I held him and would not let him go...

Chapter 4 is a reunion, a very passionate statement from her lover about each of her physical features, slightly to the point of absurdity although something we perhaps can relate to if we have ever been in these throws of physical passion:

1 How beautiful you are, my darling!
Oh, how beautiful!
Your eyes behind your veil are doves.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
descending from Mount Gilead.

2 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn,
coming up from the washing.
Each has its twin;
not one of them is alone.

3 Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon;
your mouth is lovely.
Your temples behind your veil
are like the halves of a pomegranate.

Chapter 5, again, may qualify as a description of the consummation of their physical passion for one another but scholars argue on this point and it seems more likely that the young woman is describing a dream sequence, which seems more accurate to me as well. In this chapter, she describes a vivid physical advance by her beloved:

4 My lover thrust his hand through the latch-opening;
my heart began to pound for him.

5 I arose to open for my lover,
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with flowing myrrh,
on the handles of the lock.

Yet this turns despairing once again in an intense way:

6 I opened for my lover,
but my lover had left; he was gone.
My heart sank at his departure.
I looked for him but did not find him.
I called him but he did not answer.

7 The watchmen found me
as they made their rounds in the city.
They beat me, they bruised me;
they took away my cloak,
those watchmen of the walls!

What follows is her renewed description of his exquisite physical features, followed by her friends' entreaty:

1Where has your lover gone,
most beautiful of women?
Which way did your lover turn,
that we may look for him with you?

He is gone. In fact, he is not simply gone. He is browsing again. If this was written by or about King Solomon, I can't help but remember the fact that he had hundreds of wives and concubines. In 1 Kings 11, it states that "King Solomon loved many foreign women" and that he had, according to that text, 700 wives and 300 concubines. The young Shulammite responds to her friends,

2 My lover has gone down to his garden,
to the beds of spices,
to browse in the gardens
and to gather lilies.

3 I am my lover's and my lover is mine;
he browses among the lilies. (ch 6)

I interpret this as an inner conflict, an argument between reason and desire. She asserts what she wants ("I am my lover's and my lover is mine") but she is acknowledging the truth ("he browses among the lilies"). When the lover returns, he tries to address these insecurities:

8 Sixty queens there may be,
and eighty concubines,
and virgins beyond number;

9 but my dove, my perfect one, is unique... (ch 6)

In fact, there were many more than that, and I'm sure they were each unique!

As much as the young woman reassures herself that she belongs to her lover and he to her (see 7:10), there are several indications that their relationship is hidden in some way and this becomes more clear in chapter 8, where she states,

1 If only you were to me like a brother,
who was nursed at my mother's breasts!
Then, if I found you outside,
I would kiss you,
and no one would despise me.

The friends bemoan her state, wanting to "enclose her with panels of cedar" and hide her away. The young woman ties together this vineyard metaphor by writing how her beloved's attraction for her has "become in his eyes/like one bringing contentment" (8:10) and that

11 Solomon had a vineyard in Baal Hamon;
he let out his vineyard to tenants...

12 But my own vineyard is mine to give.

This vineyard is not, in my estimation, a fruit-bearing, life-bringing one. It is a vineyard of remorse, longing, and unrequited passion. "Like one bringing contentment" is a far cry from the throws of love described on her side of the story.

Isaiah

Finally, we come to the vineyard described in Isaiah. We have made our way from the fruitless vineyard of material wealth and then through the heart-wrenching vineyard (in this case) of physical attraction. In Isaiah, God Himself becomes the vineyard.

14 The LORD enters into judgment
against the elders and leaders of his people:
"It is you who have ruined my vineyard;
the plunder from the poor is in your houses.

15 What do you mean by crushing my people
and grinding the faces of the poor?"
declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty. (ch 3)

Chapter 5 contains what is subtitled "The Song of the Vineyard":

1 I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.

2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones
and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit.

3 "Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.

4 What more could have been done for my vineyard
than I have done for it?
When I looked for good grapes,
why did it yield only bad?

In this light, the allegorical possibilities of Song of Songs~~the painful possibilities~~become more real to me. This is not an easy love story, with a bed of roses beneath a cheerful union. In fact, it is I who have been stereotyping the female voice in the story. Maybe it is the woman who represents God in the story, rather than the man. It is the young lady who pours her raw passion upon a lover who can't be found and who "lets out his vineyard to tenants," a version of idolatry. When Isaiah writes about God's deliverance of Israel, he writes:

2 In that day~~
"Sing about a fruitful vineyard:

3 I, the LORD, watch over it;
I water it continually.
I guard it day and night
so that no one may harm it.

New Testament

This mini-analysis is certainly not exhaustive~~simply a humble blog on this subject of vineyards. A discussion on vineyards cannot be complete without referencing the numerous times that the vineyard is used in the New Testament as a metaphor for the fertile soil of one's life. Jesus uses it repeatedly in His parables, and most significantly, refers to Himself as "The Vine." Almost 800 years after Isaiah was written, this thread of the vine lives on in the arrival of the Messiah.

1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. (John 15:1-8)

Merry Christmas from 700 years before Christ

From the Book of Isaiah
Chapter 9

2 The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.

6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.

Chapter 53

1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken.

9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

11 After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

I'm a planner.

Now that we have started networking with the homeschoolers at our church and also online through this site, I see that everyone has a different style of and attitude toward homeschooling. Some parents are more committed to a child-led style and seem pretty relaxed about following a schedule or set curricula. Others are very committed to a schedule and curricula, and others seem kind of in-between.

I have spent the last 12 years doing coursework, either through the University of Iowa or through the midwifery school in which I was enrolled. I have also spent the last year doing classes through the University of Alaska. Some of this coursework involved rigid schedules, and others were very relaxed in terms of deadlines. From this standpoint, I see the benefits of both. I have found goal-setting to be vital to my own progress, and I always write lists of steps to get from one place to another. So, while most parents are encouraging me to be rather relaxed about our homeschooling approach, I myself feel enthusiastic and motivated to develop a gameplan.

[caption id="attachment_29" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Wolfgang studying a classic camera"][/caption]

My approach thus far has involved compiling material and resources (those we own and those we can borrow from the library) and creating a loose plan involving those materials. Between January and August, Wolf would be completing 18 weeks of public school. The language book I plan to use has three units, so I am planning to spend six weeks on each unit and develop material around this book. The book itself is an anthology with lessons pertaining to social studies, math, music, and other subject areas as well. It is Houghton Mifflin's Reading 'Delights,' which is a second grade book.) I have also invested in a program called "Five in a Row" which involves reading an excellent book each day for five days and studying it from a different perspective each day (math, art, language, social studies, etc.). Also, Wolf's Tiger Cub book provides social studies lessons galore.

This approach will certainly cover oral and written language, reading, art, social studies, handwriting, and geography. Beyond that, I have math workbooks we will be using (at this point, our goals include counting money, telling time, doing addition and subtraction problems, memorizing math facts, and doing word problems. (I feel comfortable teaching math concepts, for instance, using the different books and subject areas listed above, but I also want the kids comfortable with doing worksheets, taking tests, etc. See note below on that.) I plan to stick with "Handwriting Without Tears" for practice in that area (of which Wolf, ahem, needs a LOT) and would like to add a religious curriculum and have a stronger idea of where we are going with world history. According to Hirsch's What Your 1st Grader Needs to Know, a very broad swath of history is covered in his ideal "good, fundamental 1st grade education," but I would like to consider other options that go into greater depth and I'm just not sure where to go with that yet. I will fall back on Hirsch's ideas if necessary but would prefer to look at some pre-existing curricula or ideas in that area.

In re: to the issue of doing worksheets, etc., some parents seem philosophically opposed to learning "being all about" worksheets, test-taking, etc. I myself feel that 1) Wolf is already doing it and seems to enjoy it; 2) college work involves testing and evaluation; and 3) it ensures that our personalized teaching and learning process is, in fact, resulting in knowledge he can call upon at will. However, looking back, I would have appreciated far more "hands on" math activities, for example, with a focus on application, rather than simply "knowing how." To this day, I truly have no idea what my training in trigonometry or calculus helped me to be able to do. Which is sad.

Finally, at the start of all of this planning, I wrote down the goals of the Anchorage School District for 1st graders to have them in mind as we go forward. I feel the more I can get a system down now, the easier it may be in the future when the twins get started, and then Bethany. One thing across the board that all homeschooling parents have told me is to be flexible, open-minded, and unattached to the one way that I think will work fine. One of the gifts of homeschooling is being able to be just that and to make adjustments when necessary.

What are your thoughts on this subject of planning? Do you plan to do it/do it now, or do you embrace more of an "unschooling" approach? You feedback is always appreciated!

Semester to bed

Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Exhale.

It's done.

It is only now, lounging before our blog with a yummy grown-up beverage and an empty plate of what used to display pumpkin pie that I realize how stressful it has been to complete 48 units of school while caring for a new baby.

For what it's worth, I remembering saying at the beginning of the year how impossible this would be. I was only doing it to be obedient to what God had, at that point, reassured me was, in fact, possible. Now I know it was. He was right. :)

In the meantime, I am plotting all the ways I can get out of nursing school in 18 months! I need to hurry up and become a best-selling author or stumble upon some long-lost inheritance from a relative from long ago. If anyone knows of any dead relatives from a prior century who left vague instructions for some future great-great-great-great-grand niece to inherit a sizable fortune (that has also adjusted for inflation) let me know.

Sorry....this is morbid humor. And probably not even funny. But I'm not really joking! I'm comfortable! I'm lounging! This must continue indefinitely into the future!

So, here's the update:



Oh! That's what I need to do. I should quit blogging and get my essay written so I can send off my application this week. That will be a whole new blog post. I must sound rather confused at this point.

So, this last week also brought a few other exciting developments.

I GOT TO KILL ALL MY MICROBES!!

Here is a picture of the little critters:



And here they are dying a gruesome death by bleach.



And my hubby totally kicked my butt in Scrabble, which was a first, by the way.



Which is totally awesome. :)

The woman with no arms

Perhaps you've seen this video; it is a day in the life of a mother who has no arms.

I had mentioned it in passing and the kids heard me and really wanted to see the video. So I put it on for them and they were riveted. Actually, they immediately squealed with delight upon seeing the mother changing her baby's diaper with her feet. It never occurred to them that that would be a hardship. It was simply "cute" and "sweet."

As soon as it was done, they wanted to see it again, and then a third time. Then, we did a search for other similar videos and found this one.

We spoke about resourcefulness, adaptation, and positive attitude. Then, the kids started experimenting with using only their feet. We tried putting on socks without our hands (I alone managed that one, and only because I had a baggy old pair on that lent itself to such a thing). Wolf immediately appreciated the two women's limberness because he himself could not get his toothbrush up to his mouth with his toes as much as he tried. (He did manage to get toothpaste on the floor with his toes, however.)

I felt touched by their enthusiasm to experience life in someone else's not quite as cushioned shoes.

Eagles convening in our neighborhood

We had every intention of making it out the door at a decent hour this morning, but as soon as we drove to the end of our street, we turned right back around to grab the camera. We counted at least 12 bald eagles, although there very well could have been more flying about, and for the first time I can remember, 2 golden eagles. The golden eagles were significantly larger than the bald eagles, with lighter chest feathers and faces just like falcons. (You can see one in the lower right of these pictures.) What an enjoyable way to start the day!

And now, on a rather humorous note, Zoya just attempted to make a paper snowflake and inadvertently made a chain of circles instead. She announced, "Look! A chain of trashcans for ravens! Ravens can have dinner here!"

Must reread...well, everything!

It has been an unexpected joy to read CS Lewis aloud to the children. While we have spent years reading aloud such timeless classics as Time to Pee and the Berenstain Bears, this is my first time doing it with a book I would choose to read to myself anyway.

A close friend told me that she and her husband read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged aloud with each other every other year and that reading aloud together is one of their favorite activities. I can honestly say that I get that now. :) While I thought it was a pleasant-sounding pasttime and way to spend enriching time together, I understand now how much more I glean from a book by speaking it. I do this with my Bible so this shouldn't be surprising, but to hear the words aloud, along with the added expressions that occur when the text is vocalized, makes it a true joy.

I could barely keep my eyes on the page while watching the look on Wolf's face as he pondered Lewis' delicious description of Mr. and Mrs. Beavers' den. Our tummies were inadvertently rumbling as Mr. Beaver caught some fresh trout from under the ice and the fictional children enjoyed their first meal upon entering Narnia as a family.

Alex asked me whether I planned to show the movie to them after we finish the book. While I myself would like to see it (I have only caught a glimpse of it once when Alex had it on) I lean toward "no" as far as the children are concerned, at least until some time has passed. Do you all have any thoughts on the subject? Being that the book is alive and well in their imaginations, I would hate to infringe upon it with someone else's rendition.

The character of Edmund continues to provide fruitful discussion about his dangerous choices. We have also discussed Peter's sense of honor as he insists on attempting to save Mr. Tumnus who sheltered Lucy at grave risk to his own life, even while Peter has never met him. I'm cautiously touching upon the parallels of the text with the story of Jesus. While I intellectually know that CS Lewis intended for these connections to exist, I don't remember the whole story of Narnia and I don't see all the parallels at this point. Clearly, Edmund is a Judas figure, and even more poignant are the descriptions of his inner experience upon hearing the name of Aslan. The lion king is also a clear parallel, especially as he is to fulfill a prophecy and release the land from its perpetual winter. I remember seeing him dead in the snippet of the movie I caught and thinking how he must rise again at some point.

Would love to hear from all of you~~what are your favorite chapter books to read aloud with your children?

If it's not a matter of life or death, it's not necessary?

The subject of face transplants has been more in my awareness lately after watching this documentary about it. It highlighted three people, two of whom had undergone partial face transplants. A third was in line and hopeful to receive one. Now, CNN has reported about the first facial transplant to take place in America. The article is here.

I feel saddened by the attitude of the director of the Institute of Catholic Bioethics:

Critics such as Peter A. Clark, director of the Institute of Catholic Bioethics at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, said a facial transplant introduces unnecessary risks for a procedure that is not a matter of life and death.

"With something like a liver or kidney transplant, it's a life or death transplant," Clark said. "Even with a kidney or liver [transplant], you have to be put on immunosuppressants with serious side effects."

The article goes on to report that:

Bioethicist Dr. Arthur Caplan, chairman of the University of Pennsylvania's Medical Ethics Department, said Wednesday on CNN's "American Morning" that he initially had similar qualms about the facial transplant, which improves the quality of a life rather than saving it, but was gradually convinced.

People with major facial disfigurements "don't come out and basically stay at home and have a huge suicide rate," Caplan said. "They're really up against it."

At the news conference Wednesday, Kodish said the transplant had "abundant moral justification": the face as a personal embodiment as self.

He added that people with disfigurements are often isolated and suffer tremendously and that this case was "not cosmetic surgery in any sense."

It is sad to me that we might take our perfectly acceptable faces for granted, having never possibly dealt with people looking at us in genuine horror purely because of our appearance. After watching the documentary I had stumbled upon, I felt a newfound awareness of the issues involved with severe facial deformities. Be it through birth defects or serious accidents (often involving fire), it seems obvious to me that isolation, depression, and estrangement from society would certainly qualify as a strong case in favor of facial transplants. If a child is born with a cleft palate, for example, should we not bother dealing with it at all? Usually, it's not life threatening so why bother?

Please consider learning more about this issue and even donating to a cause like this one.

Wolf and Mom on the bus

We are beginning the (ahem...adventure) process of homeschooling next month! In the meantime, Wolfgang and I had a blast doing a fieldtrip yesterday to the play "Madeline and the Bad Hat" at the Performing Arts Center. At the end of the production, which was exactly the right length and with just the right balance of singing, dancing, and dialogue, the actors (4 in all) took questions from the kids. What a treat!

Reading aloud with the kids

I suspected the kids would be too young to patiently sit through a chapter a night of a longer book, as much as I loved the thought of ending our nights that way. Yet here we sit now, each night, with our first selection~~and the kids keep asking for more.

[caption id="attachment_11" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Our first book selection"][/caption]

The book right now is CS Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. We have made it to chapter 6 at this point and I am delighted at the level of interest and retention held even by our four (almost five) year olds.

Lewis does a fine job describing the thought process of young Edmund who is "spiteful at times." His decision-making process gives us the chance to discuss those key moments in relationships when we have the opportunity to foster it or damage it. Altogether, this book has proven a delightful first selection.

Zoya's enthusiasm has waned slightly and she is hoping for a more feminine book. Her tastes lean toward anything princessy, dainty, and pink, and the white witch is not impressing her with her "proud" and "stern" countenance. Anyone have any ideas? I'm interested in reading "The Little Prince" next time around, but perhaps "A Little Princess" is in order. :)

Reasons to homeschool #1

Because military jets crash into entire families.

Maybe my outlook's a bit dire...but you don't know how long you have with someone.

Wolf misses us and we miss him.

Exciting!

2009 will bring a new development~~the homeschooling of our children! We can't wait.

We pray your advent season is deeply blessed.

Microbiology must die.

I feel a peace descending upon this very table where I have sat entering my data for each of my recent labs. I am finishing my Microbiology class. And I plan on finishing on time, in spite of all odds against this. Chicken blood is growing bacteria in an airtight test tube at room temperature for cultures to be started tomorrow; my biochemical tests have been recorded; five plates of bacteria sit growing in a cooler over there, soon to meet their death by bleach; and I almost had a heart attack when I opened up a contaminated plate the other day that I had been saving to use for a current experiment. When one realizes that a microbe is microscopic and then finds an infested dish with a beautiful~~albeit completely, hideously creepy~~filamentous growth on it, the realization is all the more terrible.

Kindly, my instructor has let all students have extra time to finish up labs, as supplies only arrived recently for the last assignments. This caused a fair amount of grumbling on my end. The end of the semester is~~well, the end of the semester. I don't want your generous offer of extra time. I just need to be done. Done with these pet microbes reproducing in their comfy and nourishing plates.

This class has put much into perspective for me.

1) If you have health, you should get on your knees right now and thank God, because there are billions and billions of unseen creepy crawlies that want to live with you and possibly kill you, often in a completely passive and accidental kind of way;

2) When Time Magazine discusses the terrible and imminent end of our world due to global warming, I wonder what the press would have reported when people died in cholera epidemics prior to the invention of modern sewage treatment. Watery and profuse diarrhea until death without any flushable toilets. Can you imagine? No, you can’t. Not if you’re reading this on the internet. Neither can I.

3) Washing your hands and cooking your meat is incredibly important.

4) A tapeworm, even an 18 foot long one, may cause remarkably few symptoms. However, “emotional distress may result when a meter-long segment drops out of the anus.”

And that, my friends, is the understatement of the year.

I’m not sure I can handle much more of this class!

The new and improved version

This is not it. I had changed my privacy settings to take this blog "off the air" for a little while, and I have a whole new design in the making, but it won't be ready for at least a few more days. In the meantime, should you, my faithful readers, have any pressing subjects you would love (or just like) for my blog to address, leave a comment on this blog! I am hoping to encourage more feedback and interaction in the future.

When 24 hours seems like 100

We've had a sick baby. The day started wonderfully, with a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group at our church involving lots of yummy food and the beginning of a wonderful presentation by one of my favorite people. At that point, one of the nursery workers came to get me. Our sweet Bethany had thrown up, and so I gathered up the children and we headed home.

Baby then proceeded to throw up so many times I have lost count. After about 12 hours, she came down with a fever of about 101, but now, the fever has broken and she seems to be feeling much better. She barely slept at all last night because the reclining position seemed to greatly aggravate her tummy. We also had lots of cleanup sessions, baths, etc. and ultimately caught a few hours of sleep in the big rocking chair.

I'm just catching a quick second to blog while she sits down watching her siblings play in the living room. Here are a few fun photos from lately. As much as the self-inflicted pressure of NaBloWriMo proved unsustainable in the long run, I enjoyed regularly blogging and sharing with you all! My blog needs some love. I have about five written in my head but they will have to wait.

Watching Bethany interact with her siblings is (usually!) very entertaining.

Another supremely cool craft :)

I'm glad someone's getting use out of these! Actually, Zoya is only joking. These are way too small for her. However, Bethany, being the true Alaskan that she is, despises hats and has no use for this adorable set I bought her before she was born.