Seven Stanzas at Easter, John Updike

To celebrate National Poetry Month I will be posting a few of our favorite poems from our Commonplace Books and also finally moving my devotional posts and poems from the Riverside Reflection blog address to the Riverside Reflection Category on Garner Goings On.  As always, I appreciate your time reading! Thanks for stopping by!

Seven Stanzas at Easter

by John Updike

Make no mistake if He rose at all it was as His body;
if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse,
the molecules reknit, the amino acids rekindle,
the Church Will Fall.

It was not as the flowers,
each soft Spring recurrent;
it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the eleven apostles;
it was as His flesh: ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes, the same valved heart
that-pierced-died; withered, decayed, and then
regathered out of His Father’s might
new strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor, analogy, sidestepping transcendence;
making of the event a parable,
a sign painted in the faded credulity of earlier ages;
let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mache,
not a stone in a story,
but the vast rock of materiality
that in the slow grinding of time will eclipse each of us the wide light of day.

And if we will have an angel at the tomb,
make it a real angel,
weight with Max Planck’s quanta, vivid with hair,
opaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen
spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
lest awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are
embarrassed by the miracle,
and crushed by remonstrance.

B is for Botany

We thoroughly enjoyed our fall nature study with oaks and acorns,  and leaves, so I knew that we would enjoy digging into our Exploring Creation with Botany, once we finished Exploring Creation with Astronomy (see our A for Astronomy post)

Author Jeannie Fulbright starts by explaining how the plant world has been organized, the taxonomy of plants.  You’ve seen the result of taxonomy on seed packets and plant stakes at the green house; two Latin words, in italics, the first capitalized the second lower case.  It’s called Botanical Nomenclature and it assigns a plant to a genus, and then gives a specific species name.  (We have these for animals, birds, germs, insects, etc!)  Sounds easy enough, right?  HA!

To illustrate that Botanists have a lot to think about when organizing and naming plants, the text suggests an exhausting but fun activity where the household’s footwear is gathered up and then organized into groups and categories (phylum, class, order, family, genus, and then species if you’re a high achiever!) based on – well – whatever you determine are important distinguishing characteristics! We considered size, type of shoe fastening (slip on, sandal, shoe-strings), function (dress, casual, athletic, weather related), material (leather, canvas, plastic) color of shoe etc.  It worked!  Point made!  We really struggled with flip-flops.  “Should they have their own family or be placed in the sandal family?”  And slippers…well, the discussion went on over dinner.

In terms of organizing plants, the initial question is whether the plant is vascular or non-vascular.  Vascular means tubes that carry fluid, so plants with veins.  Most plants are vascular, but some aren’t, like moss and lichen.  Something else Botanists consider is how the seeds are formed.  Angiosperms (which means seed container) are plants that make seeds that are in a protective covering like flowers, nuts or fruits.  Gymnosperms (which means uncovered seeds) are plants that make seeds that are uncovered, like pinecones.

After being introduced to the four primary phyta (Greek for family),  we were tasked with looking for an example of the four phyta in our yard!  The point of this exercise is to see that Botany is as close as your own backyard.  And this dovetails nicely with our Charlotte Mason inspired Nature Study goals of learning 6 birds, 6 plants and 6 animals/insects per 12 week term and my goal of focusing first on those located, well, in our own backyard!

Phylum Anthophyta

Phylum Anthophyta (Greek for flowering plant) includes all of the plants that have a flower.  We found a lovely example in our backyard, my beloved Camellia japonica.  GraceNotes and I love this shrub because when the holidays are over and everything is a little gray and dreary, and we are cold and winter weary, it blooms – red and cheery! (couldn’t resist …)

Camellia Japonica

Phylum Coniferophyta

Phylum Coniferophyta (Conifero – means cone bearer in Latin) includes all of the many pine and cedar trees that make cones.  Here is an example from our yard Pinus taeda, also known as Loblolly Pine!  And now I know!  I’ve lived here for over a decade without knowing the name of our enormous pine tree.  Somewhat rude of me, really.

Early pinecones tucked between the needles on the branch.

Phylum Pterophyta

Phylum Pterophyta  (Ptero – means wing in Greek) is dedicated to ferns, which don’t have seeds, but sporangia (spore container).  In our yard we have an evergreen fern called Autumn or Japanese Shield Fern, Dryopteris erythrosora .  I love this photo that GraceNotes took!

Dryopteris erythrosora. It is evergreen in our region, and loves dappled shade.

Phylum Bryophyta

Phylum Bryophta (Bryo means moss in Greek) is where botanists tuck all of the many mosses.  I never knew there were so many types of moss in Virginia until I tried to identify the lovely bright green moss that grows between our stones on the patio, and now in the yard just above the roots and in the shade of our enormous Laurel Oak.  Apparently, one must look very, very closely (like with a microscope or high power lens) so this is one that we will be following up on.

Notebooking Journal

The Apologia Young Explorer series also produces a spiral bound Notebooking Journal in which to “narrate” back what has been read.  GraceNotes thoroughly enjoys using Apologia’s Botany Notebooking Journal for sketching, and for recording the outcome of projects and experiments.  In addition to at least one fun mini-book or foldable per chapter, there are sketch prompts,  a crossword puzzle with the vocabulary list, a copywork page as well as a helpful list of Books for Additional Reading to augment the chapter topic.

A Comic Strip approach to the process of pollinating and seed production.

We have enjoyed several of the suggested titles!  I can highly recommend  The Flower Hunter: William Bartram America’s First Naturalist.  Deborah Kogan Ray offers her lovely illustrations and the story of the young boy (William) who enjoys accompanying his father, John Bartram, botanist to the King of England, as they seek to catalog and name the many plants of the American colonies.   How interesting to be reminded that once upon a time the plants of the United States were strangely new and completely unknown!  Familiar trees like the American Holly, Flowering Dogwood, Mountain Laurel and Paper Birch were among the plants named and described by John and William Bertram.

Another book that we would not have found without Jeannie Fulbright’s helpful list is Sky Tree, by Thomas Locker with Candace Christiansen.  Through a series of paintings, the seasons of the year in the life of a tree are presented with an eye to the interrelationship of atmosphere (sky) and plant.  Each painting has brief text pointing toward an animal in the scene, the season, the weather, the time of day, or the quality of the light, and a question designed to encourage thought not just about the tree or season, but the way it is has been painted.  A painting of the tree with a dark and threatening sky in the background asks, “This is the same tree in the same place.  What makes this painting different?”

We will be posting every so often as we work our way through the Botany text.  In the meantime, this post will be submitted to the Blogging Through the Alphabet meme at Ben and Me.

Thanks for reading!

A is for Anticlimactic Snow Storms

We snicker at weather coverage of all types.  It’s because we are in the coastal South.

Every year from June through October – official hurricane season  – we see our share of Weather Star Wannabes (WSW’s) paying their dues by reporting **LIVE** from the beach in rain slickers and galoshes (we can assume).  Dramatically battered by blustering winds, they shout above the wrathful waves in the background and hope their makeup doesn’t run rampant in the driving rain.

It’s not that we don’t take hurricanes seriously.  Actually we do.

We just don’t take weather coverage seriously.  The WSW’s can’t help but hope that this storm will be the next Katrina or Sandy, so they can surf the storm surge to a station in a bigger market.  As far as the networks go,  Storms are great for ratings.  The ever-so-discerning-television-audience loves the catharsis of a destructive weather event.  The stronger the wind, the higher the waves, the longer the attention span.  Severe weather meets the same dark need that reality shows meet – Keeping up with the Katastrophes, or Dancing with Disaster, or Housewives of Hurricane (fill in hurricane name here).

In any case, when winter comes, with the attendant WINTER STORM WATCH, we smirk, and well, we often snort, in addition to snickering.

We’ve noticed that in Hampton Roads, reality snows pale in comparison to reality shows…

Because we are on the coast of Virginia, we rarely get snow.   I grew up in central and Northern Virginia where snow is a regular, if not frequent winter visitor.  But in the many, many years I’ve lived in Virginia Beach, and then Norfolk, we’ve never gotten serious snow, although in a good year we’ll get enough to enjoy for a day or two.  It has something to do with our proximity to the warm ocean currents of the gulf stream.  That, and the warmth stored in the many rivers running throughout our region keeps the white, fluffy variety of precipitation at a distance.

Now, our local Weather Teams know this.  But face it, a storm scare is good for ratings, and good for local business.  There is nothing quite like a triple doppler, VIPIR enhanced storm warning to cause a spike in grocery store sales, empty the shelves at Walmart, and put all of the local pizza delivery restaurants prior to,  even during,the Big Storm in the black.

This past winter we also snickered at the new weather channel policy of naming winter storms, we already know ratings are the reason for the season, but,  here is a link to their explanation.

Here in Hampton Roads our first encounter was DANGEROUS WINTER STORM IAGO.   It dumped at least a quarter of an inch of snow on our cars which if carefully scraped up within the hour before it melted, could be formed into a small snow pet on the hood, and one small snowball to save for #1 Son’s visit home.   So, while the quantity was lacking,  it was redeemed by the fun we had refreshing our memories on Iago’s Shakespearean namesake.

Winter Storm KHAN – A small snow human from snow scraped off the yard…

KHAN: Filling up the birdfeeder

IAGO: Small snow pet on hood of truck

KHAN: Preparing for the Snow Ball Fight

IAGO: Saving one for #1 Son

IAGO: If I scrape, there’s enough snow!

KHAN: Some snow!

IAGO: Fresh snow!

 

Shortly thereafter, DANGEROUS WINTER STORM KHAN invaded.  While talk turned to the legendary Ghengis, or his grandson Kublai, The Garners were thinking fondly of Khan Noonien Singh.  Yes.  Khan Noonien Singh, the genetically-enhanced tyrant who after using his superior intellect and physical abilities to tyrannize earth in the 1990′s, was exiled into outer space, then, after an encounter with Capt. James Tiberius Kirk, marooned on Ceti Alpha V with tragic consequences, in the Melvillian inspired Star Trek II:  The Wrath of Khan.  (Trailer at the end of the post)

In any case, Winter Storm Khan actually produced a full inch or so of snow that was of sufficient quantity to construct a dwarfish snow human, and manufacture a decent arsenal of snowballs for a wintery battle that was somewhat fun despite the absence of #1 Son.

Fond memories of Khan were followed by DANGEROUS WINTER STORM NEMO.  This was fun for Latin class.  Nemo in Latin means “no man”  or “no one,” which matches our experience of the storm which was a total no show, a washout.  We couldn’t find a single flake of snow.  Rain.  Lots of rain. Which made us, (and others),  maybe even you, think of other watery references to Nemo…

As I write this post on the second day of Spring, we are experiencing SERIOUS SPRING STORM VIRGIL.  I can more fully appreciate the naming of winter storms.  GraceNotes has been studying Classical Greece and Rome, where Virgil features prominently.  We both enjoyed Penelope Lively’s gorgeously illustrated book In Search of a Homeland:  The Story of the Aeneid.  It has been snowing off and on all day, and while lovely – it’s not sticking.  Regardless, we plan to huddle up and ride it out, perhaps enjoying a few lines of Virgil!

Anticlimactic Weather Resources:

Iago – Shake Sphere – we love this site! All Shakespeare, All The Time…

Wrath of Khan Trailer:

Nemo:  Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Virgil:  The Aeneid, and a favorite poetry resource, Poets.Org, and a gorgeous picture book for an intro to the Greek Epic, Penelope Lively’s In Search of A Homeland, The Story of the Aeneid

From Latin Dropout to Latin Lover

This is the third of a three-part series.  The first post is, “We were Homeschool Latin Dropouts,” and the second post is “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

I ended the last post stating,   “So it was that in September as we started our third year of homeschooling we began Memoria Press First Form Latin…”  As I write this post on the Ides of March, I can tell you without reservation that The Garners love learning Latin!

Because Mr. Garner is joining us for class, we have Latin first thing after our morning Bible reading. I’ve slated 45 minutes for Latin.  Some days we don’t take that long, but usually we do.   We strive to cover one lesson per week, but if we have a week where Mr. Garner must be out the door early, then we might take two weeks to cover a chapter.

We pretty much follow the recommendations in the Memoria Press Teacher Guide.  Monday, we take the test from the previous week’s lesson, and then watch the video for the new lesson.  The video teacher, Brian Lowe begins with a recitation of past learning, usually at a speed that our tongues can’t quite wrap around yet, but that’s okay.  We enjoy laughing!  Next Mr. Lowe introduces the grammar concept behind that week’s learning.  It’s about five to ten minutes of teaching – not too long!

Tuesday through Friday, we are on our own and class includes several minutes of reciting verb conjugation tense and personal endings, to which we’ve recently added noun declension case endings.  We may also work on verb translation drills provided in the Teacher’s Guide.  This is followed by 20-30 minutes completing worksheet pages (there are 4-6 per lesson) that target the new vocabulary, and provide practice conjugating or declining, and some review.  If things go quickly, we may take our test on Friday, but frequently we take the weekend to study.   We are individually responsible for taking time to update our Latin vocabulary index cards each week.

Latin is different from English in that each word consists of a stem, with attached endings that will indicate how it is used.  In the case of a verb, the endings provide the pronoun and the tense.  In the case of a noun, the endings indicate the noun’s job in the sentence.  The endings are determined by the stem’s word family – the conjugation for a verb, the declension for a noun.   An example word for a First Conjugation verb is the verb that means love.  The stem is ama.  In the present tense, one adds mus to the end of ama making the word amamus in order to say “we love.”  So the task of a Latin student is to memorize the stem and the various options for verb tense endings and noun job endings, and a few other odds and ends.

First Form Latin is very logical and well organized in layout.  The program begins with First Conjugation Verbs (there are a total of four verb conjugation families) and the irregular verb Sum -  To Be.  Students learn all six tenses of a variety of first conjugation verbs in several clear lessons over the first two units, roughly the first third of the course.   The sentence structure, and how English helping verbs are used in translating these verbs, is clearly explained and practiced.  Only then does the program move on to first and second declension nouns.  This is a departure from other Children’s Latin programs which are anxious to get the children to translate early on.  Translating stories sounds fun – but in Latin, this means that you must grasp the idea of stem and endings for verb tense conjugations, the five types of sentence usage endings (singular and plural) of noun declension and adjective agreement all at once in order to have enough vocabulary to translate a story.  If that sounds confusing, well, it is!  Particularly for a parent who doesn’t know Latin!

I had read that learning Latin would clarify English grammar.  It does.  By learning the Latin tenses and how they are used, thought about (and translated) we’ve by extension improved our understanding of English grammar tenses considerably.  In the course of comparing English and Latin syntax, we’ve all done some very simple sentence diagramming, and survived!  My mother would be quite proud!

We have found richer beauty in the text of the Latin choral works.  For years, I’ve known the correct ecclesiastical pronunciation of the words in the following phrase – Laudamus Te, Benedicimus Te, Adoramus Te, Glorificamus Te.  This study has enabled me to truly understand this beautiful crescendo of praise, blessing, adoration and glory to our Living God!  I can now sing the words and mean them.

Our study of classical Greece and Rome has been enriched by learning a variety of phrases from antiquity.  Grace’s favorite  “In umbrum, igitur, pugnabimus,”  has solidly placed the Battle of Thermopylae in her mind.  Spartan king Leonidas, when advised that the superior numbers of Xerxes I Persian force would cause the sky to darken when they loosed their arrows, replied, “Then we will fight in the shade!”  Another favorite classic describes Julius Caesar’s triumphant mop up of the rebellious Macedonians, Veni, Vedi, Vici.  I came, I saw, I conquered.  

The study of Latin has also added depth and understanding to the taxonomy that we learn through Nature Study, and Apologia’s Young Explorer series.  Mr. Garner, the consummate gamer, loves the rules.  They tickle a place in his brain that enjoys the order and organization of Latin.  We are more prone to notice the many Latin mottoes and phrases all around us and enjoy deciphering them, like Virginia’s Sic Semper Tyrannis, (thus ever to tyrants) and the United States Marine’s Semper Fidelis (Always Faithful).  And who knew? Harry Potter spells make more sense too!

And what Latin student hasn’t found themselves having a little fun with conjugation?  One mother in the First Form Yahoo Group laughingly shared  a story about her daughters in the back seat munching on chips and chanting Dorito, Doritas, Doritat, Doritamus, Doritatis, Doritant.   My favorite is Pintero, Pinteras, Pinterat, Pinteramus, Pinteratis, Pinterant… I pinterest, you pinterest, he, she or it pinterests, we pinterest, you all pinterest, they pinterest….

Do you have to learn Latin in order to homeschool Latin?  In my experience – yes.  Some parents will tell you “No.”  Some curricula will tell you “No.”  But what I hope you’ve gleaned from my transition from Homeschool Latin Dropout to Homeschool Latin Lover, is that learning Latin alongside your child is not only do-able,  it’s eye-opening, it’s enjoyable, it’s horizon-expanding! It is everything that I love about homeschooling!

Teach it yourself. The good news is that you can teach your children Latin! The bad news is that you can teach your children Latin. In other words, you must learn it along with them. The materials are available for a successful elementary Latin program, but it is unrealistic to think that children will learn Latin without a teacher. They cannot be handed a Latin program and be expected to learn this rigorous subject alone. Many parents, in fact, have had a year or two of Latin. That will certainly make it easier, but it is not necessary. Latin programs like Latina Christiana are designed for exactly this purpose: to enable people who don’t know Latin to teach it.  Memoria Press Website

In my next Latin Lover post, I’ll share a few tips to help Keep the Love Alive in your Latin studies!