“Almanzo asked Father why he did not hire the machine that did threshing.  Three men had brought it into the country last fall, and Father had gone to see it.  It would thresh a man’s whole grain crop in a couple of days.

‘That’s a lazy man’s way to thresh,’ Father said.  ‘Haste makes waste, but a lazy man’d rather get his work done fast than do it himself. That machine chews up all the straw till it’s not fit to feed stock, and it scatters grain around and wastes it.

‘ All it saves is time son.  And what good is time, with nothing to do?  You want to sit and twiddle your thumbs, all these stormy winter days?”

- Farmer Boy, by Laura Ingles Wilder, pages 307/308

After reading the book Farmer Boy by Laura Ingles Wilder recently, I came away with a renewed realization of the work ethic from her time (late 1800’s).  In my world, I have many... read the rest of my thoughts

Training Notes  - Boot camp -  Obedience

A time of Training

Reporting in - 1

Reporting in – 2

Reporting in – 3

Bootcamp – final report and here

Training notes – Boot camp – Diligence

The Sluggard

Thoroughness

Finishing the job

Instructions or Example?  When we are teaching our children what is more effective? Our Instruction or our Example?

I’ve had several pages open in my browser for the last little while waiting to share them with you.  Since I have to shut down my computer for a while now seems like a good time to post them.

I love the idea of these Narration bookmarks.  These prompts help the children to think as they are reading.  Most of my children are sharing their narrations in their reading journals these days, but they go through seasons of needing prompts.  This post was listed in the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival – if you haven’t read it yet – there’s plenty to read!

I love this list of what a true friend is like – as per scripture.  These are good scriptures to remember for anyone – not just us ladies!

Not sure how I came across this site though it has been open for a week or so – neoK12 – Educational videos and lessons for k-12 school kids.  This will be a handy link to keep!

I’ve printed this off to keep in my Bible study folder.  Not sure when I’ll get to this study but I’d like to do it myself or help my older ones to do it as their Bible Study.  Getting to know God through His Names and Titles.  I like the list in that it is just some prompts/scriptures – you have to do the thinking and applying.

Also need to be  more diligent with Scripture Memorisation with my younger two – not sure how I’m going to do this yet, but with AmblesideOnline’s list and this one I think we’ll have enough to work with.

I found a couple of news articles on Yahoo! which I found quite concerning. The first one was about a new movie directed by Peter Jackson, of Lord of the Rings fame. He was hoping to produce a PG13 rated film, because that it believed to attract the greatest number of viewers. However, early screening audiences complained that there was not enough violence! They were disappointed that the death of one character was not more grisly and visual, so Jackson went back and tried to “improve” it. Although it’s sad that Jackson bowed to such pressure, he is the creator of LOTR, so it’s not as if you could expect a very clean movie.

What was really disturbing though was that people wanted more violence- more gore. It reminded me of ancient Rome- not just their Coliseums and gladiators, but even the theatres, which had real, live crucifixions! It’s disturbing that the modern world seems to becoming fascinated with gore and violence as well.

The second articlarticlee was about a van heist anti-hero in France. This security van driver had over a million euros in his van, and he stole the money and then disappeared. On the Internet, he was being hailed as a hero! There were Facebook fans, even a “Tony Musulin for President” page and another called “The World Is Yours: Tony Musulin Best Driver 2009”. People were praising his robbery as “the heist of the century” and congratulated him on his “no guns, no violence” approach. Now he has turned himself in to the police. But what I want to know is why do people see him as a hero? He’s a robber! He stole other people’s money. What’s admirable in that?

Is it that he was like a modern-day Robin Hood, stealing from the rich, and now people are happy to see the rich people get what’s coming to them? Or do people just value cleverness over goodness? Do people congratulate somebody on putting on a “good show” even if such shows destroy the social fabric of society? Are we so bored and corrupted? If robbery and violence becomes acceptable, then society quickly runs down hill. I would like to try and understand why he became such an anti-hero, if anyone has any ideas, please tell me.

I’m attempting to write a 50,000 word story in one month- to be finished by the end of November. I am currently sitting at the 10,000 word mark, which means that I have a LOT of typing to do. I’m still going to cross the 50K mark by the 30^th, don’t worry, but it’s going to take some work. But I will get there!