I’ve been mulling over a semi-regular post with links. I enjoy other blogs that do this, because they usually post the very best of what they happen to be passionate about which makes for interesting reading! Perhaps you’ll find something compelling in what I’ve been reading online. The post title I’ve chosen for these sorts of posts is obscure on purpose. Meaning “now I know in part,” the phrase is found in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians towards the end of chapter 13. It refers to the fact that our knowledge of God and His mysteries unfolds only in part during our human existence. We must wait for full disclosure.
This is Sanctity of Life month, and today is the 40th Anniversary of the worst Supreme Court decision in the history of the United States. I’ll have a post out later this week on why I’m “so” pro-life, but in the meantime, there’s this post from the Blog Eternity Matters:
And this video which just goes to show how context drives the message…
The constitutional right to bear arms has taken a hit via the Presidential Assault Pen. Recently a friend of mine posted a photo of the dead Sioux, over 290 dead Sioux, mostly women and children, who had handed over their guns for safety reasons to United States Federal Agents at their winter camp at Wounded Knee. Point taken.
In any case, I appreciate the history and philosophy discussed here in a series of posts on Understanding Guns in America by Afterthoughts. I’m also grateful to see mostly thoughtful comments following each post.
If you read this blog with any regularity (and it’s difficult since I post irregularly) then you are aware that I am striving to incorporate more Nature Study in our Homeschool. The product of government schools myself, Nature Study, as a subject, has had to overcome my decades of conditioning regarding what “school” is and my general lack of knowledge. I love it now, but find articles like this very encouraging:
Forbes posted an op-ed about homeschooling today. While Mr. Garner and I did not decide to homeschool for the reasons purported in the headline, the article does address some of our concerns with government schools, as well as link to some studies that address many of the misconceptions about homeschooling:
At first I was too driven to consider a “Christmas Term.” When I was a new homeschool parent, I was striving to check off the boxes on the schedule, get everyone to piano lessons, physical therapy, PE class and co-op, and not fall too far behind. The idea of taking three weeks and focusing on Christmas seemed utterly impractical, and somewhat unnecessary, given the hectic schedule of Lessons and Carols rehearsals, Christmas play rehearsals and performances, Women’s group meetings and myriad other seasonal obligations.
That was then.
This year my thinking shifted. First, I received this inspiring post from Brandi at Afterthoughts describing her Christmas Term. Then, a lovely e-newsletter from Homeschool Enrichment arrived offering great resources. Finally, I could acknowledge with relief that, for now anyway, our schedule is free of overwhelming-and-pressure-inflicting-external-Christmas-commitments. So a Christmas Term seemed very do-able. In fact, the idea of focusing on Christmas literature and music for three weeks greatly appealed to me (and to GraceNotes too)!
Our first Jesse Tree ornament on the branch
Last year we faltered on my planned Advent Jesse Tree Devotional (A Post Advent Evaluation). So this Advent, the devotion will take the place of Bible Study. (You can download the free devotional materials here: Ann Voskamp – AHolyExperience) We will continue to persevere per the usual schedule in Latin, Science and Math. However, we will wait on Famous Men of Rome and Augustus Caesar’s World until January, and in the meantime, read classic Christmas stories, with preference given to those written before Santa idolatry had completely taken hold of American publishing. (Before you think I’m extreme, go to any Barnes and Noble and check the Children’s Christmas Books for sale.)
We started with a fun book, The Best Christmas Pageant Everby Barbara Robinson. I was delighted to find it at the Book Exchange and could use my credit. It is an excellent read-aloud. The narrator’s frank characterizations and amusing descriptions of the events that contribute to a surprisingly “successful” pageant, kept both GraceNotes and Mr. Garner in stitches for all 7 chapters. Having participated in so many Christmas pageant productions over the years, we recognized ourselves and others in this story! (No, not you!) We spread this small book out over three evenings, and I hope to track down the video.
We are now reading the Five Staves of A Christmas Carolby Charles Dickens. I purchased our first Lapbook ever, this one from Hands of a Child, which provides study of the literary elements and history behind A Christmas Carol. We are putting the elements together and placing them on cardstock in a notebook, and so far, so good! GraceNotes has always been a bit spooked by A Christmas Carol, largely because of the video portrayal of the scary ghost scenes that center around Jacob Marley’s visit. Now, reading aloud, as I concluded Dickens’ First Stave (chapter), it was quite illuminating for her to hear this bit,
“He had been quite familiar with one old ghost, in a white waistcoat, with a monstrous iron safe attached to its ankle, who cried piteously at being unable to assist a wretched woman with an infant, whom it saw below, upon a door-step. The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power for ever. “
It casts the chapter, the entire story, in a brighter light. Sometimes stage and video productions seem to convey that Ebenezer was “scared” into acts of faith by moaning ghosts and long bony disembodied fingers. Already, we’ve discovered that Dickens compelling text is really telling us about a genuine transformation towards true and joyous selflessness. (Reminds me of the T-Shirt slogan “Don’t judge a book by its movie”) After we finish reading, we will watch the 1970 production, “Scrooge,” with the delightful music, Albert Finney and Alec Guiness, my personal favorite. Then we will compare and contrast the video production to Dickens text.
Winter Term Books and CD’s
Next on the schedule are The Mansion, and The Other Wiseman both by Henry Van Dyke. Van Dyke’s classics are available on Kindle for free or very little. However this year for the 100th anniversary, The Mansion has been published as a picture book, with abridged text accompanying the illustrations, and the full text in the back. The Other Wiseman is also available abridged in picture book form. Van Dyke’s Christmas stories were new to me, and now having read through them, and the other selections in Van Dyke’s Christmas Collection I find these relatively short but beautifully written stories reflect the deeper meaning of the season of Advent, Christ’s birth, and the Epiphany in just the way I hoped; and will certainly be part of our family traditions from now on. I’ve selected a few passages for dictation, and we’ll discuss vocabulary as needed. (There is also a video production entitled The Fourth Wiseman, based on Van Dyke’s The Other Wiseman, which we will watch after we read the story. )
Three lovely picture books (one is never too old for a beautifully illustrated picture book!) with equally rewarding texts that I’ve included are Christmas Day in the Morningby Pearl Buck, A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote (also found at the Book Exchange!), and The Third Gift, by a favorite contemporary author, Linda Sue Park. We will read through these and enjoy them and then add them to the collection of Christmas picture books that we still pull out every year and read through.
December brings us to the last chapter in our wonderful Apologia Exploring Creation with Astronomy text. Although, since we have fallen in love with gazing up at the star-studded heavens, and the planets feel like old friends now, I don’t think we will ever stop studying Astronomy. I have my eye on Jay Ryan’s Signs and Seasons Curriculum, and I’ve scheduled The Star of Bethlehem as our celebratory activity!
Music is an enormous part of Christmas for us, so we will be listening to Veni, Veni Emmanuel, in the Latin, which will be our hymn for the term. My absolute favorite seasonal hymn, it perfectly depicts the yearning that is Advent. YouTube has many gorgeous recordings. Go look!
was a continuation of building habits: a morning walk, starting the day with breakfast, Bible and Scripture memorization practice, hands-free during school , and planning the Charlotte Mason elements of next year’s schedule.
In our homeschool this week
Grace finished up her compare and contrast essay on Ibn Battuta and Benjamin of Tudela, as well as her Missionary Biography note-booking pages on Mary Slessor. I’m seeing a lot of improvement in her writing organization! We also finished our Read Aloud “Journey to Jo-burg” by Beverly Naidoo, spent quite a while discussing race relations, and decided that we will read the sequel “Chain of Fire.“ We started the final books of our exploration of the Eastern Hemisphere with a biography of “David Livingstone: Africa’s Trailblazer” , “A Glorious Age in Africa,” and a fun book of African folktales that rock and roll off the tongue, “Beat the Story Drum Pum Pum.“
I find myself inspired by
many of people at the IRD, Institute on Religion and Democracy – Faith McDonnell for striving to bring persecuted Christians to the forefront of national news, to the desktops of those with the power to act on their behalf, and to the hearts and minds of fickle and distracted American Christians – no easy task. Mark Tooley for his true love for the United Methodist Church. Honestly, I don’t know how he continues to work with such hope.
Places and people this week
are the people that we always see. The kids were greeted like old friends at Subway by the staff who no longer need to ask what they want. (A favorite Wednesday night outing for the two of them while Mr. Garner and I are at choir) . #1 Son said he’s going to miss them when he goes to George Mason Univ! We went by our local library branch to pick up a few additional books on Africa and talked to Allison, our wonderful librarian. We went to the Book Exchange and found out that Kevin’s wife had her baby! And found some really great books: “Post Captain” by Patrick O’Brien (Mr. Garner and I love this series and are tickled that Ian is reading it now!), a slightly larger atlas for Grace to use for mapping, Usborn’e Complete Book of Caligraphy that should work well for Medieval history and Art Appreciation, “Abraham Lincoln’s World“ by Genevieve Foster, and “Digging Up the Past: Biblical Sites” to augment our study of Ancient History. Tomorrow we’ll head out to Grandma Midge’s to take her shopping and possibly visit a farm stand or possibly the beach!
I found this on Pinterest! Isn’t that where all the fun things are!?
The points on this infographic really say it all – and in somewhat fewer words than is my habit!
The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts.
C.S. Lewis
Remembering Mom
Grandma Honey's Wildflowers
Chesterton on Mothers
How can it be a large career to tell other people's children [arithmetic], and a small career to tell one's own children about the universe?
How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone, and narrow to be everything to someone?
No; a woman's function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute.
I will pity Mrs. Jones for the hugeness of her task; I will never pity her for its smallness."
G.K. Chesterton
Blogging Through the Journey
Apologia Homeschool Science Blog
Apologia Science Blog Roll
How To
Social Studies: God’s World News
A look at world news with a Christian world view
Loving This Latin:
First Form Latin by Memoria Press
Writing Curriculum
Learning to write clearly and convincingly goes hand in hand with learning to think clearly and succinctly. Never has it been more important for Christians to think well, and communicate clearly. The world is full of people who communicate poor thinking, in convincing ways.
Kids of Courage
Amazing children who defend the faith and endure persecution in the name of Lord Jesus Christ
Sketch Tuesday
Way fun weekly sketch prompts and art show!
The Outdoor Hour
Weekly blog posts, monthly newsletter, and blog carnival featuring families who get outside and explore nature!
Field Trip Fridays
Field trips are one of the many joys of home school!
