I've Been Tagged!

Wow, validation--My 5 Wolf Cubs has chosen me for a book meme.
Here's what I'm to do:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).

2. Open the book to page 123.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the next three sentences.

5. Tag five people.

So, I just went to the library yesterday, and books for Film Buff are all over the den table. I picked Sound and Sense, a book about poetry. Page 123 contains some of the text of MacBeth's speech after the death of his wife (has the Out out brief candle! part). Fifth sentence, ok--now here's the next 3 from SandS:

"Macbeth's first words underscore the theme of premature death. The boy also "should have died hereafter." The rest of the passage, with its marvelous evocation of the vanity and meaninglessness of life, expresses neither Shakespeare's philosophy nor, ultimately, Frost's, but it is Macbeth's philosophy at the time of his bereavement, and it is likely to express the feelings of us all when such tragic accidents occur."

Whew. I may need help when we get to this part of homeschooling.

I don't know many blogs, but I'll tag these:
Daisy at Lesser Road Academy
Stephanie
Remudamom
Needleroozer

That's only 4, but I hope that's ok!

Depression

I struggle with depression. There, it's said, no secret. For years, depression has been the ugly dog nipping at my heels, the overstuffed baggage to be carried, the neverending stairs to be climbed. Sometimes I've taken medication for it, but the serotonin reuptake inhibitors, while helpful, make me very tired. I went off meds about 6-7 months ago, and have felt much more energy and alertness--of course, that was also when I started drinking coffee every morning, but I digress.
This week has been particularly difficult, especially concerning Sky. He has some decisions to make, and it isn't something I can control. Actually, I am in control of very, very little, and this is not a comfortable place for me. That's very, very good. Very good. The less I foster the illusion of control, the more I can live life as it is, and the more I can surrender to God's control. And who better to surrender to, of course, than the God of the Universe that holds all in his hands? Makes so much more sense than pretending I have the ability to read other's minds, influence their futures, and make everything pretty and nice. Can't do it, might as well stop trying.
But, as with most things, part of me wants to keep trying things my way. Part of me wants to have my say and make everyone listen to it. Part of me wants "Mama knows best" to be "Mama knows all, and dammit, you better listen to her."
But I don't know all. I know nothing at all. Nothing, perhaps, other than who I am in Jesus Christ, and that He loves me. And that he is good, and that he loves everyone. And that he wants everyone to come to him. And that...well, you get the picture. Start with God, move out from there.
I had Beth Moore Bible Study today. The ladies showered me with blessings by giving me a birthday celebration. Cake, food (other than cake), gifties, even a tiara, complete with flashing purple heart in the middle (which I wore throughout the Beth's video presentation). Grace upon Grace.
God knew what I needed, when I needed it, and how to provide it. He set it all up, just for me. Grace upon Grace.
Oh, he is so awesome. He loves me so very much, and he can lift me out of any pit. There is no place where he cannot grab ahold and pull me up and into his arms.
The more I yield, the more I rest, the more I surrender, the more the depression loosens. Satan cannot have me. He cannot discourage me. He cannot take what belongs to God. I belong to God. I am His. Forever.
Right now, I don't feel so depressed anymore.

Weekly Report 1-25-08

We've had a week of running around--Sky had to have his cast checked, but it's a-ok. He had a great day last Saturday, but now he's bucking the system--has to do an anger management packet. He will, but everything is a struggle when it comes to submitting to authority.

Nature Girl had a pretty good week, overall. She had more attitude problems, esp. in maths, but today was awesome. I sat with her almost the whole school day, and helped her instead of giving her independent work. We just plowed thru the worksheet stuff, and she did well. I have some examples here of Saxon 3, Adventures in Phonics and Rod and Staff Grammar. Her handwriting isn't as lovely as usual, but she also had a fever yesterday and snark today.


We did have an excellent history week. One of these pictures shows our Viking Sundial and some notebooking work that we will finish next week. The cards in the picture are downloaded from Hannah's Homeschool Helps (sorry, don't know the link). We heard the story of King Alfred this week, both from SOTW and from Famous Men of the Middle Ages, so we made King Alfred cakes today--mmmm! Think scones, made with nutmeg, dates and raisins. We were so happy they turned out well (unlike the Viking Bread last week!).


There's also a pic here of her using her Tasco microscope to find the "hidden" states on the $5 bill. She was thrilled to find so many on the Lincoln Memorial, and remembered to turn the bill upside-down first. Loving that Home Science Adventures kit!!
We really enjoyed reading this book on micro-photography, which told about a man who was a scientist and a photographer. We got to see great pictures of him collecting samples and viewing them under different kinds of microscopes. We also finished reading (aloud) The Apple and the Arrow, about William Tell and the founding of Switzerland. Since Heidi has been one of her favorites for years, it was interesting to her to hear another tale of that part of the world. Nature Girl also read 5 Magic Treehouse books (they are definitely candy to her!) and is beginning the Little House series all over again, for the 5th time. Sigh. I'll just let her.


Film Buff was thrilled to hear No Country for Old Men got so many Oscar nods, and also that his boy Viggo (Mortensen) got a nod for his work in Eastern Promises. It's always so fun to watch the Oscars with Film Buff, because he gets truly excited and it's a pleasure to watch him have a good time!
This week he finished Module 7 in Apologia Chem; had lessons on Brahams, Tchaikovsky, and Dvorak in music; started the 1950's in Sonlight 300; and started and will finish over the weekend The Old Man and the Sea. We are mostly using the Sonlight commentary for this. I am pre-reading Alas, Babylon, and really loving it. I skipped Brave New World with him--he can pick it up on his own later. He is on Module 6 in his Driver's Ed dot com class, and did math with Dad all week (I'm hands off on that one--Thank the Lord). We have 4 more chapters in French before we are done with the book. I am going to give him credit for this year's work, labeling it Intermediate French. He will not be ready for the public school class in French 2 this next semester (starts Tues.), so we will just slog thru. He says it's like being Homer Simpson, when Homer finds he has to learn French to put together the grill ("Le Grill? What the H@ll is THAT?"). At least he knows his limitations. He was happy to find out he will not have to continue in French next year.

That's about it from here! Hope your week was filled with blessings, big and small.
(Sorry about the photos being all over the place--still trying to figure it out!)

Whew! Is It Wednesday Already?

It's amazing, how much we cram into our lives. I am not one to be constantly occupied, nor do my children have many items on their plates--this is the first year we've had so many activities, and that's just with two at home. Even so, our lives this week have been more "psychologically busy" than physically busy.
My mom and dad came from the Great Frozen North on Saturday on their way to the Land of Beaches and DentuCream, stopping by here as they do every year. Conveniently, it's also my birthday weekend, so I get to see them on that special day. Their visits are always appreciated, but do involve a lot of preparation. If anyone has seen or read The Accidental Tourist, you will know what I mean when I say my mom is alot like the main character in that book. Anyway, we spent Saturday cleaning up. Thank God (and that's a prayer) Film Buff is an awesome helper. He really has a servant's heart when it comes to helping me around the house. (Take heart, all with younger kids--it can happen eventually.) Dh was out of town at his brother and new sister-in-law's wedding reception, so he escaped the frenzy of cleaning and tidying.
The day before, Sky had surgery on a broken pinkie--he got to come home to recuperate for about 24 hours. It was his first overnight since September. More on that, later. We had had to prepare the house for him, also. Sunday was church, and a visit to Sky. He had had a fabulous day therapeutically on Saturday, so the Sunday visit held good things.
Anyway, the weekend involved driving many places, keeping things under control at home, cooking decent food, and generally staying awake for long stretches of time. Doesn't sound stressful, but it's all in the company you keep, Baby.

Monday was my birthday, so Film Buff, Dad and I went to see CloverField. Fun, but not that profound. Just what I expected. Dh was sweet to me, preparing Fondue for us all, and encouraging me to skip out for an hour before dinner with two of my dear, dear friends. They took me to have coffee and wonderful conversation. More on them later, too--Can't tell you how blessed I am to have friends that love me so much.

And now, it's Wednesday. Nature Girl goes on a Surveyor's walk today with Brownies, Sky goes to the Dr. for a check up on his casted hand, and we have school. Guess I'd better stop blogging and get on with it all!

Look for weekly update on our school coming Friday! And check out the new Well-Trained-Mind Forums--aka The Hive. I'm *this* close to becoming a Worker Bee! (that's an insider joke)

My First Weekly Report!

This is so exciting! I guess I have to make an official request to Jessica at Trivium Academy to be put on the list, but here's our week in review until it's official--it will still be our week in review when it's official, it'll just be official. (You will not continue to read if I don't stop this, will you? I do this all the time irl.) I'm just going to do Nature Girl's, because it's the first time.

Nature Girl had a good week. We have noticed a bit of a change in her attitude at times, which I attribute to very early hormones. (Did you know girls can start hormonal activity (THAT kind) at 7?)

We always start the day with devotions from Little Visits with God. It is the perfect devotional for us, kind and sweet. I can tell when we skip a day. Nature Girl made several important connections with the material this week, and that was rather nice.

LA: She started Spelling Workout C last week, and has breezed thru 4 lessons already. She did two this week, earning perfect spelling scores on the tests. She continued Adventures in Phonics; today she reviewed the syllable "ture." We are on page 75, working about 4 pages a week (we started last year).

MATH: In Saxon 3, she is learning multiplication, and had an assessment today. She did fine. She's a little afraid to be tested on new things, but lots of practice and time helps her feel more confident. I decided we need to make sure to do flash cards almost every day, outside of school time. I have been giving her one side of the math workbook sheet during class, and telling her to finish the other side for the next day. I'm trying to prepare her for homework at public school.

HISTORY: Ah, fun, fun! The Vikings have been good to us this week. As you can see from the pictures, we read several wonderful books, made Viking Bread (which was horrible but fun to make--there's something wrong with the recipe in the Activity Guide), and Nature Girl and her daddy made the Viking Longship from the Viking Treasure Chest. I highly recommend this resource! I think even 6th graders could get something out of it. We also did the Viking Mythology poster and stickers from the VTC, and next week will try to get to the other stuff (sundial, Runes--won't do fortunes with them, just copy some for fun--another poster, and a chess-like game that may be too hard for her). Oh, and I also want to make the house from the AG. Nature Girl gave two nice narrations, pictured.

SCIENCE: Nature Girl took her mini-microscope from Tasco outside to observe snowflakes. It was so fun! We really had wonderful weather--lots of windy, snowy fun. She played around in the creek, and generally appreciated the out-of-doors this week.

LATIN: I let her do her latin flash cards by herself, as well as a page or two in Prima Latina. I had to be gone an awful lot with Sky this week, so one day I just assigned independent work for Nature Girl, and she did really well. I'm amazed at her retention of Latin--we don't even get to it every week, but she rarely forgets the vocab from week to week. Of course, there are only about 30 or 35 words, plus a few phrases.

We didn't get to music this week, except for Choir. Our kids choir at church is taught by a wonderful public school teacher who is a member of our congregation. She volunteers her time, and also sings in the adult choir. What a voice that woman has--a sweet soprano with the biggest heart! I love that my daughter gets the benefit of her gifts.

I think that's it for the week. Oh, and I don't assign reading to NG--she devours books all by herself. She just finished a Nancy Drew and Caddie Woodlawn (a repeat favorite). We finished our read-aloud, The Borrowers, so we need to find another one. I will assign her Bulla's Viking Adventure, because I remember reading it as a kid and loving it.

Hope your week was lovely!

He Loved His Mother (or, This will get me in trouble with some of you)

As a classical home educator, I feel I must inform the Blogosphere (is that one g or two?...) regarding an important contribution to the musical education of our children. As we strive for a history centric curriculum full of connections between traditionally segregated subjects, I thought this little ditty particularly appropriate for Year One (Ancients) of the history rotation. Enjoy.
http://members.aol.com/quentncree/lehrer/oedipus.htm

Later:
Oh dear, it's not the song, only the lyrics. I searched for the actual performance on YouTube, but only came up with video of "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park," and others. Which was, actually, ok with me, as I love TL, and didn't know those videos were out there! Perhaps someone could use that one--let me know what the cross-curricular connection would be. Oh! Almost forgot--there *is* a wonderful "Elements" song. The entire periodic table, sung by Tom Lehrer. There ya go--sometimes it takes a while to find the perfect resource. I think out loud, I blog outloud, I discover out loud. Aren't you happy with me?

Me, Only Thinner!

So I'm surfing The Well-Trained Mind (only the BEST homeschooling message board EVER...) and someone posts their "Meez." Since I don't have a picture of me on this site, I thought I'd try to make one. I'm totally hopeless at these sorts of things, but not afraid to experiment!
So here she is--Chris as a Meez--If only I could get into those jeans! lol
Does anyone know how I can shrink this to fit neatly into the corner under the bike picture? It's just so...
Tacky?

Update: I made a different MEEZ and successfully shrunk it to fit in the corner. Yea, Me!

Nature Girl's K and Grade 1 Nature Journal

Nature Girl spends a lot of time outside, especially lately, as it's been spring-like weather. I like to encourage her appreciation of God's creation, so I have her keep a nature journal. Unfortunately, we haven't done a lot this year! Here are some examples of her work in Kinder and Grade 1.
How do we do nature study? Easy--we just go for a walk or to the backyard (we have 20 acres to explore). Whatever catches Nature Girl's eye is fair game. She draws it and puts the page in her 3 ring nature study binder. If you are looking for guidance, I highly recommend Cindi Rushton's Nature Study the Easy Way. She gives great ideas for how to build a beautiful journal, complete with quotations, poems, Bible verses, and examples of her children's work. It's an encouraging resource.

Our School Room

Here are some pictures of our schoolroom. We live in a lovely, 4 bedroom house in the middle of the woods. We have a walk-out basement where we've set up our schoolroom. Dd 7 has a pretty big area, with an art section and an academic area. Ds 18 has a large desk, a couch by the windows, and a shelf, at the other end of the room. The pool table is in the middle of the room, but I couldn't post the picture of it because of size limits. (Besides, it was covered with unfolded laundry!) To the left of ds' desk is a large couch against a set of windows, and to the right is the laundry room. We don't use the fireplace (but wouldn't that be nice?!).
I write his assignments on his white board, and he erases them as he goes. Just click on the pictures and they will enlarge to full screen.

How I Got the Title of My Blog

I post frequently on the Well-Trained Mind's homeschooling message boards, and they have requested a little more info about this blog. I am so new at this that I don't even know how to add a comment section here, so I get all the comments at the WTM board! But I'm learning.
Someone is bound to ask about the title, Twilight and Sunrise. I never know exactly how much to share publicly, but I guess it's ok to answer this one. One of my family members struggles with addiction and cannot currently live at home. It's a heartbreaker, for sure. (channeling my inner Minnesotoan--if that's even a word) I was thinking the other day about people's need to know they are loved, not because of how they behave, but because of who they are. Don't we all think, deep down, "If you knew me, could you love me?" I know that's a common thought among people who have screwed up big time. So, as I often do, I started humming a little nonsense tune and fitting words into it. I know there's a poem in here somewhere, but I got to
If you knew me, would you love me?
(then something something something,
then)
I love you
good and bad,
light and dark,
twilight and sunrise.
Sunrise happens to be a significant place name for my loved one.
Anyway, I just thought it would be nice to make a blog about the "whole thing--" you know, good and bad, ups and downs, all the things life is.
I love that wonderful poem about life being a "dappled thing"-- what is it, "In Praise of Dappled Things?" or something like that. That's how I feel about this life--it's such a mix of that which is lovely and that which sucks. (oops--can I say sucks in a blog post?) Some people call it giving thanks for the thorns. I'm ok with that, because I know the creator of those thorns, and I trust he is good.
Thorns, twilight, shadow, sucky stuff--it's all the refining, you know. It's all used for our good. How can that be?
I just know more certainly now that God is. Just is. That's enough.
So, here's to the whole of life, in all it's murky, stinky, hilarious, beautiful, stunning, upsetting, big-deep-breath-here-we-go-ness. Gotta love it.
Oh, and the picture? One I took (yes *I* took it!) in Sweden. I just love it, and come to find out, it had the proper twilighty-sunrisey colors in it. How about that.

Here We Go

Hello, All
I've decided I spend so much time on the message boards at Well-Trained Mind (a wonderful homeschooling resource) that I would go ahead and start a blog. I must warn you, I'm not much of a writer. I write as I talk, and my talk is full of pauses, reconsiderations, and asides. I don't punctuate well, and I over-use parentheses and dashes. If you can stand that, as well as strong opinions, and you are interested in the musings of an over-40, Christian mom of three, then read on.