This week I began reading several different types of books--Christian living, children's fiction, and adult Christian fiction. In an evening I finished C. S. Lewis' last book of the Narnia series, [appropriately titled] The Last Battle .  I also began  D. Martin Lloyd-Jones' Spiritual Depression Its Causes and Cure. The title sounds dreadfully boring, but it's actually one of the best things I've picked up in a long time. Here's a challenging excerpt  from chapter three, "Men As Trees, Walking"  :

We are considering this subject not only because it is sad and tragic that any Christian should ever be miserable, but because of the whole state of the Church today. I have no hesitation in asserting again that one of the reasons why the Christian Church counts for so little in the modern world is that so many are in this condition. If all Christians simply began to function as the New Testament would have us to do, there would be no problem of evangelism...It is because we are failing as Christian people in our daily lives and deportment and witness that the Church counts for so little and that so few attracted to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So for that most urgent reason alone it behoves us to deal with this question...

 

On a recent trip to the library I picked up some Christian fiction. The only current Christian fiction author I care for is Jan Karon. Another author came highly recommended and I sighed while pulling it off the shelf, hoping to be pleasantly surprised.  Let's just say that Christian Gothic/prairie/Amish/western/modern romances  and Christian serial killer series aren't  appealing to me. But I do like classics, some mysteries, and--of course--Hank the Cowdog books.   Our local library is small and has a limited space [about three small shelves] devoted to classics.

To change the subject slightly, our librarian commented that our local library would be moving into a part of the new public school about to built in the community. It will be a little strange taking my homeschooled kids to school just to go to the library, though  we certainly could use a bigger library facility.  Here's hoping there'll be more room for classics.

Have I mentioned that I really like Jonathan Park cds?  Yesterday's field trip to Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies was a welcome break.  The crowds were thin, and we were able to enjoy it at a leisurely pace. Ripley's is a beautiful place and doesn't drip with evolutionary nonsense, but it is there. There is a lot of very interesting science as well--such as how they get the water salty enough for twelve sharks to survive and keep all that water clean with sand and bacteria. And of course, there are the fish! What an amazing variety of life the Creator has designed!

I waited for the children's response to certain lectures and exhibits.  It was time to see what they had picked up without me prompting them with questions. They were able to detect certain statements presented as fact and immediately wanted to talk about it.  Thanks to the excellent teaching from the Jonathan Park series and materials we've used from Answers in Genesis, the children are seeing science from a creationist perspective.  I love homeschooling!

During school, we typically don't answer the phone. We stay offline as well, but today something wonderful happened. It was an interuption worth having.

In the middle of a school lesson, my middle child looked out the window and saw a truck in the driveway. It wasn't just any truck--my DAD was driving!!!  Out like shots we flew from the house to meet and hug in the yard. We just saw him a couple of days ago, but he was DRIVING!! It had been months since my Dad had driven on his own.  His brothers, my brother, or myself have been doing the driving for him. It was as though this year hadn't happened and there he stood in the yard like always when he'd drive down for a visit. Honestly, it seemed like time had rolled back to pre-cancer days!

Workbooks were put away, we went outside to walk in the yard, take the dogs for a walk, and watch the children jump on the trampoline. We fiddled with the tractor and talked about firewood for the winter. We planned a trip to Cades Cove. He stayed with us for a month in the summer after his surgery, but hadn't seen the changes we'd made in our ongoing remodel. Pleased, he said he might not mind a stay with us again---which made us all laugh. His last stay was punctuated with hourly statements of, "Well, I'm ready to go home now. How 'bout it sis?"

After Mother died I used to dream of what it would be like to have her back again. When things were bad with Daddy, it seemed like I tried to squeeze every bit of life and memory from each moment , anticipating  his loss, knowing I'd need  those memories to help me. We thought we'd lose him. And here he was, driving, cancer free, in my house again.  We sipped our coffee together, looked at old photos, and enjoyed our time together. It was a real visit--not a doctor's appointment, not a hospital stay, not a recuperation. But a lovely, lingering visit. And Daddy was able to drive.

It may seem like a bunch of drivel, this post of mine. Maybe it was just something you had to be here for. I'm glad we both were.

A few years ago I was blogging at another host about homeschooling, the persecuted church, and trying [emphasis on try ]  to be a Titus 2 woman. It wasn't going well.  Someone --in pity, I'm sure-- left me a comment about TOS starting a new homeschool blogger platform and left a link to come join. It was a very good move for me--making friends, learning, being inspired in this off-the-beaten path choice of home education  were [and are] some of the benefits of being part of this community. What a blessing HSB has been.  Now, I'd also like to thank HSB for featuring Doe Hill Homeschool as Blogger of the Week.  It's an honor.

I've been blogging about my Dad and the trials and joys and ups and downs of dealing with cancer. My husband and I both lost our mothers and grandmothers to cancer. When we heard the c-word in February this year, we braced ourselves for the worst. 

God in his mercy opened doors, answered prayers, and helped us so much this year.  My Dad was diagnosed with a squamous cell carcinoma that his local doctors described as rare, agreesive, and probably fatal before Christmas this year.  But God allowed us to go to a different facility--the Vanderbilt Medical Center--to meet with an incredible surgeon and his team.

In May, Dad was told he needed to go on hospice. Two weeks later, I was at Vandy with him for a fourteen hour marathon surgery that removed his right ear, part of his jawbone and skull, many lymph nodes, his facial nerves on the right side, and a massive graft from his right leg [knee to thigh.]  At nine o'clock on June 10, his surgical team met us in the lounge and gave the good news: they got all the tumor.

He began more chemo and 37 radiation treatments. After finishing those six weeks ago, it was time for tests to see if, indeed, they got it all. And his scans came back clean--we just got the news yesterday!

Now we have some reconstructive surgeries to get done. It's the fairy tale ending to a cancer story that you dream of, but are almost afraid to hope for it.  We aren't sure how long this will last, but then again, none of us are promised tomorrow.  We give praise and honor to God, thanks to some local doctors that were glad to acknowledge they needed help, and  are grateful to have such a world-class, top notch facility in Tennessee like Vanderbilt Medical Center and Dr. Netterville.

God is SOOOO good!

Get your IDOP kit at www.persecution.com/idop .

We've been studying the history of art at co-op these past two months. The class is being taught by one of our wonderfully talented co-op mothers and I have really enjoyed being a casual participant. Every week, she sends home several projects ideas. The children are supposed to complete them as written, or do a similar project that they or their  parents might think up.

My mom was in town for the first two weeks of co-op, so we were taking break from our other schoolwork. This gave the children a lot of free time, so the first week's of projects were a lot fancier than the later ones.  For Ancient Art, the assignment was to do a cave painting using a brown paper bag as your "painting" surface.

Since it has been a while since we have done an papier mache, I suggested that my oldest son make a cave diorama for his cave paintings.

He liked this idea and made a second diorama for Egyptian Art.

There actually wasn't a project for Egyptian Art, but the two younger boys each made a picture anyway.

The Greek Art project was supposed to be painting pottery. Since we had already done several projects like this when we studied Greece two years ago, we decided to try a project we hadn't done- scratch art!

The younger boys had a great time coloring, painting, and scraping.

For Roman Art, the children were supposed to make a mosaic. There is no way I was going to afford materials for five children to make real mosaics, so we settled for the paper variety.

However, I really WANTED the children to be able to experience making a "real" mosaic. While shopping in the local bakery and bulk foods store, I spotted some chocolate rocks and inspiration struck. Why not make a mosaic on a sugar cookie?! We ended up purchasing several kinds of dried fruit and my 12 year old designed a delicious mosaic snack to share with all his friends. (CHEF are the initials of our co-op.)

My 12 year old son and my 11 year old daughter decided to combine the first three projects by making miniture art museums to showcase their work. My son did this in the form of a pop-up inside of a file folder. This was then three hole punched so he could store it in his notebook.

And my daughter made hers inside of a small cardboard box.

The responsibility of teaching highschool literature can be a bit overwhelming. There are so many questions to be answered: what books ought to be read, should poetry be included, should literature and writing be taught separately, what are the elements of literature, how should literature be analyzed. The author of this book does a wonderful job answering all these questions and more.

If you plan to homeschool through the highschool years, you will find a wealth of information and encouragement in this book. The author explains in great detail her own goals in teaching literature, and gives several practical ways to accomplish these goals. There are ideas for teaching literature in a book club, through blogging, and also through traditional classes. In addition to detailed lesson plans for several different literature classes (which are alone a good enough reason to buy this book!) there are also ideas to help you plan your own classes. Two pages are devoted to analyzing literature, both verbally and in writing, with questions to ask about plot, setting, characterization, and point of view. Literary research papers are also discussed, with step by step instructions on how one should be completed. There is even a list of Christian works which can be used as refrences for these papers. Finally, there are several blank book report forms for your child to use in recording what they have read.

This book has everything you need (except for the literature) to teach literature to your highschool student. There are more than enough ideas to help you plan your own class. Or you can go the easy route and use one of the plans included in this book. This book has been a great blessing as I plan our American literature studies for next year. It has saved me many frustrating hours of trying to figure this all out for myself!

Purchase from Currclick:

Teaching Literature in High School with High School Classes You Can Use

My sweet cousin sent me a picture of a family Thanksgiving celebration from the 1960s in Cades Cove. My dear mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, aunt, uncle, and cousins are all there. It was so touching to see my mother again. I hadn't seen her in so long--it struck me how much my middle child looks like her. The oldest lady [seated on the left hand side] is directly in front of my Mom--the blonde- headed teenager.

This morning I'm listening to Dr. Micheal Youssef's message, "The Truth About America."  What a challenging message it is--calling for Christians to repent.  Here's the summary from the Leading the Way site:

 

Recently, Michael Youssef delivered a powerful message on America's Christian foundation and why it is critical to a free society. Take a few moments to watch this timely and relevant message.