A Poem

Bluebell’s second to last language lesson, from Primary Language Lessons by Emma Serl, was to copy 16 “proverbs”.  Things like “A stitch in time saves nine” and “Think before you speak.”  Her last lesson was to write a composition illustrating one of the proverbs.  

I explained the lesson to her, gave her a small example, and sent her on her way.  I was really holding by breath, because I don’t have a creative writing bone in my body and would find this assignment EXTREMELY difficult.  And even though we’ve done little formal creative writing, this really seems to be a strength for her, so I shouldn’t have worried.  She came down ten minutes later and asked if she could compose a poem for the assignment.  I said, “Sure!”  Here’s what she composed.  Can you guess the proverb?  (Next year’s lesson:  rhyme scheme)

 

Bob

There was a boy

Named Bob McCoy

He hated to go to bed early

 

He went to bed late

And couldn’t tolerate

The way he had to rush

 

He went to school

And got bad grades

About the Viking raids

 

He went home and went to bed

And dreamt and dreamt

That sleepy head

 

He woke up early

And wasn’t surly

Because he needn’t rush

 

He went to school

And got good grades

About the Gold Rush

 

And now you know

The story of a boy

Named Bob McCoy

 

So… (see comments for the proverb, if you haven’t yet guessed)

Language, and our responsibilities to it.

I place a great deal of stock in precision in language. Words and how they are used, after all, are a direct manifestation of our thoughts. Once upon a time, I’d wanted to teach English, but a quarter in the College of Education cured me of that. I didn’t even finish it out, dropping the classes and immediately applying to the Journalism school. I never worked as a journalist, but have nevertheless found that a command of language is an invaluable tool regardless of the field of work. It was very common for me to, over time, acquire the additional role of copy editor/wordsmith for whoever my manager happened to be at the time. Frankly, I was happy to do it. Few things give a grammatical nitpicker pleasure like ruthlessly editing a poorly-written press release, e-mail or customer communication.

I’ve occasionally considered returning to school to study literature, perhaps with an eye towards teaching it when I get older and have more time and fewer responsibilities. Usually, a brief chat with a friend of ours who actually is a college English teacher is enough to bring me back to reality. So I press on – slowly picking my way through the Canon and brushing up on usage and style whenever I can. Curiously, the improving ability to clearly express myself has also resulted in a…I’m not sure how to put this…greater sensitivity to what I hear when I’m listening to others. Here is a person, expressing their thoughts. What I do not hear – the pauses, omissions, brief reflections – tell me almost as much as the words themselves. It’s worth the time to carefully listen to the other person, to reflect on the totality of their expression.

This, I think, is a great gift, and one that I hope we can pass along to our children. I think anyone can attain it. Take up and read. Find things that are difficult and try them. Revisit the things you read in high school and college – you will doubtlessly find that a few years of life experience since graduation will bring these books back into clear focus. You will be surprised – don’t be. They are classics for a reason. Themes and symbols that utterly escape the average teenager will come into clear relief after you’ve spent some time in relationships, getting married, starting a family, building a career, struggling and so on.

The plan, inasmuch as we have one, looks something like this:

• Increase their exposure to good books, teaching them to read as soon as they are ready, and make a library card an important rite-of-passage.
• Eliminate the presence of the television in our home. There is no cable or satellite connection.
• Carefully monitor their use of other visual media – we have a room just for movies, and they are allowed to watch things from a small library we keep.
• Associate, as much as we can, with others who share similar views
• Emphasize the role of communication and text in terms of our relationship with God, through participation in the Liturgy, study of the Scriptures and acquaintance with the Fathers.
• Set the example by continuously improving and learning on our own. We don’t stop learning until we die and we know as we are known.
• Seek wisdom in the received texts of our western patrimony
• Utterly reject of the modern method of criticism. Strive to understand the works on their own terms and in their own contexts. The dead, too, deserve a vote.
• Encourage an intense curiosity in (and appreciation of) the natural world around us, which hopefully leads to further reading and research.

The fruits, I think, are already evident. Glossing over things isn’t as easy as it used to be with our oldest children, and the younger ones are hot on their heels. The four-year-old will probably start her reading lessons this summer. Our youngest progresses daily in talking. The baby…well, she’s still just crawling around. Let’s not go crazy here.

…or maybe it isn’t.

Details and analysis of the CA homeschooling kerfuffle here. Non-California folks) can also refer to the specific options as listed by the California Homeschooling Network; I assume that California homeschoolers are already acquainted with them.

Meh. We joined HSLDA last night anyway.

Homeschooling illegal in CA?

“Parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children,” wrote Justice H. Walter Croskey in a Feb. 28 opinion signed by the two other members of the district court. “Parents who fail to [comply with school enrollment laws] may be subject to a criminal complaint against them, found guilty of an infraction, and subject to imposition of fines or an order to complete a parent education and counseling program.”

[...]

Teachers union officials will also be closely monitoring the appeal. A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, said he agrees with the ruling.”What’s best for a child is to be taught by a credentialed teacher,” he said.

Ruling seen as a threat to many home-schooling families

Good luck with that, A.J.

I predict 2 things. First, that this will fail at the State Supreme Court. Second, that membership in HSLDA will skyrocket. Frankly I had put off membership in the group up until now, but some recent things going on in our own state have me seriously reconsidering. Even GetReligion weighed in, with this great observation:

How many of the world’s worst teachers have been credentialed by governing bodies? If credentials are all that matters, why do so many students in public schools fare so poorly? And yet the only response given in the article is some homeschooling bogeyfather in Sacramento saying he’s worried about his kids being indoctrinated with teachings about evolution and same-sex marriage.

(h/t to Mere Comments)

The Littlest Angel: Narration by Bluebell

This story was about a little angel who is exactly four years, six months, five days, seven hours, and forty-two minutes.  He was always doing something that he wasn’t supposed to do.  And all he wanted was one thing, the box under his bed on Earth.  One day, there was news that the Savior was going to be born.  The little angel did not know what to give Him, so he decided to give Him the box.  (An angel gave the little angel the box.)

But when he saw all the other angels’ nice gifts he thought that his scraggly box was not good enough.  But even though it was scraggly, when God’s hand went over the gifts to pick the one he liked, He picked the little angel’s and put it up as the Shining Star of Bethlehem.  The End

The Littlest Angel: Narration by Pancho

This story was about an angel who couldn’t fly, his halo always fell off, and he was sad. He wanted a box he’d left under his bed at home and an angel sent a messenger to get it. When Jesus was going to be born, he gave the box to Jesus as a gift. The littlest angel didn’t like his gift because it was old and didn’t look good. But God liked it and made it the Star of Bethlehem.

Advent to Epiphany Unit

I was inspired by my friend Leslie and Elizabeth Foss to drop our everyday “school” and focus on the Advent season for the next 5 weeks.  Her unit pulls almost exclusively from Tomie dePaola, who is a favorite of ours, and is chock full of fun stuff to do and great books to read.  So, in my neverending need for organization, I put her ideas (only the first week at this point) together into some plans that are easy to follow, not only by me, but by the kids as well.  There’s such a relief in being able to say “go see what you need to be doing right now.”  I may have completely ruined the free-spiritedness of the original idea, but I can’t function well without some semblance of routine, so I made it work for me.  Here are my plans for the week.  I’ll post each week’s plans.  Although they may be a little late for you to follow this year, hang onto them for next year.  I’ll also post Bluebell’s and Pancho’s weekly narrations. 

advent-unit-week-1.doc

The God In The Cave

I can do no better to inaugurate Advent than to quote Chesterton on the stunning paradox of the Incarnation.

This sketch of the human story began in a cave; the cave which popular science associates with the cave-man and in which practical discovery has really found archaic drawings of animals. The second half of human history, which was like a new creation of the world, also begins in a cave. There is even a shadow of such a fancy in the fact that animals were again present; for it was a cave used as a stable by the mountaineers of the uplands about Bethlehem; who still drive their cattle into such holes and caverns at night. It was here that a homeless couple had crept underground with the cattle when the doors of the crowded caravanserai had been shut in their faces; and it was here beneath the very feet of the passersby, in a cellar under the very floor of the world, that Jesus Christ was born. But in that second creation there was indeed something symbolical in the roots of the primeval rock or the horns of the prehistoric herd. God also was a Cave-Man and had also traced strange shapes of creatures, curiously colored upon the wall of the world ; but the pictures that he made had come to life.

A mass of legend and literature, which increases and will never end has repeated and rung the changes on that single paradox; that the hands that had made the sun and stars were too small to reach the huge heads of the cattle.

- G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man

We’re also working through a Jesse Tree; last night’s reading was from 1 Samuel 16, the anointing of David.

Things have been quite busy lately, but will actually slow down a little. Or at least we will try to make them slow down a little. The stomach-bug-du-jour seems to have worked its way through the family, so we’re just crossing our fingers for 48 hours to make sure it’s petered out completely. All I can say is that it’s nice to be able to eat again.

We finally got around to watching The Last King of Scotland. Brilliant performances all around, though it got pretty gruesome towards the end. About time to re-shuffle the queue a little. It’s time for some lightweight stuff.

Spengler is on-hold for the moment – I’ve switched gears considerably and am reading Lewis’ Reflections on the Psalms. Lovely stuff.

Spenser’s September

Edmund Spenser, month by month.

Spenser’s Two Cantos of Mutabilitie come at the end of The Faerie Queen, and feature a parade of, among others, figures from classical mythology and the personified seasons and months. September makes his appearance, wielding the symbols of harvest and bounty. The scales also serve as an allusion to Libra, September’s zodiacal sign.

Next him, September marched eeke on foote;
Yet was he heavy laden with the spoyle
Of harvests riches, which he made his boot,
And him enricht with bounty of the soyle:
In his one hand, as fit for harvests toyle,
He held a knife-hook; and in th’other hand
A paire of waights, with which he did assoyle
Both more and lesse, where it in doubt did stand,
And equall gave to each as Iustice duly scann’d.

Astronomical events for the month of September can be found here. Among other things, we can look forward to the Autumnal Equinox on the 23rd.

For the students of our little academy, today marks the first day of the school year. We find ourselves back at work or study after the last bit of traveling and vacationing of this summer.

Stellarium

I’ve rediscovered a favorite bit of astronomy software: Stellarium. There are quite a few night-sky simulators out there, but this one is by far my favorite. Easy to use and gorgeous to look at. It ought to go without saying, but the price is also right: free. Perfect for the money-conscious homeschooling family. Screenshots!