Categories: Home Education
Time to Vote!
The Homeschool Blog Awards are back and the voting has begun! Hurry on over before midnight April 15th to vote for your favorite homeschool bloggers! While you're there, please consider voting for my blog "Bioluminescence" as I have so kindly been nominated for "Best Artistic Content Blog" and "Best Blog Design". Remember, you don't have to be a homeschooler to vote. You just have to have a deep and profound love for each and every one of us. *grin*
2006 Homeschool Blog Awards
The Homeschool Blog Awards are back and nominations have begun! Hurry on over before midnight April 5th to nominate your favorite homeschool bloggers! Once you have nominated your favorites, don't forget to go back to vote for those you nominated. Voting begins on the 9th and continues through the 15th.
On the Drawing Table
This week's assignment is to post a picture of one your family's/child's art projects or drawings. Be even more daring and post one of your own! Journal about the project.
When Clara was six years old, she was very interested in birds. We keep several feeders and a bird bath in our yard and, as you can imagine; we have very many books about birds and bird identification on our nature shelves. After spending the morning and the better part of the afternoon quietly watching the birds in our yard, she came to me with several watercolors she had finished. I thought they were beautiful then and I think they are beautiful now. The first one is an American Goldfinch. You can tell he is a male because of his black cap.
The second one is of a baby American Robin just toddling its way through the grass. You can tell it is a baby by its speckled breast and charming chubbiness.
The third one is, of course, a Blue Jay.
My favorite has always been the finch and I was tempted to just post that picture alone, but I think that showing all three of these paintings shows how she was able to capture the personality of each bird.
Hits & Misses
As we begin the New Year 2007, let's look at what were our Hits & Misses for 2006. This could include anything at in your life. Perhaps you tried a new curriculum, a different approach to discipline, a new cookbook, a better (or worse) way to organize your time. Maybe, you joined a new group, or tried a new class.The assignment for this week is make a List of "HITS" and a List of "MISSES"!
Extra Credit (from Training Hearts Mom): Take your favorite Homeschool item and write Raving Review! Be sure to share from the heart and be honest. In your review include the 5 W's and the H...Who, What, Where, Why and How!
As I was writing down a list of what I consider the "hits" and "misses" of my life this past year, I realized that for every hit there seemed to be a somewhat related miss. It suddenly just jumped out at me while I was looking at the list. While I don't think some of them are directly related; some of them definitely are. So here they are.
| Hits | Misses |
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1. Our new puppy Banjo 2. Dressing more modestly 3. Greenleaf Guide to Old Testament History 4. Headcovering 5. Our new bed 6. My new kitchen |
1. Spending time with my girls 2. Reading my Bible 3. Wise Up! Wisdom in Proverbs 4. Pleasing my husband (a.k.a. keeping up with the housework) 5. Getting on a good sleep schedule 6. Cooking better meals more often |
Now I shall explain.
Numbers One
On January 5th of 2006 our sweet little Boston Terrier was born and we were able to bring him home in early March. Banjo has turned out to be a wonderful addition to our family. He's been a breeze to housebreak and has such a good temperament. God has really blessed our family with this puppy. On the other hand, I have had a strong desire to spend more time with my girls and feel like I haven't done as well as I possibly could have this past year. This is not because I have given all of my attentions to Banjo, but it did seem superficially related when I was drawing up my list. It is a hard thing to explain to non-homeschooling moms how you can spend just about each and every hour of your waking day with your children and still feel like you haven't spent time with them. I miss the days when they were younger and schoolwork didn't seem as pressing. Now that Lily is in high school and I have to think about what her transcript will ultimately look like, I suddenly miss the days of tent-building in the middle of our living room and of paper dolls. I want to play games with my girls and read to them. I find myself resenting the shadow "college" has cast over our days.
Numbers Two
Now this year I have had a good deal of success and satisfaction in dressing modestly. I am far more comfortable in dresses and I feel like it has been a blessing in my life. On the other hand, I have felt like a failure at spending more time in God's word. When writing up this list, I realized that, as satisfying as it may be to be dressing modestly, it is a small thing compared to keeping nigh unto God. It almost makes me feel like a hypocrite. I feel like a beautiful vase that remains empty.
Numbers Three
This year I decided to pull out a Bible curriculum that I bought a couple of years ago for Lily, but decided wasn't really for her. I thought, for some bizarre reason, that I should give it a try with Clara. It is a very nice study of Proverbs, but it is a workbook. We don't like workbooks. We really, really don't like workbooks. So, after several attempts at using this curriculum, I dug out our Greenleaf Guide to Old Testament History and asked Clara if she would like to snuggle up and read the Bible with me. She agreed that this would be a great thing and we are all very glad.
Numbers Four
For several years now I have felt like I should wear a headcovering. Nobody in our congregation wears a headcovering, so whenever I questioned 1 Corinthians 11, everyone would say they thought that a woman's hair was the covering mentioned in those verses or that it no longer applies to modern day Christians. I kept having a nagging feeling that that wasn't enough. I read and reread this scripture and studied the Greek words that were being translated until I understood that God wanted me to wear a headcovering. I do not bind this on other women. This is between me and my God. I do not think that women who do not wear a headcovering will not have their prayers answered. I don't think it is a salvation issue. I just feel like it is an issue I needed to address in my life. I started wearing a headcovering in the spring of 2006 and have felt many blessings come from having chosen to do so. It has made me more aware of my place in God's plan for my marriage. I can see how it has changed my heart attitude in many ways. The other side of this though, the "miss", is that I know perfectly well what pleases my husband and I continue to neglect those things. I know that he is happiest when we have a tidy home and I am in the bad habit of letting things slide around here. I want to work on that this year.
Numbers Five
I have been having sleep problems for quite some time. I know that I need good rest and that I can let my sleep schedule get completely turned around in a matter of days because I tend to be a night owl. My beloved husband took me out shopping for a new bed this summer since we had been sleeping on the same one for twelve years. He felt that a new bed would help to alleviate some of my sleep problems. He had me lie down on several mattresses until I picked the perfect one. I felt like the princess in The Princess and the Pea. I have never slept on a mattress such as this. It is absolutely dreamy. It was a hit, for sure. Getting myself on a regular sleep schedule, however, has been a terrible miss. It is after one in the morning as I type this.
Numbers Six
Now you are going to wonder how I ever came into such a blessing with my husband when I tell you this. After living in our home for ten years and having to cook in a kitchen that was fifty years old, my husband took me out to pick all new everything for my kitchen. New cupboards and cabinets to replace the cupboards with doors that were falling off of their hinges and drawers that were without fronts. A new counter top to replace the one with cracks running through it and awful black, bubbled burn marks on it. And, no, I didn't create these horrific burns. He even got a new stove with a convection oven and a microwave above the stove and a new refrigerator. And a new sink and a garbage disposal and...Okay, I will stop now. I got a brand new kitchen because my husband loves me like no other man could ever even come close to trying. And, for several months, I cooked like I had never cooked before. I discovered Allrecipes.com and never have to wonder how to cook another piece of meat again. At some point, though, I quit. I am not sure why. So the kitchen was a hit and my cooking turned into a miss.
So there you have it. My wonders and blunders of 2006. I suppose I could use the "misses" to create a nice little New Year's resolution list. I've never made a New Year's resolution list before. What do you think?
Frontier Girls
The girls and I went on a field trip this Tuesday to a "frontier settlement". Here are our thirteen pictures from the year 1725.
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1. Off to do chores! 
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2. Fetching Water 
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3. Hauling Wood 
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4. Home Sweet Home 
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5. Building a Pen 
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6. Pig Pen? 
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7. Playing Quoits 
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8. Bartering 
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9. Caught napping! 
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10. The Desk & Chamber Pot 
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11. Drying Flowers or Herbs 
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12. The "Kitchen" 
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13. The Fireplace 
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Homeschool Resources
I've been tagged by Samantha over at Education Is An Atmosphere to list some of my useful things and even some of my most unuseful things.
When we started thinking about how we were going to go about this thing called homeschooling, Lily was a toddler. I was blessed to have stumbled across Charlotte Mason's ideas before I had to actually apply them to our "lessons". I remember checking out a big three-ring binder from the library that had page-protected page after page of homeschooling resources. The library didn't have very many homeschooling books twelve years ago and I was anxious to read whatever I could. I don't know who put together this binder, but I don't remember finding much of interest in it. Well, there was that one odd page with a somewhat plump, Victorian lady on it that I couldn't quite figure out. She was dressed all in black, it seemed, and could have been Queen Victoria herself for all I knew. I think the page may have been about some sort of conference that had long since passed. Whatever it was about, they weren't really saying.
When I went to a meeting of a small group of homeschooling moms shortly thereafter, I was handed a newsprint catalog of homeschooling books and resources from the Elijah Company. I went home feeling like a six-year-old who just found the Sears Christmas Wishbook. Sadly, both of these catalogs are now extinct. The nicest thing about the Elijah Company Catalog wasn't necessarily what they were selling, though. The catalog had a section about homeschooling and the different methods that were being used by homeschoolers. I had always thought that I would be an "unschooler" and that we would all just read great books together and go for long, nature walks and talk about the things we learned. I used to teach in a Montessori school before I had my girls, so I encorporated some of Maria Montessori's methods in our everyday life already. I didn't agree with all of her ideas, however.
While I carefully read through the different approaches listed in the Elijah Company catalog, I came upon the section describing the "Living Books" approach. It sounded just like what I already had percolating in my head. I wanted to read more. And so, I did. I bought For The Children's Sake by Susan Macaulay and the set of Charlotte Mason's books, The Original Homeschooling Series. By the time Lily was four, I knew what we were doing. I knew who that Victorian lady in the dark dress was. She was my new, best friend.
1) ONE HOMESCHOOLING BOOK YOU HAVE ENJOYED:
For The Children's Sake by Susan Macaulay. This was the first real, homeschooling book I read and it was a wonderful stepping stone into Charlotte Mason's actual writings.
2) ONE RESOURCE YOU WOULDN'T BE WITHOUT:
My camera. Documenting our life together includes many "homeschooling" moments. I cherish these as my children get older. Not only does it provide me with a record to look back upon, but it is also a source of comfort to me when I start doubting myself.
3) ONE RESOURCE YOU WISH YOU HAD NEVER BOUGHT:
I wish I didn't have to answer this question. Unfortunately, I must. A few years ago, I had a long-term illness that left me physically weak and emotionally drained. People voiced their concern that I might not be able to continue homeschooling. This frightened me even though I knew that God intended for us to homeschool. It made me feel threatened.
In my heart, I believe that homeschooling isn't about acquiring a set body of knowledge. It is not keeping up with anyone else's curriculum. It is about God's desire for your family. I have always believed this.
In a moment of weakness, though, I decided to purchase a math curriculum from a very popular, homeschool curriculum publisher. Everyone on the planet seemed to use this curriculum for all of their subjects. I knew that we had gotten a bit "behind" in our math during the year I was sick, so I was easily coaxed into trying out this more traditional, math curriculum.
I'm not sorry to say that it was a total waste of our time and money. It was, as I had surmised earlier in our homeschooling journey, not a good fit for our family.
If you ever have a time where you are not accomplishing your goals, try to remember that God may have different goals in mind for you and your family. In the year I was sick, my children learned more about compassion than I could have ever taught them by myself. They also learned to become quite independent in the kitchen and one of my daughters found she had quite a love of cooking. I saw my childen draw closer to each other; and I saw that my husband did, indeed, have a very sweet, nurturing side. As long as you are going to God in prayer and staying in his Word, don't doubt that his unfailing hands are in every part of your life.
4) ONE RESOURCE YOU ARE ENJOYING THIS YEAR:
Lily and I are using the Latin Road to English Grammar program for grammar, Latin, and vocabulary. We are having so much fun doing this together. The teacher and the student each have their own text and keep a binder for their work. I thought the program would be overly choreographed and I usually prefer for my children to work more independently, but this program has really brought the two of us closer together. I am finding that we have reached a point where we are truly learning together and it is extremely enjoyable.
5) ONE RESOURCE YOU WILL BE USING NEXT YEAR:
I think Lily and I may work through Christian Light's Home Economics course next year. My mother was an excellent cook, loved to can and freeze produce from her garden, and could sew. Unfortunately, she never taught these things to me. I am looking forward to working through this course with Lily and, eventually, with Clara, too.
6) ONE RESOURCE YOU WOULD LIKE TO BUY:
It's pretty sad when you can't think of a single thing you would like to buy as a homeschooling mom, but here I sit. I think that, as time goes by, I realize just how much I don't need out of all those pretty catalogs that come through my door. So, I suppose, it is not a sad thing afterall.
7) ONE RESOURCE YOU WISH EXISTED:
A clone of me who doesn't mind doing the housework and cooking.
8) ONE HOMESCHOOLING CATALOGUE YOU ENJOY READING:
Well, you have already read of my devotion to the Elijah Company catalog. Since it no longer exists, though, I would have to say that I don't really have a favorite catalog that I enjoy reading anymore. I used to like to peruse Lifetime Books and Gifts' Always Incomplete Resource Guide, but it is no longer being published. I tend to buy my necessary odds and ends through Rainbow Resource. Their catalog is not something that I really feel comfortable curling up with, though. It is as big as a major city's phone book and has just about anything pertaining to homeschooling. That means it has a great deal of things that I am not interested in at all. If you know what you are looking for, however, their catalog generally has some of the best prices.
9) ONE HOMESCHOOLING WEBSITE YOU USE REGULARLY:
10) TAG 5 PEOPLE:
Queen Shenaynay of The Beehive
Tim's Mom of Bona Vita Rusticanda Est
The Headmistress of The Common Room
Mama Squirrel of Dewey's Treehouse
Krakovianka of U Krakovianki
(If any of you have already done this, please leave a permalink in my comments so I can come see!)
If you would like to read other homeschoolers' posts, check out the Carnival of Homeschooling hosted this week at Homeschool Hacks.
Pictures from the Patch
The girls and I went along with some other homeschooling friends to our local, pumpkin patch for our yearly visit. I thought some of you might enjoy a few of the pictures I took. They put up a new slide this year, but I am sorry to say that I was too busy sliding down it to actually take any pictures. I get to have some fun, don't I?
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Baaaah-d hair day 
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She smiles 
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Milking Sunshine 
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It's all about Mee-ee-ee-ee! 
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These little piggies stayed home
Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Program
Since autumn is officially here and we have started back to our lessons, I thought I would do something really different! I am actually posting about homeschooling! I know that most of you know that I am a homeschooling mom and that I use Charlotte Mason's methods. A lot of you may know me from the various incarnations of the Ambleside Online e-mail loop. Up until now, though, I haven't really talked too much about this part of my life here on my blog.
We are going into our tenth year of homeschooling and I tend to forget that this may be a topic of interest to others. It has become such a normal part of our family life that it always seems to me to be a bit uninteresting to have to talk about it to others. Almost as if I were to try to describe our household chores. I get great satisfaction from our lifestyle, but it just seems so everyday to me. I forget that there are others just beginning their homeschooling journey and everything is new and sometimes intimidating. That homeschooling is not always as intergrated in others' lives as it is ours. That someone out there might want a peek into my life as a homeschooling mom.
This school year, Lily is beginning high school and Clara is in sixth grade. Since I don't see education as a race to some preconceived finish line, we don't really follow any particular program exclusively. We modify things to suit our family. Last year, we somehow found ourselves hopelessly striving to finish each of the Ambleside years the girls were in. By the end of May, I decided that it was sufficient that we had finished Term 2 in Years 3 and 7. It was the first time I decided to do that, but I see God's wisdom in it now. We ended up having an unusually busy summer with serious illness in the family. It would have been impossible to do lessons through the summer. So, as we begin our new year, Lily is using a combination of Term 3 in Year 7 for most of her readings and Term 1 in Year 9 for her science and math. You'll find an example of Lily's weekly schedule here. Clara has started in with Term 3 in Year 3 for her readings. Here's an example of Clara's weekly schedule.
We interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Program for this important message: I just wanted to let you all know that the book Lily is using for Bible study, Exploring the Gospel of John is by Lester Bauman and is a Rod and Staff publication. I noticed that there is another book available with this title, but I know nothing about it. We really like a lot of the Rod and Staff nature study books for children and this series of Bible study books Lily is beginning to read.
I may have the girls continue with their readings through next summer so that they will be able to begin Term 1 of their respective years next fall. I have also been thinking of using Missey Gray's "condensed version of Years 5 and 6 that can be completed by an older student in one year" with Clara next school year. You can find it here. If I do this, Clara will start Year 7 as she is going into eighth grade. This is preferable to me since it would put Clara on the same schedule that Lily has been on. Clara needed more help with her reading when she was young, so I had to spend more time with her in her early years of schooling. Clara now reads everything in sight and narrates everything back to me whether I asked for it or not. She could easily handle Missey's version of Pre-Year 7 next year.
Children are so different and things are always changing. I can't imagine forcing my child into some cookie-cutter curriculum. It's so important to know your child and know that he or she is always changing. Don't ever hold your children up to or limit them by someone else's expectations. Not even your own. Seek out God's expectations for your family. Look for his plan for each of your children. There you will find the perfect curriculum.
I hope to write more about our homeschooling efforts in the future. Along with the usual photos, poems, puppies and ponderings, of course. I would love to help anyone along the way. If you would like to read other homeschoolers' posts, check out the Carnival of Homeschooling hosted this week at HomeSchoolBuzz.com.
Oh, Susannah!
Okay, I didn't come from Alabama and I didn't go to Louisiana, but I did cross several state lines and came back with a Banjo on my knee. Yes, our new puppy's name is officially Sebastian's Blue Banjo, but you can just call him Banjo.
While in the land of the Blue Banjo, we had the pleasure of not only visiting the breeder's kind family, but of visiting Thicket Dweller and her family. You can read her post about our visit here. We were very blessed by both visits.
The breeder's family is a lovely, homeschooling family of nine (going on ten). We went to see our puppy the first afternoon, but while all of the children played with Banjo, I found myself completely distracted by the sweet conversation I shared with their mother. The following day, when we went to pick up Banjo, I found myself wishing I could stay longer before driving home. Once home, I actually felt saddened that I did not live nearer to this kind lady and her family.
We were all a bit timid about visiting Thicket Dweller's family because we had never met them and didn't have any other premise for being there except that we were fellow homeschooling bloggers who happened to be visiting their area. The big question of what would we talk about quickly became "what didn't we talk about?". Considering we only had a short visit, we all seemed to have had quite an enjoyable one. My youngest hit it off so well with Sweetheart, that neither could be found for the photo op. It turned out that they were busy feeding a neighbor's horse a carrot. While there, my girls also got to hold baby bunnies and visit with various other pets such as rats, turtles, dogs, chickens, at least one cat and a dwarf pot-bellied pig. Of course, my girls were very enthusiastic about a family that cared for so many animals. While we have our beloved eight-year-old cat, Sam, and were there to pick up our new puppy, my children only dream about living in such a pet utopia.
I must say that I absolutely loved Thicket Dweller's home. She has such a wonderfully spacious house and the most impressive view I have seen in a long time. Tall banks of windows line her walls allowing so much warmth and light into her home. It is no wonder all of her indoor photos come out so lovely. We had such an enjoyable conversation that I left wishing our visit didn't have to be so short. It was nice to visit with a fellow Ambleside Online homeschooling mom. As always, I went about sniffing out all of the books in the house. I have come to the realization that it is futile for me to resist this habit. My thanks to Thicket Dweller and her family for allowing us to visit with them. I hope to visit them again some day in the future.
And now you must indulge me as I introduce our newest family member.
Homeschool Blog Awards 2005
This year, SpunkyHomeschool, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, and HomeschoolBlogger.com have come together to create the Homeschool Blog Awards. Please go and check out all of the wonderful blogs nominated. I am humbled by those who thought enough of my blog to nominate Bioluminescence for Best Homeschool Photo Blog.
Even if you aren't homeschooling, I encourage you to go and peruse the various categories and blogs nominated. Afterall, we aren't just homeschoolers. We are families who enjoy sharing our lives with others. We are mommies who have to figure out what's for dinner every night just like most mommies out there. We are daddies who have to get up and go to work each day so that we can pay our bills. We are children who are interested in having our parents take us to see The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Yesterday. We are teens who have pesky little sisters and brothers and who have to fight our parents for the computer so we can blog ourselves. So, we may have a recipe or a good book recommendation for you, a thought or two about politics or fatherhood to share, a picture of what we just built out of Legos, a cool new hobby or something we just want to rant about.
While you're visiting the Homeschool Blog Awards, you might want to consider voting for someone you know in the Best Homeschool Photo Blog category. I have to admit, though, there's some stiff competition out there. Just vote your conscience and remember I know where some of you live. Happy Holidays!
Book Meme
Imagine that a local philanthropist is hosting an event for local high school students and has asked you to pick out five to ten books to hand out as door prizes. At least one book should be funny and at least one book should provide some history of Western Civilization and at least one book should have some regional connection. The philanthropist doesn't like foul language (but will allow some four-letter words in context, such as expressed during battle by soldiers). Otherwise things are pretty wide open. What do you pick?
Well, I fear that I was not able to keep my list to the "five to ten" asked for above. I suppose I would have to donate some of them on my own.
1. Pride and Prejudice
(I took this book with me on a family camping trip in New Hampshire. Needless to say, I had my flashlight on well into the night in our little tent. My husband was patient, but really didn't understand what all the giggling was about.)
Since I grew up in New England, these two books would have to be my regional picks:
2. Walden
4. Young Folk's Story of the World by Lou V. Chapin
(This is a huge tome and is long out of print, but it has a special place in my heart. It was written in 1896 and includes beautiful pen drawings. The book has sections covering Egypt, Ethiopia, Assyria, Media, Babylonia, Persia, Asia Minor and Neighboring Kingdoms, India, China and Japan, Carthage, Greece, Rome, France, England, Germany, Scotland and Ireland, Scandinavia, Russia, Spain, Modern European Kingdoms, Netherlands, Austria, Turkey, Italy, America, British America, and Spanish America. The introduction to this book, written by the author, is a prize in itself. From the introduction:
"Fact and truth, in a historical sense, are of course nearly related, but the seed of the highest truth may lie in a legend or tradition created by the poet or a story-teller, while the most undeniable fact may have in it no spiritual truth, no impulse to quicken the mind, enlighten the soul and make men truly wise.
There are millions of facts that have no real bearing upon historical truth in the story of a nation. They are trivial, even though considered so important by the old historians that all who came after them religiously copied them in writing history.
To be sure these records of fact should be kept as works of reference, and they will always be so preserved, but the age of twenty-volume histories has gone by, and the historian of to-day who would reach the public, and especially that portion of the public that is to become the nation-builders---the youth---must tell his story in a few words, and must have some rational excuse for telling it at all.
That "the noblest study of mankind is man" is not empty vaporing of a poet. The individuals compose the nations, and the biography of individuals is the history of the world. Their great deeds raised nations to power, their mistakes wrecked empires, and from them all we may draw lessons of incalculable value.
No man can be accounted truly educated who has not a general knowledge of the world's history. No man can be truly enlightened who is not able to trace the development of his kind from a lower to a higher plane, and above all, no man can have that deeply reverent attitude toward the God who created our earth and all of its creatures, which is the natural relation of a soul towards its Maker, unless he is able to see in his own existence the outworking of the immutable laws that since the beginning of time have ruled the universe.
Through all the ages one increasing purpose runs like a thread of flame, lighting up dark and bloody pages in the world's story, showing to all men, God in the humblest and highest places, manifesting Himself as unchanging, teaching men over and over the folly of trying to disarrange the rules of cause and effect, and endeavoring to stem with the puny strength of mortal hands and wills the resistless current of the Divine.")
5. The Bible
6. The Complete Works of Josephus
7. Eusebius, The Church History
8. Plutarch's Lives Vols. 1
9. Mere Christianity
10. The Kingdom of God Is Within You
11. Collected Shorter Fiction Vols. 1
12. The Complete Works of Shakespeare
13. The Oxford Book of American Verse
14. The Oxford Book of English Verse
15. The Yearling
16. The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
17. How Green Was My Valley
18. To Kill A Mockingbird
19. Fahrenheit 451
Those are just off the top of my head. I know I could keep adding more, but I will spare those poor high school students. Anyway, I am now tagging Amanda at Wittingshire, Kristen at Walking Circumspectly, Javamom at Take Time To Smell The Coffee, Anne at PalmTree Pundit, Amy at Amy's Humble Musings and anyone else who wants to join in.
Books that Sit and Books that Prick
One of the reasons I am bringing this up is because I have just updated my "literature" links. There are a couple of other books that I've been reading that may interest some of you.
I have been reading Home-Making and it has really been both pleasurable and painful at the same time. I suppose one might call it convicting. I find that the author is telling me exactly what I know to be true about creating a home and, although I have longed for this affirmation of what I believe to be true, it stings a little to see in print many of the ways in which I have fallen short. I don't say this to discourage you from reading this book, though. It was written by a nineteenth century man by the name of J.R. Miller whose eloquence and obvious love takes most of the sting from what he has to say. But not all. And that is as it should be. This book would be worth very little if it just affirmed what we already knew to be true without pricking our hearts into further action. This book is also not just meant for wives and mothers. It is meant to be read by the entire family. Miller is very careful to let the burdens of keeping a Christian home fall where they should. He has words for both husband and wife as well as for the children. We plan on reading this book as a family as soon as I am done with it. I think it will be a very humbling experience for me, but a necessary one.
Raising Maidens of Virtue has been a good read so far. I am pre-reading it before I read it with my girls. I bought it to read with them since they have been coming to me with concerns about modesty, male friendships and what it really means to be a Christian young woman. My girls are still young, but not too young to be talking about such things. I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but I have found it to be rather good at covering all of the areas that I feel my girls are desiring instruction in. We are one of only a few homeschooling families in our congregation and we were the first ones to start homeschooling. Thus, my oldest is the oldest homeschooled child in our congregation. We are having to make decisions on an almost daily basis that both put our faith to the test and set precedent for those who follow in our footsteps. I find it comforting that my daughters are coming to me with concerns that most girls wouldn't even think twice about in our culture. Part of me, though, was concerned that the answers that they were craving wouldn't fall easily from my lips to their ears. I think that this book will be of great service to us in this area.
Which leads me to a whole series of thoughts that I want to share, but they must wait until some other time. I have a dress that must be ironed before tomorrow morning and it is getting late in the day.
Books
My girls love to read and our house is so full of books that it has become more of a library than a home. The girls beg me for more books and devour everything I hand them. Lily just read Huckleberry Finn and is now reading The Swiss Family Robinson. Clara is reading The Wind in the Willows. They were so excited at Christmas because they got so many books. Will and I really love that about them. It makes us feel good to know our girls enjoy reading as much as we do.
I think I have given up on my college dream of writing some great novel. I don't even write poetry that much anymore. Who knows, though, I still have an idea that I turn around every now and then. I could see myself writing something in my old age. If, by then, I don't end up needing more naps than I presently do. Maybe I should get busy now. But first I have some books to read.
The Friday Five #3
If you...
1. ...owned a restaurant, what kind of food would you serve?
I could see myself owning a restaurant that sold just coffee and dessert. I would serve all types of coffee and the best desserts on the planet. As far as I am concerned, dessert is the one, truly necessary, food group. And, of course, I would serve lots and lots of flan. Maybe I could call the place Just Desserts.
2. ...owned a small store, what kind of merchandise would you sell?
I would sell old books. I would love to have an antiquarian book store. It might go well with my coffee and dessert shop.
3. ...wrote a book, what genre would it be?
Definitely, any book that I initially write will be autobiographical fiction. That's where all of my writing eventually leads me.
4. ...ran a school, what would you teach?
I would love to be around small children, but I would never propose to teach them anything in the traditional, academic sense of the word. I would read lots of good books to them and let them have lots of time to play. We wouldn't have a lot of toys, but we would have an amazing amount of hardwood blocks, dress-up clothes, art supplies and small, felt dolls. We would go for nature walks, listen and dance to all kinds of music and I would show them how to do different handicrafts. I would insist that the parents play a strong role in the program similar to a co-op program. In the end, though, I would prefer that the mothers stay home with their children and do all these things with them. That's why I homeschool.
5. ...recorded an album, what kind of music would be on it?
With the right musicians, I would record an album of instrumental bluegrass hymns or maybe some instrumental Quaker hymns.
