A couple weeks ago my friend and I were talking about adventures of an evening.  Would you believe the very next day we were on an adventure together?

One of the horses at camp had a foal very early the next morning.  This was good except that our horses run free on 200 acres of land or so every night and are rounded up every morning.  Part of that land is across a decent sized creek which rises with the tide every day.  You guessed it, the baby made her appearance on the other side of said creek.

So, mother horse and baby horse were kind of stuck over there until we could get them to the creek bank and the tide was out so the creek was low enough for someone to carry the foal across.  The water is very cold and rather swift -- too scary for a newborn to cross by herself.

Anyway, our adventure...we took some hay and grain out to the mare and lunch to the wrangler staying out there with them and we did it bareback both on one horse!  We went slowly but what a sight we must have made crossing the creek with the two of us trying to keep our feet out of the water and the food dry, etc. 

We made it just fine.  This was the first time I had ever seen a newborn horse.  She was so sweet and the mare, who was a first time mommy, was so nurturing.  We hung around for a while and tried to get them to move closer to the creek.  We got a little way along but the rest of the herd decided to check out the new girl which put progress on hold.

My friend Letty and I needed to get back to camp so the next part of our adventure was to find a way for both of us to get up on Cedar (our ride for the day).  She gave me a leg up but then how to get her back on?  We eventually found an old log on the ground that was just high enough for her to get on behind me.  Then it was a matter of getting the horse to sidle up to that log...

Now this was getting better all the time.  I was not the horse person.  Letty was.  I can ride but I am no expert by any means.  Now I was riding bareback for the first time, with someone behind me and the horse DID NOT want to leave the rest of the herd.  We finally got him going in the right direction but by this time the creek was too high to cross at the normal place.  We had to go farther upstream to get across.   Not a problem except I dropped the blanket we had taken out to warm the foal.

Down Letty got and retrieved the blanket.  But how to get her back up again?  We walked a while until there was a little mound of grass for her to step up on.  Again the horse begrudgingly sidled up to allow Letty to climb aboard.

We crossed the river just fine but a bit after that there was nothing we could do to avoid a pretty steep incline.  Thankfully we made it up.  It was steep.  We made it a little closer to camp when we came to a pretty steep gully.  Then we walked along it to a place where we could turn to go down and up again on the other side.  The horse decided to go sideways down the hill!  I am not kidding.  I didn't even know they could do that.  We nearly fell off while I was desperately trying to direct him to turn down the hill.  It was steep. 

With thankful hearts we came into view of the barn and dock where we load and unload horses.  While the horse was walking down the "road" to the dock I was thankful to be about to get off.  What I didn't realize was that this particular horse doesn't like the great big mud puddle that covered the entire road shortly before the dock area.  He kept going left.  I kept thinking he was choosing to walk right alongside the great big mound of snow on the left.  He kept going left.  I started directing him right.  He kept going left.  He decided to walk right up on the great big pile of snow!  So we had one last adventure getting back down off of that snow without falling off again!  Good grief!

Next time, I stay in the back where I belong! By the way, my very own husband went across the creek with his duck waders on and carried the filly, now called Ginger, back across so she and the mare could go to the barn together.  What a day.

This book is a fabulous read although it may be difficult if you don't enjoy the fantasy genre.  In order to allow any future reader to discover the "reality" in the book as I did, I will not describe too much of the plot.  However, I will reveal that the protagonist, who claims to not believe in the God of the Bible, finds himself encountering that very God and Satan, too. 

Very soon in the book the reader figures the setting must be just before the tribulation.  Ted Dekker writes about one possible way the antichrist will rise to power.  One word that could be used to describe the beginning of the book would be: creepy.  In fact, I did use that word.

The worst part of the book is coming to the end only to find that the story is not over.  The reader must continue to the next book and presumably to the third (there are three in the series).  Of course, that could be the best part of the book because it is always sort of sad when a good story ends.

My favorite section of the book is when the main character actually turns to God for salvation.  I don't think I have ever read a better description of how the man has free will to refuse God's offer, yet that very offer is so incredibly amazing that it cannot be refused.   Besides that description, the book also shows how God delightfully interacts with His people and closely interests Himself in each individual.

If you are looking for a page-turner with lots of food for thought then this would be a good choice.  Don't let the "creepy" scare you away before you give it a try.  Dekker weaves plenty of lighthearted moments into the heavy subject of the book.  I think I might even read this book again...I'll bet I missed some nuggets in it on the first time through.

So where am I on this issue?  I am still in the fog but perhaps it is lifting a little...

I have decided that we are certainly in the love of learning phase with my oldest occasionally toeing the line to scholar phase.  My son was entering the hate of learning zone but I think we have turned him around a bit.

Apparently, to do this phase we want to structure time and not content.  I have heard that this means tossing all curriculum out the window and using strictly  classics (classics = anything that you can learn from over and over again).  To keep yourself on track you use something like ED Hirsch's books or another such resource.  However, I did notice that DeMille lists the Saxon math series in his list of classics in the appendix of "Thomas Jefferson Education." 

I don't see myself getting rid of Math-U-See.  It  has proven (is proving) three times to teach my children basic math quite well.  I do see myself not requiring them to do so many worksheets per day or some such requirement.  I also don't see myself getting rid of Story of the World since we have thoroughly enjoyed this curriculum this year.  We do read real books with this curriculum so it seems like it fits and the activities suggested by the curriculum are key in the love part of our learning.

Now I am looking for a science curriculum that is literature based.  Since I haven't found anything remotely like that we will probably find a standard curriculum but do our studying from books, videos, etc. (classics) that address the topics in the lessons.

Science and history we do together in what some call "mom school" and this year we will also be doing a literature class together.  The literature class will coincide with a discussion group I hope to start among homeschoolers in our area.  Other than that the rest of school time will be sort of self-directed.  To be precise, we will have a starting time and an ending time for school work.  During that time, when we are not studying together, the students are to be engaged in an approved academic activity.  I plan to prepare a list that they can refer to.  Also, each student will have a contract lasting a month at a time that specifies what they are going to accomplish that month.  It will be something that we plan out together so that it is a sort of self-requirement the children make for themselves.

These are my plans.  Lord willing, we will be taking a new leap this coming schoolyear.

Two days ago I was rubber stamping with some new friends.  Here is what one stamp said:

God always answers prayer. 

Sometimes He says, " Yes."

Sometimes He says, "No."

Sometimes He says, "You've got to be kidding!"

That just cracks me up, even after two days.  I am trying not to analyze what that means about me...just thought I'd share in case you need a little giggle.

Here are several things I am still chuckling over:

I was in the kitchen of our house when Ellie rushed in saying, "The monster is gone."  I agreed that that was good and wondered if the monster had run away.  She nodded and put her hands up like she was a clawing cat and added a hiss like a cat as well.  I can only assume that this particular monster was scared of hissing, clawing two-year-olds!

She noticed the matches I was using to light a fire in the woodstove so that we had one of those typical mommy/toddler talks.  I felt satisfied that she understood what matches were and how they could hurt her.  The next day out of the blue I heard her say to no one in particular, "Matches are spicy."

She learned a new rhyme about a turtle that snaps at a mosquito, a flea and a minnow.  She says, "skeedoe" and "meenoe" every time.

We were walking to the dining hall for lunch one day when she wanted to tell me that her stomach hurt.  It came out, "My mummucks hurt, Mom."

How the world is enriched by two-year-olds.

It took a good bit longer to get back here than I anticipated!  We did make it on the ferry and out to camp on the 13th of April.  Internet wasn't available for a week or so but we got that fixed.  Our house was cold and damp but we soon took care of that.  Then it was a matter of preparing for our first retreat group.  So far we have had only weekend groups but this week the public school groups begin to come for a night or two at a time.

School is going moderately well considering the distractions of friends who we have not seen for months and the great outdoors in quasi-springtime. (Is that how I should spell that?)  I use that word because I have seen a couple robins and hummingbirds besides the rain that all indicate spring.  However, the temps are still so cold and my flower beds are all still buried under great piles of snow.

At any rate, the youngest is greatly enjoying the puddles between our house and the dining hall.  We have to change her several times per day and her wet boots spend more time drying than in use.  That's all fine since it makes our walks to and from mealtime fun for her. 

It feels good to be back.

Spring is apparently coming after all!  Sunshine, temps above freezing most of the day and the snow in our back yard a whole foot below the baby swing: these all seem to prove it.

Well, with spring comes our move back out to camp.  We will be heading out of Haines on the ferry  just about the time church is over on April 13 (Lord willing).  Until we get to camp and get the house opened up and us in it, all settled, I foresee that I will not have time to post anything here. 

So here is the official notice:  I will be virtually dropping off the planet for a couple weeks.  Don't worry.  This is the eighth spring that I am going through this ritual,along with my family, and we always seem to find a way to get back on! 

Sorry to leave church, friends and home in Haines but excited to get back to camp, friends and the view in the banner at the top of this blog,

Michele

Since Mountainsong commented on my post regarding TJEd I realized that I never said what I have been reading to learn abut TJEd.  So far, I have read The Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver DeMille.  Then I read the Thomas Jefferson Education Home Companion also by DeMille, his wife and Diann Jeppson.  Lately, I have been working on digesting several papers and a CD-recorded lecture all from Demille and others at George Wythe College.  Those papers and the lecture are sold as a package by the Institute for Excellence in Writing or you can buy them individually from the college.

The first book was good but left me wondering how in the world it all works.  I think it was certainly worth my while to read it but I definitely needed to read something else to understand it.  I am planning to read it again soon; I think it will make much more sense now that I have studied it in other books.

The Home Companion is more practical.  It is simply a collection of articles by the three authors.  Included in the book is an article on feminism that is absolutely the best thing I have read on that subject.  If it were not copyrighted I would post a copy of it here.

Now having gone through those and still finding myself fairly bewildered, I started in on the lecture on CD and the papers.  These have been incredibly helpful, answering many questions raised by the first two books.

Someone just starting into the subject may be tempted to skip the first two to begin with the package deal from IEW.  I don't know.  What I do know is that I I don't know if I can do it!  One day I am ready to give it all I've got but then the next day I look at myself, my family, my house and realize it is beyond me!

Still working through it...

Michele

This getting off the conveyor belt is a tough, scary proposition.  It takes all my courage even to suggest it to myself  let alone anyone else.  But I must admit it looks suspiciously like an adventure!  Even if I can get my own self to commit to such a leap it will require a change in actions (mine) over time to really make the break.  So, if I accept the challenge of getting off the conveyor belt then I am jumping into...phases.  These phases are not to be seen in a timeline fashion but perhaps more like a sphere.

The center of the sphere is aptly named the Core Phase.  This is where children (or adults) learn right/wrong, good/bad, and true/false.  Next is the Love of Learning Phase with a name that describes the phase itself.  These two are foundational.  If we were considering our model a pyramid, these would be the lowest level supporting everything else, the foundation.  The key words for these two phases are: home, love, work, play.   The foundational phases are essential to the leadership education and in fact the DeMilles assert that these are the basis of who a person is and "what he or she can and will become." (Core and Love of Learning: A Recipe for Success by Oliver and Rachel DeMille)

Proceeding through the foundational phases from the core of the sphere outward we come to the Scholar Phase and Depth Phase.  These are the educational phases.   The student is mentored rather than taught and learns from classics rather than textbooks.  Note that classics are defined as anything that is worth studying over and over; anything that will teach you again and again.  What caught my attention was that in the Scholar Phase the student begs to study for hours per day. Can this be true?! I don't have a clue about the Depth Phase because I am still stuck on this Scholar Phase.  Actually, I may be stuck on the Core and Love of Learning Phases; I am not sure. 

Beyond the educational phases we have applicational phases and the mission.  These are so far in the future and there is so much right here in the now that I haven't gotten much about these at all yet.  But I do know that the goal of Thomas Jefferson Education is to bring a person to the point where he or she is one who leaves an impact on his or her world. 

I think this is what I want for my children.  Can I pull it off?  I am not sure if I am ready to make the jump off of the conveyor belt yet.  I'll keep you posted.  In the meantime I continue to study and pray for God's leading.

Anybody out there familiar with the Thomas Jefferson Education model?  I am studying some books and lectures regarding it.  Supposedly, this is not a method but principles that can be applied to just about any homeschool method. 

Here is what I have picked up so far...

1. I have been taught via a conveyor belt education.  This means that as a child reaches a specified age, certain pre-determined abilities are to be mastered.  As a child grows more components are added to the child's repetoire.

2. This type of education is great if you are one of the masses and you just want to get a job and keep that job.  It has served the US well in educating many, many people so that they can be a part of the national workforce.

3.Actually, my education went farther than enabling me to obtain a job. I continued to the "professional" stage of the conveyor belt when I attended college. Once I earned my degree from a university I now had the skills to know what to think in a certain realm of the professional world. (All this according to TJEd)

4.Leaders (statesmen as they are called in TJEd) are not educated that way.  They are led along by mentors who help them educate themselves. They may simply obtain a job and keep it or they may become professionals or they may change the world.  The difference is that they can do any of the above and will certainly have an impact on a certain segment of society if not the whole world.

I am still getting my mind around the practical side of this model, the daily teaching that is required.  Wait, I used the wrong word; according to TJEd I don't teach, I educate myself and mentor my children. Anybody have thoughts on any of this?

I lead a girls' Bible study and lately we are studying the fruit of the Spirit.  My study on kindness brought me to a little passage I had never noticed before.  Would you like to read what I found?  Read on!

2 Kings 4:8-10 - This passage tells the story of how the woman in Shunam fed Elisha and she and her husband made a room for him on top of their house. 

She persuaded Elisha to eat with them.  How interesting that she would be out and about just at the time when Elisha came through.  She must have been very interested in the word from the Lord that Elisha surely brought.  Anyway, that was a side note.  The real thing to look at in this passage is that she cared about others, particularly Elisha. 

She noticed things about others; she realized Elisha obviously needed food and she perceived that he was a holy man (vs9). 

She thought about ways to meet Elisha's needs.

On top of it all, she invited her husband to join in the blessing of being kind.  She requested with a "please let us" rather than manipulating her husband.  I am sure she could have just hired someone to do the job all by herself --she seems quite capable.  Instead, she invited.  I like that word.  Invited.  Oops, another rabbit trail.

How about that!  Care -- Notice -- Think.  That's kindness. (By the way, kindness becomes goodness when you act on what you have thought about. I figured you might wonder of what benefit kindness could be if it only involves internal operations.)

I missed writing last weekend because I attended a quilting retreat.  Amazingly enough a full day of quilting laid me out flat on the couch until I could drag myself to bed each night!  It was a fabulous weekend though with DH taking care of the household while I was gone.  I got almost all the blocks done for a quilt for Carina. 

Otherwise, school goes on.  We are now up to the ancient Greek culture.  It has been interesting to fill in the details for names I have heard in passing before.  Also, I find it very interesting to be able to parallel the events with what was happening in Israel at the time.  We took a little detour from History of the World to do a little bit of Famous Men of Greece (Greenleaf Press).  I am so glad we did.  Our discussions about the character of the people in each chapter have been beneficial, I think.  Anyway, all three kids cheerfully gather when it is "history-time."

Science looks to be fun the coming weeks as we are beginning heat and then electricity.  We are going to play with one of those snap circuit kits and do all kinds of fun experiments.  Yesss!

Well, the baby has left the room.  That means I must also.  Bye til next time.

Today is a good day to remember what I am thankful for.  Of course the list could be endless but here are a few:

• We live in an amazing place.  Even though the temps are below zero right now, at least they aren't -70 as Tok, Alaska experienced today.  The kids are having a blast making "forts" in the mound of snow that has been shoveled off of our deck.  Abbie was petting wild birds yesterday that came to feed from our feeder.  I am not kidding.  She fed a grosbeak from her hand and while he ate she petted him!  How amazing is that!
• School could be a complaining point but it has also been a blessing.  We have been studying ancient history and the other night Daddy read from Matthew where Jesus was talking about Sidon and Tyre.  The kids now have a connection with the story because they know that those are Phoenician cities. 
• Middle daughter's room had to be torn up a little bit because Daddy had to get through her wall to the chimney pipe to fix it.  (The snow on the roof bent the whole thing over as it slid off!)  This was a bummer but now we are completely re-doing her room.  It now has fresh paint on walls and ceiling with great big daisies all around the walls.  Next will be new shelves in the closet and carpet on the floor.  Nothing like a room that is clean and fresh from ceiling to floor.
• Son is learning to read better all the time.  He still insists he cannot read but then he does it.  In fact, he read a toddler book to youngest daughter yesterday.  Praise God on this one.
• Youngest daughter is completely potty trained. Yahoo.  Amen.  Praise God. No more daipers for this household.  We are thankful all the way to the garbage dump where we pay for disposal by the pound!!!

Ok, that is enough for now.  If I didn't have to get myself into bed on time tonight I could go on and on.  That in itself is a subject for thankfulness. 

Thankful by His grace,

Michele

Well, we made it.  The Christmas break is over, we are back in school and guess what...the kids DO still have brains in their heads!    My son did not forget all his math facts and my daughters are still able to write a decent paragraph.  We all remember the ancient civilizations we have been studying.  I am glad that I gave them (and myself) a break, too.

Now, I made a discovery that may not be all that popular among other homeschoolers so brace yourself...

I discovered that playing video games can be a family event just as much as a board game.  That's it.  I know many people will take exception to that statement.  Many people feel that video games are worthless "junk food" for the brain.  Truth be told, I don't like video games for just that reason.  They ARE junk food for the brain.

However, I watched as my kids who usually have fairly strict time limits on the video game scene played their Christmas presents during the break.  Not only the kids, but daddy also got in on the action.  They stayed together in the same room.  They worked together to figure out what to do next in order to advance the game.  They took turns trying to get the game past whatever the current challenge was. 

Meanwhile, I moped in the other room putting together my puzzle all by myself, thinking about all those other families having a wonderful time together around their puzzles or gameboards.  Finally it dawned on me.  My family was having a great time together.  Then I got to thinking about how most board games are not much better on the chart of good food for the brain than these puzzling, challenging games on our TV.

So, there you have it.  My confession.  Let the condemnations roll in...I will not be made to feel guilty.  My kids relaxed and had fun together which is just how Christmas break should be.

I am struggling...I want to do some more catching up in school so badly.  I don't want the children to lose what they have been learning the last couple weeks before Christmas.  My days are all weird without having to be directing three children to do this subject or that. 

But, I am following some (hopefully) sage advice by letting the family have a whole week off of school for the holidays.  In fact, we probably won't get back to schoolwork until the local public school does simply because we already have plans for the day after New Year's to get the youth of our church together for an activity.

In the meantime...Lord, please don't let them forget...please let them get back into the groove of school without much attitude adjustment being required...please, let me at least get some projects done while I have "extra time" (ha, ha)...please, PLEASE!

Home again.  Two simple but very, very sweet words to our family.  We arrived Saturday just in time for snow, wind, cold temperatures...who cares!!!  We are glad to be home.

Thoughts about the trip now that it is over:

  We needed one more suitcase.  We had seven.  Since we had to pack for weather of every season there were a lot of clothes for each of us.  We certainly didn't want to haul six suitcases at each stop especially when it was only for a night or two.  So, I packed several days worth of clothing in one suitcase for the whole family.  The rest of our clothes were left in a bag for each individual.  We also had to have a special bag for Sunday clothes.  That meant that baby and mommy had to share a bag for our extra clothes. Oh well, we are close anyway! 

  Hotel rates make no sense.  We stayed in one particular chain of hotels for nearly any night we needed a hotel.  The one in Gillette, Wyoming charged more than the one in Chicago, Illinois!

  Schooling on the road is not so bad as long as you are in the car and don't want to do science experiments.  The problem comes when you are not in the car -- there are so many distractions.

  When you are traveling on I-90 west from Rapid City, SD there is a point where you see a sign warning that the road will be doing the "s-curve" thing.  Underneath where it usually suggests something like 35mph or even 50mph the sign actually says 70mph!  Yes, we trusted it.  We went 70mph on a curve that is truly s-shaped.  It almost felt like we were on a racetrack because the road was banked so high. 

  If you are ever in Wheat, Montana there is a fabulous place to get coffee, cinnamon rolls, and several kinds of wheat flour.  It is called Montana Wheat Bakery.  We left the place with coffee, rolls and a 50 lb bag of whole wheat flour. 

I don't suppose that is all the wisdom I can come up with but it is all I can think of during the time I have to write tonight.  So, I will close for now to go enjoy my    

Home Sweet Home.

A thought from my devos today:

We hear the phrase "peace on earth" quite often in December.  Somehow it seems like it is usually connected with world peace in my mind.  Is it like that for you?  I didn't even realize that until today.

Looking around at this time of year you can find the sentiment coming from widely divergent sources.  They all seem to propose that world peace is a desirable goal to all mankind.  How amazing it would be!  However, while I must argue that not all mankind really desires world peace, certainly every person desires peace.  If only they understood that world peace is not going to fulfill that desire.

I agree with Charles Stanley when he said, "World peace...is no substitute for God's presence."  When Christ came he did bring peace on earth, more specifically he brought peace on hearts of men who believed. 

Praise him for doing so.

Thank you, Lord, for the peace on my heart.

I love to knit.  I love to knit because I can do it while I sit with my family in the living room or while DH drives the car.  I can knit in the dining hall at camp or in church before a service starts.  I can knit while I sit in staff meetings.  I can even knit  a few stitches while I wait for the computer to boot up!

I love knitting because the needles, when they are metal, are smooth and make a gentle clicking sound.  While bamboo needles are warm, they feel like they are scraping against each other as I complete each stitch.  Yarn with its various textures and thicknesses can be incredibly comforting as it slides between my fingers.  Then there is the feeling of the yarn as it pulls through the old loop to make a new loop, or stitch. 

I love knitting because it allows me to put my creative side to good use by making usable items for my family.  The age old dilemma of missing mittens, gloves, hats, socks or holes in said garments keeps me forever with a list of items we need.  Oooo...and making felted tote bags is a whole world of knitting I have just peeped at.

I love knitting because not only are the items I make usable they are fun gifts to give.  I imagine someone putting on a pair of socks I made and enjoying the pleasure of warm, soft wool.   Yum!

I just had a terrifically horrible thought...this is sounding a little like an ode to knitting.  I think I had better quit now.

We drove into Vermont yesterday.  DH's parents and sister live here. We ran to town to buy Seth some new Sunday shoes today.  We think one of his shoes got thrown away while we were in Oregon.  Don't ask.  Anyway, we found a new pair and bought some groceries as well. 

On the way back to the house Seth asked why grandma doesn't drive faster.  Grandma explained that she would not want the police to give her a ticket.  Seth said he thought that all cars should be able to go faster.  A few seconds of silence filled the car.  Seth said that cars could be just like roller coasters if they would only go faster!

Whew!  I thought we might have to keep him from driving until he is thirty.