One of my favorite books is 84 Charing Cross Road, the correspondence between New Yorker Helene Hanff and a London Bookstore just after the close of World War II. The book is hilarious and touching but most of all a tribute to the love of buying and owning books.

The BBC has a much heralded new radio drama of the story which they've made the centerpiece of their Christmas Day schedule this year.

The program airs at 13:00 GMT on Christmas Day but you can listen to it here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/afternoon_play.shtml
for up to a week after Christmas Day after which it won't be available.

I highly recommend making time this week to sit back and relax with your hubbie or children to enjoy this play!

(As most of you know, I grew up in England. I had the pleasure of visiting 84 Charing Cross Road in London when I was 18 which brought me to tears. There I happened to find Helene's Hanff's book about NYC which partly lead to me marrying my New York husband. She has a lot to answer for!)

blessings for a wonderful Christmas!

Michelle

ps
We've super busy at Yes, You Can! Publications writing and releasing our first two ebooks!  I was so excited about the above link, I made the effort to get to this blog.  I'll write another post about our books however ... there's no time like the present to stock up for Christmas ... next year!

Go to http://www.yesyoucanpublications.com/adventebook07.html
If you order this week and email me at the contact address on the download page with Homeschoolblogger in the subject line, I'll send you a free ebook!

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Last night we had gale force winds. 

Our home backs onto the 250+ acre Arboretum in Boston and one of my favorite sounds is the roaring of the wind in the treetops on Peter's Hill on just such a night as last night.  It makes me so glad to be safe indoors.

My eldest daughter commented this morning, "Now I know what the moors sounded like!"  She's referring to "The Secret Garden" where Frances Hodgson Burnett described the 'wuthering' on the Yorkshire moors on a gale driven night.

Don't you love the common thread of books, weaving through our lives the sense of description from generations past?  I was so happy to share the connection of a loved book with my teenage daughter this morning.

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Check out our new ART OF SEEING email Newsletter:

*coupons for great new art titles
*free reviews of art curriculum
*unique discounts on our upcoming products and more!

http://www.yesyoucanpublications.com/artofseeing.html
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Click on the link below to read a recent report of what college professors are looking for in new students when it comes to knowledge of the bible.

http://www.bibleliteracy.org/bibcdocs/BibleLiteracyReport2006.pdf

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I grew up listening weekly to umpteen BBC radio productions ... Listen with Mother, the Afternoon Play, the Book at Bedtime ...

Moving to the US more than 16 years ago, I missed this daily influence and joy.

But now thanks to the Internet, anyone worldwide can not only listen daily, but the digital radio station BBC7 makes archives of previously broadcast classics available as well.

My children have recently been enjoying episodes of P.G. Wodehouse's dramatized Jeeves and Wooster stories while we eat lunch or do art projects in the afternoon.  And this week we were delighted to find a childhood favorite.

Would your children enjoy listening to THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS read by one of  England's greatest actors ... in your own home?!

THE FIRST EPISODE

... just 15 minutes
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/monday/rams/1145.ram

NB You have to fast forward about a minute to get the start of the program!

THE NEXT EPISODES

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/mainframe.shtml?http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/bbc7_asx.shtml

1) Scroll down the "A-Z list of all shows"

2) Click on "Wind in the Willows" for the day you'd like to listen.

3) Fast forward two minutes to get straight to the start of the program.

Programs are archived for the six previous days. You could listen on Friday to the whole week at a time.

WANT TO HEAR MORE?!

Get the inside scoop!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/YesYouCanPublications/

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Now I know it's possible to teach ANYTHING using living books!

Would you think there's a title that makes Quantum Physics understandable for children?  Try UNCLE ALBERT AND THE QUANTUM QUEST by Russell Stannard, a college Physics professor from England who happens to have seven children and a great way of conveying complicated ideas via a story.  It's our current lunchtime readaloud.

Reading aloud is such a pleasurable, low stress activity especially when accompanied by lunch or afternoon tea (I grew up in England, remember!).  It makes me look forward to the homeschool year, not shrink in dread at the thought of all that hard work.  (This year we have our first highschool freshman, as well as eighth, fifth and second graders, a preschooler and yes ... baby Abigail who just turned three months old ... and has just figured out how to belly laugh.)

Stannard's MANY OTHER SPACE AND SCIENCE related titles are alll as simple yet profound ... CHECK THEM OUT!

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Well baby Abigail is here! 

She arrived on June 19 after a surprisingly easy labor (more on that later when I finally get a photo hosted and up).  Now after a six week furlough of gazing into baby's eyes, enjoying the heat (my last four babies were born in winter and it's wonderful to be up at night nursing and not freezing as well!) and marvelling at God's kindness to us ... it's time to take up our business ideas and start jogging with them again.

I think I must be allergic to negativity because nothing drives me crazier than folks continually finding one more objection as to why something is impossible. 

So today I've been encouraged reading about Mary Engelbreit's beginnings as an artist and also an entrepreneur.  Having been rejected by a publisher to illustrate books, the suggestion was made that she try illustrating greetings cards instead.  At first this stung her pride but then she decided to give it a try and found some success.  However she soon became tired of the constraints imposed by working for others. ...

In 1983, she began producing and designing her own cards. At the time, she was eight months pregnant. She shrugs off the risky move with a typical homespun Mary-ism: "Proper timing is overrated," she says. "There's always a reason not to do things – it's too expensive, or it's not the best time, or this, or that – but I believe there are wonderful opportunities sailing by, and you have to be ready to grab them."
         from ABOUT MARY at MaryEngelbreit.com

Encouraged to know I'm not the only crazy lady who decides to launch into an adventure when so pregnant!

People either ask, "Why?" or "Why not?!" of an idea.  I appreciate my husband's healthy CPA skeptism that balances out my often reckless enthusiasm, but even he has learned to say of an exciting possibility ... "What would we have to do to make it happen?"

That's one common denominator I see in the attitude of those who succeed.  So I'm not surprised to read it brimming over in Mary Engelbreit's life. 

What are you having trouble believing you can do?  Whether it's a business idea or finding your child has a learning disability or homeschooling highschool for the first time (We find ourselves facing all three at the moment) ... take heart and assume the best not the worst!

(And come back soon to see adorable Abigail Grace!)

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I'm typing in the cool of my basement office. I am officially nine months pregnant (yesterday) and as the afternoon heats up, thoughts turn to ice cold food and the ice pops in the freezer ... The homemade kind that don't dye your tongue or turn your kids into hyper-monkeys!  My eldest daughter (who turned 14 on Saturday!) just invented a delicious new ice pop and I'm eager to give one a try.  Just for scientific purposes of course.

Dear eldest daughter has been doing ALL the cooking lately, for which I'm very thankful.  She's also writing an e-product aimed at teaching older children/young teens to cook.  Having learned so much from making mistakes, it's definitely going to have a comedy element!  Her love of experimenting in the kitchen has quickly taught her to learn why an ingredient is needed and how it could be adapted. Mmmm ... sometimes the experiment backfires, like rather too much cayenne pepper in several gallons of chicken soup that we had to eat for days (with a lot to drink at hand) ... but on the other hand if she didn't take a risk she'd never experience success.

I've been pondering recently what it takes to succeed, as a homeschooler and as an entrepreneur ...

And the willingness to take a risk is high on the list. 

"What if this ingredient ruins the recipe?  What if I increase my children's educational freedom and they don't measure up to my expectations?  What if I take a risk and act on a business idea that doesn't work?"

Well, maybe the recipe will be a hit. Your children may far exceed your expectations, their love of learning taking off exponentially.  And that crazy business idea could flourish! 

It's painful when I see my children try and fail.  But the willingness to make mistakes has a value not even success can measure.  The overcoming of fear; the living by faith, in the adventurous realm of the 'possible impossible.'  How many adults do you know living with the regret of a "What if," never tried?

Well, back to earth and the ice pop question.  "Ice pops all round!"

Let's see if this is another noble effort put down as 'an experience' ... or another joyful, "Yeah, it worked!"

THE ICE POP EXPERIMENT THAT WORKED!

Freezer pop moulds or disposable cups with a spoon in each.
100% Grape juice
100% Apple juice
Small amount of natural vanilla ice cream
Mixed frozen berries such as blueberries, raspberries and strawberries

 

*Place a happy sized spoonful of the frozen fruit at the bottom of each cup or freezer pop mould
*Add a generous spoonful of the ice cream to each
*Fill to the top with a mixture of the two juices
*Freeze! 

And of course, eat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To learn more about Anna's ANY CHILD CAN COOK course, go to
http://www.YesYouCanPublications.com/ and sign up for our newsletter.  You'll be the first to know about its release ... with some generous special offers for first comers!

Need some recipe inspiration of your own?  I just posted A LEARNING SMORGASBORD OF RECIPE BOOKS on my used-books-for-sale list, Home Library Builder.  You can check out the inexpensive titles here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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The LORD provided us with our heart's desire this past year: a home still in the city of Boston, where we've lived all our married life, yet one surrounded by wildlife.  (God can do ANYthing!)

With a week off work recently as we prepare for the birth of little Geffken #6, my husband fulfilled another desire: he and the children woke one morning around 4am and quietly set off to see the sunrise from one of the hills in the Arboretum behind our home.  Having interviewed everyone involved over a pancake breakfast afterwards, I compiled the following eyewitness report ...

The first faint stirrings of the dawn chorus could be heard as they headed out, flashlight swinging to and fro along our street.  In it's light was caught the dew on the grass and the frozen flight of an early bird.  Eerily, a neighbor's giant purple flag irises shone with a lunar glow.  And mist hung over the city of Boston.

At the iron-gated entrance, a rabbit ran across the path and paused to glance at the children before hopping into the half light.  Then they climbed Peter's Hill, past our favorite blossom tree fragrant and still in bloom though dulled by the darkness.    They could just make out two bats fluttering in a crazy pattern overhead, searching out the morning bugs.  Rummaging about near a bush on the path's edge, a petite wren gave away her presence. 

As they climbed, the color in the sky rose until at the peak of the hill, layer upon layer of rich ruby to pale pink streaks of mist melted away towards the ocean.  And spread out below were 250 acres of rising dense birdsong: varied, rich; rare, common; migrant, resident ... like the city itself.  A car alarm -- subdued and distant -- told that the sounds of the city were waking too.

After silently taking in the changing scene, they turned and descended, running, for the joy of moving.  And halted.  There was the wren near the path still foraging and busy and bats restlessly skitting home via their dot-to-dot of last morsels.

My family emerged into the world of the stirring city as the last of the glow dispersed and it was a new day.

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READY TO TAKE THE SUMMER READING CHALLENGE?

What books have you been meaning to read ... just for yourself as a mom?!  Are there homeschool resources you've meant to delve into but never seem to find the time?  Are there readalouds that would bless your children this summer and you need motivation to get going ... or finished? 

There's still time to sign up for the Summer Reading Challenge.  Click on the Challenge button above or below or go to http://ttbookjunkie.blogspot.com/ and scroll down to the Summer Reading Challenge button there.  Leave a comment that you'd like to join in ... but don't delay ... the deadline is May 31st! 

The challenge lasts from June 1 to August 31.  Once you've signed up, ponder your goals.  Post them at the above blog and then post each time you achieve one.

Also for those who sign up, there's a forum to enjoy the fellowship of shared reading (and the suffering of missed goals!).

http://summerreadingchallenge200.phpbbnow.com/index.php

I'm going to post my reading goals for the summer here as well.  If I can find time to read, anyone can!  Though I have to say that getting up in the night to nurse a newborn is one of my favorite quiet moments for reading (and gazing!).

Don't miss the deadline of May 31st!     

blessings,

Michelle

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Two favorite quotes from the Best Arts Blog of 2005 ... A Circle of Quiet.

I am in the midst of writing THE ART OF SEEING ... an art adventure for children from the youngest age ... and I love this quote:

“This benefit of seeing… can come only if you pause a while, extricate yourself from the maddening mob of quick impressions ceaselessly battering our lives, and look thoughtfully at a quiet image… the viewer must be willing to pause, to look again, to meditate.” –Dorothea Lange

And another favorite because it hits home ... on math during the summer months:

"Why math? Because math for our family is like a cranky relative who gets resentful if you don't visit often enough. Take the summer off? Well, you could get the cold shoulder for weeks, maybe months. It's as if you'd never seen each other before. All those afternoons getting acquainted over tea could be for naught! So, we take care to nurture our math relationships all summer long. It saves a lot of trouble, and a lot of wasted time."

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Wonder sometimes why you go to such lengths in homeschooling your children?

Check out the anguish, frustration and bureaucracy parents in the UK face when trying to get their children into the school of their choice.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/4743228.stm

It helps to be reminded of what difficulties we're avoiding!

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Last fall I picked up several copies of Donna Otto's "Finding Your Purpose As a Mom" as Christmas gifts.   I'm glad I also decided to buy a copy for myself! (Am I the only one who does that?!) Even though I don't feel particularly purposeless as a mom, it never hurts to be reminded of the point to all this hard work! 

The book consists of brief chapters (ie readable between the call of the timer, doorbells, rides and the phone) each followed by a thought provoking and encouraging exercise.  Like a quick breather with a cup of tea (which I rarely do!), I loved doing these exercises.  But one in particular is still resonating ...

Donna suggests taking two folders and labeling  one 'Present Contentment,' the other 'Future Hope.'  Then comes the brainstorming and recording in its folder ... the things that are right ... at this very moment.  And the dreams you have yet to fulfil in life, the things you'd like to do before you die.

What a great concept ... Instead of complaining about the present, look at what is being fulfilled.  And instead of letting weeds grow over those dreams, launch into them from a content present, into the possibilities of the future.

I decided to summarize each month what I was content about.

Well, at first, doing this way back in November, I was scraping the barrel, feeling under huge pressure with the upcoming holiday and some heavyweight concerns, not to mention grueling morning sickness. I did it anyway. But really I was saying thankyou through gritted teeth for things that were actually driving me crazy. Nice try.

Present contentment for December? Well that was way easier ... because our van caught fire ... the day before my parents flew in from England, with me just after dawn at the Skating Club of Boston dropping off dear eldest daughter and with a list of errands as long as my arm to accomplish ... with a van on fire! 

Afterwards, though, I could't wait to pull out the folder and write down the story because it was just overflowing with things to be content about!

When we'd got in the van that morning, still dark outside and way below freezing, I'd turned to my daughter and exclaimed (ever trying to be cheerful!), "Isn't it a miracle that the car starts in weather like this and we can just drive off without a thought!  Boy, if we had a horse and cart we'd have to feed the horse and groom it and so much more."   Yes, and not take it to the mechanics.

Oh, I forgot ... this is a 'present contentment' story!

It was rather comical that the car started ... but that when we arrived and I turned off the lights, smoke started billowing out of the light switch.  I guess you can't have everything.   (Never heard of a horse catching on fire, though.)

"Run!  The car's on fire!  Get out of here quickly!"  Well, dear daughter had the cell phone in her sock, don't ask why, and she quickly grabbed her skating bag and scooted off.  Since the cell phone wasn't in my purse,  I thought we had forgotten it.  No cell phone.

More smoke.  Visible red and yellow inside the switch.

Leaving all the doors wide open, I ran into the Club and asked for a phone.  The receptionist, carefully untangling the cord so the phone would reach me, was exhibiting commanding patience for that time of the morning.  Now, you need to remember my polite English upbringing.

"Um, excuse me ... but my van is on fire by the entrance.  I NEED THE PHONE RIGHT NOW!"   That got results.

Called 9-1-1. 

Ran back outside to see black billows.  And remembered my laptop (Was planning on writing while dd skated); and bulky picture frame (to be dropped off to be mirrored at a glass store); and big sack of library books (yikes ... what's the fine on 60 burnt books?!) and more.  Dragged these out and stumbled with the whole lot at once (don't forget that I am also pregnant) back into the building. 

Out came the janitor, running with a fire extinguisher ... to the amazement of the elegant ice dancers peacefully practicing for Nationals.

"It's ok." I must get extra English in moments of drama, "I called the Fire Brigade." 

This burley Bostonian looked at me like I was the one on fire.  "Who?"

"Oh I mean, the Fire Department."  Then trying to make light of my faux pas I added, "Don't worry, they'll be here with their bell ringing and the horses galloping at any moment." 

Now he was really looking at me sideways, seemingly thinking, "We've got a real fruitcake here." (Except in Bostonian of course).

...

What happens next and why on earth are there so many hidden blessings in this story? Stay tuned!

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Okay, so we live in Boston where the Patriots may have won all those rings recently but it's still Sox town.

At the dinner table this evening we had a little fun thinking up acrostics for the seasons (ie FALL: Fresh Apples Lovingly Layered ... as in making an apple pie) but of course it ended up becoming a Red Sox conversation ... again.

So here are the seasons from the point of view of a (hopeful but realistic) Bostonian!

Sox

Practice

Running

Into

No

Groundouts

Slugging

Unremittingly,

Manny

Makes

Easy

Runs

Follow

American

League

Leader!

With

Interest,

Notice

Trading

Entire

Roster!

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"This must be a buffalo nickel," my 9yo son exclaimed recently, showing me the new Kansas quarter which pictures a buffalo. With a question or two he'd soon concluded that since it was a quarter it couldn't also be a nickel.  (Curious I asked where he'd heard about buffalo nickels; in a Hardy Boy book, he explained.)

Anyway, even though this was a complete interruption :-) we pulled out our home library books on the world history of coins and also of US coins that I'd squirreled away for just such a moment.  Soon he had found pictures and the history of the famous buffalo nickel and a few more sparks of learning were ignited with a reference library prepared for action!

One of my favorite aspects of hunting for old books is coming across not just good reference books but also related books that expand and comment on one another yet are not found on any of the standard (even 'living books') reading lists.  A unique library!

Here's a small collection I came across at used booksales recently for more such moments ....

THE GOLDEN PATH: The Lure of Gold Through History, Richard Lyttle, 
A unique way of overviewing world history as well as numerous other disciplines ... from the perspective of gold's influence in a society.  

GOLD AND SILVER, SILVER AND GOLD: Tales of Hidden Treasure, Alvin Schwartz,  28 fascinating stories, both true and legendary, from pirate treasure and sunken galleons to mysterious ciphers and ancient maps.

SILVER & LEAD, Ralph Moody: The birth and death of a mining town in the great silver strike in the eastern Sierra Nevadas in 1858.

To round out with the biblical aspect of money's influence I would highly recommend this just released package by Steve Beck:

TEACHING YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT DEBT AND FINANCES excellent audio CD as well as substantial Student and Teacher workbooks on CD-ROM, including almost all of the verses in the old and new Testaments about debt, surety and usury. 
http://1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=252205

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Books are the compasses and telescopes and sextants and charts
which other men have prepared to help us navigate the dangerous seas of human life.   --Anon

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Numbering some 800 volumes, the world's largest personal collection of books on football changed hands recently, donated to the home of the team where their late owner coached.  Only the institutional collections of the Football Hall of Fame and The Library of Congress are larger.

Their owner's son remembers how that collection was built: everywhere the father and son visited together they would rifle through old used bookstores searching for just the right gem and as many duplicates as they could find for the son.

The books were not just for show.  Read repeatedly and left lying about, the son had easy access to the greatest teachers the game had to offer.  And the father's knowledge eventually overflowed into a volume of his own about scouting techniques, adding both to the collection and to his influence on his son.

Who was the man who was so motivated to build this extensive and unique personal library?

Stephen Belichick, coach of Naval Academy. 

And of course his son was Bill Belichick who would become coach of the New England Patriots, win three Superbowls in four years, and would be acknowledged as one of the game's greatest coaches.

So what does the Superbowl have to do with homeschooling?

If the Belichicks could dedicate their lives to the chasing of pigskin and gloriously succeed, what passions are you instilling in the lives of your children?  Is there a library growing in your home around the core values you cherish?  (Not the list everyone else says you should have; but the one that reflects your own heart.)

Who knows where the passions of a father will take the son? 

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