Littlest protested. She didn't want to replace "Children of the Heavenly Father" with something else. I hope she'll come to love "Like a River Glorious" just as well! However, it was no trouble to sing *both* hymns this morning, along with a few others.
Like a river glorious, is God's perfect peace,
Over all victorious, in its bright increase;
Perfect, yet it floweth, fuller every day,
Perfect, yet it groweth, deeper all the way.
Chorus:
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.
Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand,
Never foe can follow, never traitor stand;
Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care,
Not a blast of hurry touch the spirit there.
Every joy or trial falleth from above,
Traced upon our dial by the Sun of Love;
We may trust Him fully all for us to do.
They who trust Him wholly find Him wholly true.
mp3 file at:
http://letgodbetrue.com/worship/songs/like-a-river-glorious.htm
I guess I ought to explain that we sing hymns, first thing every "school day" even if "first thing" is 11:00 in the morning. Littlest isn't feeling well this morning, and I haven't been very efficient today in getting things going (though we're on our fourth load of laundry, so I guess I got *something* going), so today was an 11:00 start instead of our usual 9:00. And room clean-up didn't happen before 9 today, but sort of happened in between loads of laundry and read-aloud times.
Everyone picks a hymn, and we will also do the Ambleside hymn and maybe another that I want them to learn, so we end up singing four, five, or half-a-dozen hymns every morning. It is a good start to the day.
In the attempt to memorize good music, I've started posting lyrics to hymns and praise songs on the kitchen window. That window looks into the neighboring house, making that window a good thing to cover with hymn lyrics! (Gives our neighbor some privacy, and serves the purpose of helping me memorize at the same time.)
There's a lot to do yet, before the day is over, so I'd better get offline again. How's your day going?
I often think my mom taught me almost nothing about keeping house. She wanted her girls to have careers, and pay someone else to keep house.
But today, while reading through menu plans in the blogosphere, I realize that she *did* teach me about putting together a meal. She taught me that you have to consider every part of the meal, so that when you cook it, everything's ready to come to the table at the same time, for instance. (That means, for our house, that the scalloped potatoes need to be put in the oven half an hour or even an hour before the meatloaf, for them to be done at the same time.)
She taught me that a meal should have a variety of textures, colors, and flavors. So, for example, I almost never serve a whole plate of "white/beige food"--baked chicken slices or white fish, white rice or noodles, and cauliflower, for example. She would have had pimento mixed in with the rice or noodles, and a green vegetable instead of cauliflower, for example, and maybe even a sprig of parsley on the plate for a little pizazz. One way to add more color is to use a colorful starch: spinach noodles, bright-orange yams, peas, beets. (Yes, peas are starch. They do not count as green vegetables.)
She always tried to serve one green vegetable at dinner, whether it was broccoli, green beans, spinach, zucchini, or lettuce. (They didn't have fancy things like kale in the stores back then, I don't think, or maybe my dad wouldn't eat the stuff. She didn't like mustard greens or collards so she didn't serve those, either.) If the vegetables in the meal weren't green (think carrots or beets, which now I know are actually in the starch category), she'd do a salad on the side.
She wouldn't have served creamed chicken or turkey or tuna with creamed spinach (not saying I've seen that combo in the menu plans today, but I've done it myself). Too much creaminess, not enough crunch. Vary textures, have something creamy, something chewy, something crunchy.
She tried to have a protein, a starch, and a vegetable to balance out the plate. (Protein was meat/fish/cheese/eggs/dried beans--I hate lima beans! ...but had to eat them; starch was pasta, rice, potatoes, peas, corn; vegetable was just about anything else that grew and I didn't like, at the time: tomatoes, green beans, spinach, lettuce, carrots, celery, sauerkraut, cabbage, red cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, etc.) There was always koolade at lunch (she was pretty healthy in her cooking, I don't know why she went for koolade and jello) and milk (half reconstituted powdered milk/half fresh milk) at dinner, oh, and at breakfast there was almost always orange juice (watered down, though I never realized it until I started buying it myself and making it according to the directions--three cans water to a can of juice concentrate).
She'd make a roast on Sunday and serve the meat for several days afterwards in many forms: open-faced hot sandwiches with gravy, creamed over toast or rice or noodles, and finally the last bits and pieces of meat stirred into Fried Rice, while the bone(s) would be simmered into soup.
Sometimes the grocery money wouldn't stretch far enough and after all the leftovers were eaten up earlier in the week, there'd be pancakes for supper. She made it an occasion, a celebration, never letting on that there were pancakes because all there was in the house was flour, sugar, milk and a few eggs. My parents bought flour and sugar and powdered milk in bulk--in 25 or 50lb bags, I think. I remember they kept the stuff in huge tin containers.
I may not be very good at cleaning and organizing, but I find I know more than I thought I did, at least when it comes to cooking.
I caught a cold this week, did my usual garlic-and-vitamin-C thing that used to work, and once again, it worked! I was over the cold within a day or two.
I am so glad I discovered that my bronchitis was caused by cleaning products.
(Singing thankful songs)
In case I don't get back here before Monday, have a blessed weekend.
I completely forgot about the Charlotte Mason Carnival, but it is going on now! I just read a completely charming introduction and links page... If you're interested, and you, like me, hadn't heard about it yet, go to:
http://www.xanga.com/SalmonMe
Hope you come away as inspired and encouraged as I have!
Edit, 9/20/07 I found it!
It was at this link:
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/AussieinAmerica/345601/
(This is a great blog to visit, and not only for the non-petroleum jelly)
Unfortunately our camera batteries died so I sure hope I can get some pictures from one of the other families there!
When we picked up our dog from the dog-sitter, we hardly recognized her! Her shaggy coat had been groomed and clipped until she was sleek and streamlined and very athletic-looking. We no longer have a shaggy dog, we have a fashion plate! (Except her eyebrows, which middlest cut the other week so the dog could see. Cut very short, need to grow out in order to be clipped into the regulation shape.
I meant to put up a hymn and summary of our school plans for the week, but am short on time today, and also I've forgotten how to put things in the margin, and HSB won't let me log into the forum to ask how (for some reason I have an inactive account and no instructions on how to re-activate that I could find, and my email has gone unanswered).
Well, lunch break is over and I have no more time!
However, let me just say that if you are ever on a visit to Mount Saint Helens, having taken exit 49 off of I-5, stop by the Seven Wonders Museum on your way to the mountain. They have lots of books and videos for sale there, and fascinating displays, and if you call ahead you might be able to join one of the tours they conduct. Great place!
The burial was this morning in a pill bottle, with flowers and tears
, followed by a memorial breakfast of French Toast with real maple syrup and orange juice.*sigh* Writing and posting this is helping littlest feel better.
The dc are asking if we ought to observe a school holiday today as a part of mourning.
So far as I could tell, we were the only two living creatures out there, taking the night air. I had to go to a nearby intersection to see the moon clearly, unblocked by houses. Dog was happy to go along. A Walk! Hooray!
Turning to go back and see if anyone else wanted to get up to view the eclipsed moon, I stepped backwards off a curb that was closer than I realized. Result: two strained ankles and a strained knee.
It's going to be interesting, trying to get things done the next few days. God is good, and whatever I get done, it'll certainly be by His strength and wisdom and not mine.
Not to mention the oversized shaggy carpet lying beside my chair in hopes of the usual morning walk. (Ain't gonna happen--none of the dc can control the beast when a squirrel appears on the horizon.)
Which reminds me of how Christ did not sit by, but took on our sins. He did what we cannot--He suffered in our place.
I'm a little incoherent right now and cannot go any further with this thought, but I urge you if you haven't already to read and pray: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ourquiverfull/
It is not a cheerful praise song, (though it *is* a prayer in song) but good for some thoughtful quiet time. And now, I confess, after typing it out, that the tune running in my head had been disguising the impact of the words.
God, be merciful to me, on thy grace I rest my plea;
plenteous in compassion thou, blot out my transgressions now;
wash me, make me pure within, cleanse, O cleanse me from my sin.
My transgressions I confess, grief and guilt my soul oppress;
I have sinned against thy grace and provoked thee to thy face;
I confess thy judgment just, speechless, I thy mercy trust.
I am evil, born in sin; thou desirest truth within.
Thou alone my Savior art, teach thy wisdom to my heart;
make me pure, thy grace bestow, wash me whiter than the snow.
Broken, humbled to the dust by thy wrath and judgment just,
let my contrite heart rejoice and in gladness hear thy voice;
from my sins O hide thy face, blot them out in boundless grace.
Gracious God, my heart renew, make my spirit right and true;
cast me not away from thee, let thy Spirit dwell in me;
thy salvation's joy impart, steadfast make my willing heart.
Sinners then shall learn from me and return, O God, to thee;
Savior, all my guilt remove, and my tongue shall sing thy love;
touch my silent lips, O Lord, and my mouth shall praise accord.
We bought a female betta fish today, and the girls have great plans for mating her to one of the male betta fish. They've read up on it, so I suppose this could be considered a science lab. Fish behavior 101?
It's a beautiful day and I really need to go hang out some laundry, especially as the weather report is calling for rain tomorrow.
(I can't believe the girls passed up free swim day at the local pool, but the bettas seem to be much more interesting. I guess we're having our own free swim day, come to think of it.)
(literally)
(tap on the glass) Anybody still there?
I haven't been at hsblogger (or any blog) for months. I went through six months of bronchitis relieved by an occasional bout with pneumonia, and just didn't have the energy for extras. Found out, in May, that the lung problems were being triggered by cleaning products. Hey, I don't even have to mix bleach and ammonia to have a problem. I can just use cleaning products containing one or the other, all by themselves, and wake up with severe bronchitis the next day.
After two courses of antibiotics and a summer of cleaning with baking soda and vinegar, or Norwex cloths and plain water, I still have a nagging cough but I've had my energy back again for a few weeks.
We spent much of the summer catching up from doing so little in the way of academics over the spring. You see, this was the year for standardized testing. (We don't have to do it every year, but we had to do it this year!)
I have to tell you that two sites saved me, both while I was sick, and then after. I didn't have the energy to read the books that we were going to read together, to put together copywork from those books, to work on writing and math and all the rest.
However, we did have a trial account for Time4Learning (www.time4learning.com), an online curriculum. While I was barely functioning, our children were doing age-appropriate lessons in Math, Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies. (Well, not science, not at first, anyhow. They thought science on the computer would be boring. They found out later, after I started paying attention again due to the antibiotics having a good effect, that the interactive science lessons were just as fun as the others!)
I have one child who is unusual in that she will read just about anything, even textbooks, for fun and interest, but that doesn't apply to all of them. However, I have found any one of them, at various times, doing online lessons just for fun, imagine it. And this isn't your typical educational computer game fluff, but real lessons in vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension, math topics, history, and science.
Sorry to sound like a commercial, but if you're having struggles like we were this spring, or if you need a change of pace, you might go to their website and check out their trial period offer. Memberships are on a month-to-month basis, and I think the price is very reasonable for the content and quality. They'll even keep a record of what your student has done.
The other lifesaver, in getting ready for standardized testing, was EdHelper. (www.edhelper.com)
Now, EdHelper has a lot of free pages that you can access without subscribing. I used a lot of them! Since I subscribed back in February in order to get access to pages I wanted for a project, I revisited the site this summer and was so pleased to find their test-prep materials! Yes, for every grade they have grade-level tests complete with answer sheets with those little circles you have to fill in on computer-graded tests. After printing these out for a few days in the week before the test, I got the children familiar with test-taking methodology so they didn't panic when they were confronted with a sheet of circles waiting to be filled in. I also took advantage of their summer studies--worksheets generated to keep skills sharp.
Believe me, I'm not the worksheet type (these days, though I used to love them in school), but the girls for some reason seem to enjoy occasional worksheet work. It added a little structure to our summer, provided fun Sudoku, Word Search and other puzzles, and got us in an "academic" mind-frame for the test.
Now that testing is past, we can go back to literature-based learning. Hurrah.
(However, they like Time4Learning so well that we're talking about keeping up our subscription for enrichment. Will have to see how next month's budget pencils out.)
Pardon me, my age is showing. ("Cool" is such a handy word.)
But I just visited www.teachingthetrivium.com again, to check the link I was giving to a new homeschooler, and I ran across their audio downloads. Workshops! At my convenience! (Now just to find a little "convenience"...)
By the way, is there a way to download and listen to MP3 files without being tied to the computer? I can only listen in the dining room, where the computer is. I'd dearly love to listen while washing dishes. Is the device involved very expensive to purchase?
We have only had broadband for a month, and I'm still learning some of the advantages over our previous dial-up. Many-megabyte downloads used to be out of the question. Yet nowadays I can listen to the archives of the Flylady show (see flylady.net) while I'm going about my dejunking.
But the chapter that eldest is reading to the younger two is just about over, and I must get back to business.
Have been up since four, when dd10 first started "urping".
We had lots of plans for today! However, the morning has been taken up with "urping" (until I made an emergency run to Walgreens for cola syrup, which I suddenly remembered from my youth--and bless the cola syrup, it broke the cycle of dry-heaves-every-15-or-20-minutes!) and listening to a dramatized version of the Lord of the Rings, done some years ago by the BBC.
The nice thing about audio drama is that it's not as scary. The children can imagine the action, and their imaginations don't go much beyond what they can handle. I don't know when or if they'll ever be able to "handle" the movies... which they haven't watched, and probably won't be allowed to watch, for a long time.
I used to have a "sick box" when they were much younger, with crayons and coloring books and I don't remember what-all. I need to put another sick box together, suitable for 8 and 10yo. Recommendations welcome!
What do you do on sick days?
There is some lobbying for a video, though this is not our usual video day...
(I do remember being wrapped in a blanket and being allowed to watch something or other when I was a kid. Perry Mason? But for the most part I read or slept, I think, or listened to... *gasp* Imagine it! I used to listen to audio dramatizations, just like our dc are doing now!)
Here is a message that was sent to our homeschool group's info email address.
Please pass it on if you are so inclined.
Thanks!
Would you be so kind as to pass this news along. We'd like to bless as
many people as we can with this free gift.
Our prayer is that families will be encouraged and learn together. Our
Lord is the "Master Artist", and he created us in His image to be
creative!
Our mission is to help those who may not go to conventions or meetings due to cost, as well as those who want to learn.
This Art Newsletter idea was born from much prayer and thought about what
God would have me do with my time now that my children are grown.
"God Bless"
Renee Miller
Miller Pads and Paper
Dear Homeschool Families;
> We are kicking off our new Art Newsletter on October 1st and we
wanted
> to send this out to you so you won't miss out on the first issue. It
> will contain the following:
Age appropriate art lessons, Introduction
> to a famous artist (short biography and what they are famous for), Art
> contest, divided by age groups with prizes for each group. A question
> and answer section, plus special art deals for newsletter subscribers
> only! The newsletter will be sent via email 4 times per year
> Just send us your email address to info@millerpadsandpaper.com
> We look forward to serving you in this way!
>
> "God Bless"
> Renee Miller
> Miller Pads and Paper
>
> P.S. Back to School Specials end Oct. 7th!!!
> www.millerpadsandpaper.com
...that HeartSchooling was not deleted when HSB went through its housecleaning. I hope they keep the blog up, even though it is "inactive" now. I go back there periodically to remind myself of priorities...
If you are new to blogging, the address is
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HeartSchooling
And it is full of wisdom, and grace, and a lovely vision for home education.
It is the last Monday of the summer! I can hardly believe it!
This is the last Monday of the library's summer reading program, and our two intrepid volunteers are at their post. I think we may have to celebrate with ice cream when all is said and done.
The library computer has just warned me that I have five minutes left of Internet time (I've been cruising the Web for nearly an hour? Really?) and so I must close.
I am putting the polishing touches on my school schedule and hoping to get some regular blogging in.
I certainly need the accountability.
(Almost an hour? Really? Where does the time go?)
I don't have a hymn to share today. I am at the library again, while two of our dc are spending their volunteer shift. It has been a busy summer. This week ought to go slower, in part because youngest is having two teeth extracted this afternoon. I figure we'll be fairly quiet and stay-at-home people for a few days.
The temperatures have been unbelievable since Thursday: high 90s and even 100s. Today's high is supposed to be 91, and then tomorrow things will be better, 83 they're saying. It was 90 when we went to bed at midnight last night, and 70 when we got up this morning! Haven't been sleeping much, but I'm looking forward to later in the week when the lows are predicted to be in the high 60s. (And here I thought we lived in a place with a cool and often rainy climate.)
The Back to School Sales have started, and so I'm getting edgy about finishing my school planning.
Planning is such a foreign concept to me, and follow-through is worse, but I'm doing my best. I have to keep remembering to give it all to God, to lean on Him, to ask for Him to supply strength and inspiration. It simply will not do to continue approaching "education" as if we're flailing through jello.
Well, my time is about to run out, so I'm going to try to visit a few blogs before it does. The library's Internet connection is so much faster than what we have at home! (There are some blogs I can't even get to, sometimes, from home. The pages load too slowly and time out, especially if they have a lot of graphics, or music.) I don't think we'll be getting broadband anytime soon, though.