D is for Didn’t Get it Done

If you follow the Goings On of the Garners at all (Hi Dad!) you’ll have noticed that as a sort of writing prompt exercise, I started Blogging through the Alphabet with Marcy over at Ben and Me.  I had tried this before back in the fall, and it yielded about 4 posts before I gave up.  I prepared A is for Astronomy,  but I missed the deadline for “B.”  I was pleased with  C is for Commonplace Book and D is for Dvorak.  I was less excited about E, and F had me completely flummoxed, so I didn’t blog those letters.  I managed G is for Great Falls, but missed H,  I and J.  So I let it go, because to continue when I had missed all of those letters, two of which are vowels, seemed very incomplete.

When Marcy started over again, (she had blogged all 26 alphabet letters!) I decided to try it again, and wondered how far I would get.  This time I got to D and Didn’t Get It  Done.

I had quite a few ideas – D is for Dust.  This one would have been a picture post!  I thought about D is for Doric, but felt that Ionic and Corinthian should have their due so that will be coming later in a post, G is for Greek Architecture…(surely the anticipation is building!)  I considered D is for Doves (we have some new baby doves visiting our feeder), D is for Ducks (we’ll soon have some baby ducks visiting, assuming I’m a good judge of Mallard mating behavior), D is for Dill, Dickens, Domes (more architecture), Discs (as in Ultimate Frisbee), and Drill (a potential Latin Lovers post).  As you can tell I had lots of choices but I didn’t get it done.

I did have a great weekend with Mr. Garner and our American Heritage Girl at the Family Camp Out at Northwest River Park!  Mr. Garner showed us girls how to put up our tent, and how to build a fire in the fire pit.  He fixed us up a wonderful dinner of Grilled Chicken, Green Beans and Baked Potatoes in the coals!  We sat out by the fire and looked up at bright, sparkling stars in a dark blue sky, savored the crackling warmth and listened to the fireside antics of the young children in neighboring tents.  The giggles and parental remonstrances slowly quieted as bedtimes came and went, and the sounds shifted to an occasional dog bark, the fall of a log on the fire, a shower of sparks, and the soughing of the wind advancing through tall swaying trees.

Morning brought hot coffee (Okay, it was Folgers instant, but it was good and hot!) fried eggs, sausage links, and blueberry muffins tucked inside orange peel halves, wrapped in foil and cooked in the coals! Delicious!  After a morning gathering with other families working through fun bonding and problem solving activities, GraceNotes scampered off to complete a few items on her camping badge and Mr. Garner and I did a little exploring.  Dinner was shish-ke-bob and then we were off to a Night Prowl presentation which eliminated all possibility of an unknowing encounter with poison ivy (I thrilled when GraceNotes looked knowingly at me when we learned poison-ivy-impersonator Virginia Creeper’s botanical nomenclature,  Parthenocissus quinquefolia,  because we had just learned our cardinal and ordinal numbers in Latin!), and featured star-gazing in a wide open field,  a physics lesson on sparks-emitted-by-teeth-chomping-wintergreen-lifesavers, and calling local owls (the Great Horned owl, Barred owl and Screech Owl are all native but they knew better than to show up).   Snuggling in our sleeping bags that night, we fell asleep listening for owl calls, then woke to morning birds chirping and trilling, and golden sunshine glowing green amidst the baby leaves unfurling in the trees.

All in all it was a deeply satisfying weekend, even if I didn’t get my “D is for “ blog post done (by the deadline)!

Grumpy Italian Men at the NGA…

Giuliano de’ (grumpy) Medici – Sandro Botticelli, Florentine, tempura on panel, 1478.

On a recent trip to Northern Virginia to visit to our dearly beloved and sorely missed #1 Son, GraceNotes and I took the Metro to the National Gallery of Art on the Mall in Washington DC.   The NGA is an enormous facility with two immense buildings connected by an underground gift shop, pricey Garden Cafe, and pricey Cascades Cafeteria.  (I have to admit the waterfall here is pretty neat!)   The West Building is an enormous, classically-designed building constructed of marble, which houses our nation’s permanent collection of American and European painting and sculpture.  The East Building is a President Carter era Modern building where Modern and Contemporary painting, sculpture and prints are creatively displayed.

To keep us both alert and interested,  I planned to focus solely on the Early Italian Painting of the 13-15th Centuries, located in the West building, galleries 1-13, since we will be studying this period later this year.  We saw a great abundance of religious art – beautiful Madonna and Child icons and paintings with gilt halos, a great variety of Saints receive their due on panel and canvas, and some very realistic painted wooden statuary (one of these was Grace’s favorite piece of the day).  But as we turned the corner on the 1400′s we saw a plethora of Grumpy Italian Men portraits! 

Portrait of a (grumpy) Man – Andrea Del Castagno, Florentine, tempura on panel, 1450.

These men, painted with a pout for posterity, were an unexpected and considerable source of amusement to my daughter.  I suppose we are accustomed to smiling portraits these days.  The only dour looking images we really appreciate are those of  the opposing political candidate caught in an unfortunate moment of frustration, arrogance  or other  unattractive expression.

While I was immersed in the intricate details of landscape, and the increasing use of perspective evidenced in colorfully patterned ceilings and floor tiles and draperies depicted in 15th C scene paintings, GraceNotes was all over the grumpy portraits…

“Can I borrow your phone (camera)?  I want to get a picture of that guy over there,”  she says while making a ferocious face. “He looks so grumpy! We have got to show Dad and Ian”

So, without further ado – here is a slide show of Grumpy Men of the Italian City States, photography by GraceNotes.

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This is a link to the 13th-14th C Italian Painting Page of the National Gallery of Art website – there are two online tours you can enjoy from this page!

 

C is for Commonplace Book

“This isn’t commonplace!  This is precious to me!“  my eleven-year-old daughter objected dramatically, when I asked her how she felt about writing in her Commonplace Book.  She stated further, “I like looking through it.  I like being able to write in it the poems and prayers that I choose.  I’ve read about girls that keep journals.  They write down prayers and songs and things they did, and it might sound weird, but I like writing my favorite poems, or prayers, better than just writing what I did that day.  I love the smooth feel of the leather cover!  I like that it says “Trust in the Lord” on the leather cover,  and on every single page.”

I bought her the 5″ x 8″ lined journal book last Spring.  We are both attracted to beautiful paper, and frequently ooh and aah over fun looking journals, exquisite writing papers and note cards found at Barnes and Noble, Papyrus and T.J. Maxx.   That particular day I had already talked her out of several colorful temptations because I didn’t think she would actually use them.  But when she picked up a very simple lined journal book with a brown leather cover, the expression on her face shifted to one of thoughtfulness, and something made me say, “Okay.”

We discussed how she might use the journal in the car on the way home.  We walked in the door, and she immediately went up to her desk, wrote her name on the inside cover, and copied “Something Told the Wild Geese” by Rachel Field on the second page.  I was delighted!  But we didn’t do much with it after that, which means I didn’t stay on top of it, and she didn’t self-start.

Over the summer, I discovered the blog  Charlotte Mason Help  which has quickly become one of my favorite resources.  Theory leaps into reality with transparency, full-disclosure scheduling,  crisply delivered and clearly drawn methodology, free curriculum lists and schedules, along with strong conviction in Charlotte Mason’s ideals.  In the midst of seeking wisdom regarding how to proceed on topics like narration, copywork and dictation, I also happened upon a few references to Commonplace Books, their place in the lives of great writers and how to implement them.

The Commonplace Book sounds similar to my quote journal, where I collect quotes that I find arresting, or witty, or insightful, or compelling or convicting. I organize them with removable tabs by topic, and had just recently begun to include poems that I find especially meaningful, and added a section for prayers, too.  It was exciting to find that my love of collecting the beautiful or convincing writing of other people actually has precedence in the world of literature.

Bryana Johnson, author of Having Decided to Stay: Collected Poems,  writes about the Commonplace Book at Higher Up and Further In, in a post entitled, “On the Commonplace Book:  The Need to Keep Records of Words Not Ours.”  She states the philosophy behind recording the compelling writing that one reads, she relates the history of the practice, and describes what her Commonplace Book looks like.  She asserts, “It is not enough to merely consider for a moment, to allow ourselves to be shaken by the staggering thoughts we encounter and then to close the book on them and leave with only a vague and dusty recollection of what was said. This is inadequate.”

We are in our fourth week of our first term, and this year, inspired by what I learned and with a clearer picture of how to proceed, I set a requirement of writing one poem, and one prayer each week in GraceNotes’s Commonplace Book. I ask to see her book each Friday, at which time I look over her entries, checking handwriting and accuracy, make a very brief comment, (She really likes the comments!  I would never have guessed that!) and sign off  ♥Mom.   The Commonplace Book  is a truly satisfying addition to our studies.  GraceNotes enjoys having the freedom to decide what to write, and I find it interesting to see what she has chosen to include.  The other morning when we were reading our poetry selections, she piped up,  “That one is going in my Commonplace Book.”

In the next term, I’ll add one more entry requirement per week, by directing her to keep her Commonplace Book close by while she is reading, and look for at least one quote in her reading assignments that she feels has a thought worthy of further reflection, or has beautiful descriptive language.   If she is anything like me, keeping it to just one quote will be a bit of a struggle!  Albeit, a good one! I’m looking forward to watching her love of well-written language flourish!

Thanks so much for reading!  Do you or your children keep a Commonplace Book?  How do your organize your entries?  Or do you?

This post is part of the ABC’s of Homeschooling link up at The Momma Knows, and the Blogging through the Alphabet link up from Marcy at Ben and Me.    I encourage you to click over to the link-up!  One of the many rewarding aspects of homeschooling is the tremendous sense of community among homeschool moms, and the encouragement and helpful tips that are shared!

Limericks After Dinner

We are wandering our way through A Child’s Introduction to Poetry this summer.  Actually the full title of the book is quite long,  A Child’s Introduction to Poetry: Listen While You Learn About the Magic Words That Have Moved Mountains, Won Battles, and Made Us Laugh and Cry.

Indeed!

We are not strangers to poetry.  On our shelf are several children’s poetry anthologies, from which we would read a selection or two at bedtime.  The repetition alone caused me to memorize the oft-requested Wynken, Blynken and Nod by Eugene Field quite by accident, and The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear, a personal favorite, quite on purpose.

Our homeschool curriculum includes regular reading of poetry.  This year we read through Valerie Worth’s All the Small Poems, and Fourteen More.   I did not like her poetry at first, but found that I developed an appreciation for their spareness.   GraceNotes definitely prefers the humor, story-telling and use of language by Jack Prelutsky and Shel Silverstein.

Despite the reading and enjoyment, we haven’t spent much time working with poetic form, except haiku.  So, with this book in hand, after dinner once or twice a week we read about a type of poetry, enjoy the various examples, and then in some cases try our hand at writing.  I will confess that we did not try to write an Epic Poem after dinner, although I think it might be fun to work on one throughout this next year!

Actually, we were most prolific after reviewing the section on Limericks.  The Limerick form has been accredited to Edward Lear, The Book of Nonsense, which you can read on Project Gutenberg.  For those who like to notebook, there are a series of Poetic Form notebooking pages at Notebooking Fairy but we just used notebook paper, a used envelope and the back of my menu planner page.

GraceNotes is not (yet) a dedicated poetess, so we had to encourage her a little to seek the rhythm and strive for strong adjectives and verbs.  With just a bit of help, by the end of dessert she had composed three quite credible limericks!  Mr. Garner worked quietly, almost subversively.  Once satisfied with his effort, he read with great gusto!  I had an ax to grind and wrote with intensity, making lists of rhyming words and concepts.   My limerick is rather clever and funny in my opinion, but pointed and political in nature, so will not be making an appearance.   Number 1 Son was on his Appalachian Service Project mission week so he didn’t participate – which is too bad – because he loves poetry too!

So here, without further ado…

Sharpe by G. Garner
There once was a good man named Sharpe,
Who caught quite a lot of good carp.
His hobbies? Had none,
but he thought it great fun,
to play for the carp on his harp.

Reading by G. Garner
There was a man from County Cook
who walked whilst reading his book.
He fell on his face,
and so lost his place,
’til he found his page marked by some gook.

Diego’s Treat by G. Garner
There once was a man named Diego,
whose fondness was for Asiago.
So he went to the baker,
who had a milk shaker,
and ordered a Smoothie Alfredo.

The Poetess, by Mr. Garner
Once, a poet named Grace
had worry all over her face.
She stayed up all night
for try as she might
she just couldn’t come up with a rhyme.

The Olympian, by Mr. Garner
I knew a fast runner named Ray
who ran dawn to dusk every day.
Last year he ran West,
never saw the sun set.
He’s due back from the East any day.