Saint Augustine and Total Truth

Dad loaned me his copy of Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey, back at Thanksgiving, and it has been most interesting to study the impact of culture on Christianity. While we march on, seemingly liberating ourselves, and 'catching up' with others who may believe in ideas far more progressive, we neglect to see how we are moving further and further away from truth. Truth we all, myself included, may not wish to embrace, but truth just the same.

In conjunction with Jack's reading, I have picked up City of God a translation of St. Augustine's great Christian classic. It is the abridged version, from Doubleday, Image Book. Even with abridgment, there's plenty there. His life seems fascinating.

This spurred me on to pick up and read ahead for Jack, Peril and Peace: Vol. I chronicles of the Ancient Church by Mindy and Brandon Withrow.   This is an easy age appropriate read of his early life, leaving no detail too vague, but adding a little more personality to the important characters in his life.

Trial and Triumph by Richard Hannula gives another perspective appropriate for the younger reader.

Last but not least, I found myself reading the similar story found in 'Peril' in Augustine's own account of Confessions. While I have not read enough to make comment worth sharing, I have taken note that he was just like any human. His life was lived within the confines of culture of a people: a poly-theistic culture, with social norms and influences; flawed and loving parents, who shared what they thought to be best; friends who walked the same path right along side; experience of loss to which all mankind can relate.

Oh Augustine, I look forward to reading and hearing more about your life and thoughts later. For today, this mama must meet the challenges of her culture, marriage, family, and responsibilities.

Life Meds #47 August 2015

Birthdays in August- we celebrated both boys, Jack 12, and Henry 9. Nana made a Mandarin orange cake for candles. All the adults had 2 slices. 

We started academics at home this week. Ancient History Writing IEW is amazing. Any edition is great. We have already tackled ziggurats in style.

Dory shared her garden of volunteer tomatoes and peppers. I canned and have shared. But still have plenty if Jalepenos. Yum.

So hard to believe we're in the last year before teens. And Henry. This boy.

Football. Oh my. 9U. Love this boy.

Every Saturday till November.

Counting my blessings. So thankful for life, opportunity. 

Life Meds. Don't stop counting. One Thousand Gifts.

A New Approach to History for Middle Grades

I'm still in the research mode of these particular books. However, the reviews I've personally received are exceptional. I saw one that dealt with the Middle East, specifically 'The Thousand Years War' and I'm convinced if the combination of interesting prose described by my friend, is combined with this particular region and its history, this book in particular will be a winner.
The Series of Uncle Eric Books looks ideal for thought provoking material. I'm going to research further, and consider these as a good supplement for the future, if not a spine text.

Listening to this from Andrew Pudwea again. You can find 'Nuturing Competent Communicators' at IEW.com Resources

Books, Writing & Boys July 2014

Our world has been one of swimming, Wordly Wise, xtramath.org and Mario. The Mom (me) has had opportunity for refreshment from Ann Voskamp's Bible study, 1000 gifts. But now we will soon embark on our academic activities in earnest. Jack will be at home, Classical Conversations and a class for IEW. I'm doing my homework now, getting ready to embrace Saxon Math, and determining which spirals I'll be using for a 'boys who'd rather build forts' -writing class, and an older group who may have some writing experience. The odds are that over half of these kids will be dyslexic or have some type of reading/writing issues. This is the reason I love IEW. It's custom for really hammering home tools that make writing work for those who need explicit instruction. I'm looking into the Geography spiral that matches up with Beautiful Feet Books' collection for literature, Paddle to the Sea, and other books by Holling C. Holling.
Another possibility is working on a Book Detectives class. One book at a time. Just like Heidi at Mt. Hope Chronicles. I have learned that I will never 'be' Heidi, but her ideas and understanding of Classical Education as well as 'all things boy' are top-notch. Exceptionally excellent. This book looks like a great place to start. I know I can re-invent the wheel, but I may just have to copy you Heidi. Just this once.
If you've struggled with an understanding of why Classical Conversations has moved to Circe Institutes materials for Challenge, read with Heidi at her blog. She understands this jump, and has references that will make it clear. Some free audios about writing, boys, and learning can be found at Circe Institute and IEW websites.
OK, off to review Structure and Style for IEW.
Blessed, blessed with gifts beyond measure, even in the chaos that is my world.

What's different about classical? Day#2

31 Days of Channeling the Passion of Classical Education Before and After School

Memorization.
Exercising the brain. That's what it's all about around here. While we eat our cereal we listen to Cycle 1 Classical Conversations CD, memory work. There are 24 weeks for the cycle, but we just listen straight through. We then practice our selected* choices, singing the 10 Commandments using the memory song from the CD. During Bible study we have been in the book of Judges, and last week we studied Samson. We noted that the 10 commandments indicated marriage was sacred and important to remain faithful to one's spouse ('do not commit adultery'). Samson seemed to struggle with this. Alot. But helping them 'hammer the peg'  in one more time, reminding them of the 10 Commandments and it's significance to God's people is the plan. Exercising the connections, hammering the peg.
Pegs. There's alot of talk about 'pegs' and hammering them in one more time is common in Classical Education.  It is the concept of creating pegs in one's mind to organize the thoughts one brings into the mind. For instance, another time we mentioned the 10 Commandments was when we read a Psalm (46) that mentioned Jacob ('the God of Jacob'). We referred to our memory song of 'Jacob's 12 son's' and our 'Our Spiritual Heritage' memory work that show's Jacob's 12 son's as the family of promise who received the 10 Commandments. We can put about 4 thoughts on that same peg, if we mention that Abraham was promised 2 babies: Jacob & Christ who would bless all men.
Repetition. Intensity. Frequency. We have been using all of this material for, well since they were born. The repetition of a fact will ensure it is never forgotten. But the frequency will ensure the availability of it's use in the mind. The intensity is another factor in the retention of the detail/fact. Singing is one of the most valuable methods of remembering anything. Think - commercial jingle. Catchy tune, brief fact. It's there for life. Can you sing the McDonald's big mac song? What nursery rhyme can you remember? Nursery rhymes are a beautiful way to introduce children to the beauty of rhyme, song, and memory. Children love to memorize & sing the jingle or say the rhyme. What would you rather them immortalize in their minds? A useful noble fact, say, a history sentence about our first president, or a random comic character.... say Sponge Bob Square Pants? Harmless maybe, useful for later. Not really. Noble? There's nothing noble to me about Sponge Bob. But that's for another day, what's worth memorizing.... Content.
Back to intensity. Do you remember the nursery rhyme, 'ride a little pony, go to town, ride a little pony, don't fall down!' and perhaps pretending to 'fall off' the horse? There is that intense moment that is coming in the rhyme that the child anticipates. Perhaps you remember 'ring around the rosie' for the same reason. Everyone's going to crash at the end to the ground. Well the same idea can be applied to saying a memory fact about anything. One of my favorite memories is of Henry in the bathtub watching race-cars go down the slope of the tub while reciting 'some parts of the skeleton'. Over and over he said the rhyme completely unaware of the lack of connection between the cars and the content of the memory work. But the activity we'd chosen to do the skeleton, repeated frequently with an intense activity involved in the effort to memorize it.  The intensity can be just a movement pointing to the skeletal part.  Just like one can 'say' the lyrics to a song, he can say the memory work now with out the hand motions.  Now. If I never bring that memory work back up again, he may remember it in a highschool anatomy class, but if I bring it back to the surface in a methodical way, with a normal routine of memory work, he'll have a leg up with grammar that has already made him confident in the area of Biology & Anatomy. But most of all it has given him the experience of how to learn. His brain at this age is geared to --Memorize. -- Memorize. Memorize.
*I realized something. Fearless Inventory remember? I am not currently working on all of the memory work I might have when we homeschooled. I am limited to a very busy start of the year schedule. Jack plays football 3 nights a week. 1.5 hours a night. Again, a compromise in our family. But one I work with. November will come, seasons change. But being aware and having reasonable expectations is my plan.
 ___________
Content and Is it important to do memory work connected to their school work? I think I'll talk about these tomorrow. 31 Days with the Nester is freeing. Knowing I only have 31 Days makes it doable. Visit other Nesters at this link to see what other folks are concentrating on for 31 days of October.  
Come back and visit me tomorrow for-
31 Days of Channeling the Passion of Classical Education Before and After School

31 Days #1 Channeling the Classical Passion Before and After School

This post was the 1st  written in conjunction with The Nester's 31 days Link.
Classical education has become trendy. There. I said it. Everytime you turn around, someone is talking about Latin, putting their kids in CC groups, memory work, grammar. But as it is so well described in Douglas Wilson's book, wearing a uniform & having the right texts on your desk do not a classical education make.
I am a huge proponent of classical education. CC groups, Latin, memory work & even uniforms (they're just .. cute.) But I'm a bit hamstrung right now. We, that is, my husband and I have found ourselves needing the kind of structure that we can't provide solely at home. Likewise, we cannot afford the kind of school that might provide that. And furthermore, we're really not entirely sure that the kind of school (a private classical christian school) might be the best thing for one or both of our children.
But to get straight to the point, I am needing to channel my classical beliefs into the time I have with my kids, outside of the hours they participate in government schools. You may be thinking, if she has all the time to write a blog about it, why aren't the kids at home? Suffice it to say, my husband and I are not in mutual agreement that this is the best for our family. When the home's sanity is in jeopardy, one chooses the entire family's best interest and one's spouse's desire. So off they go.   
But to the point of my 31 days. How does one continue and provide classical content when children are away 8 hours of the day, with homework that may or maynot compliment my desires. 
 Start with the end in mind. Look at the end-game.
Today, my son asked ' will I go to the same school next year?' Like I told him when he was at home, one day, one year at a time. We will assess this, but starting with the end in mind, one must have a plan. Our mutual objectives can be met, if our compromises are not to alienate the other's desires for our children. If we are all honest, we know there are things we disagree on about our children. Some matter, some don't.
I had to decide, does/did it matter to me, whether they were exactly in programs associated with homeschool or classical groups, or if they were just classically educated?
It has been said by many great thinkers, something like ' I never let school get in the way of my education.' I have always felt this way.
What I grew up with was a Dad who conditioned me to know that for every 1 hour in the classroom, there were 3 to be dealt with outside the classroom. Perhaps not in 3rd grade. But the idea was that a lecture does not an education make. What goes on after class is equally as important as what goes on during.
Am I making my kids do 2 sets of curriculum, well, yes & no.
I'll deal with the 'no' first.
I dug deep into the curriculum, and still do everytime the subject/topic/literature selection/math skill/ changes.
Everything is on line. Everything. The curriculum is all there. Georgia is a state notorious for 'low national standards', testing against one'self to keep the bar low.' The good news is GA has adopted Common Core which is nation wide.  (If you are a sold-out home educator this is no consolation, just a fact to be argued, read on if you want, stop reading and find another 31 dayer whose husband is in full agreement with home-education. In all kindness, this 31 day is not meant to be argumentative or undermining. Just one woman's path. documented for 31 days.)
I grab the subjects right there, as the teacher has sent home the assignments(via e-mail) & weekly schedule and I'm armed with what I need to structure home study. He has homework anyway, so I structure it meeting the required work with a sharpened aim.
I break it down into grammar, and work with it. I add what I think needs adding, and go from there. It has been blessing (to me personally) that our curriculum worked well with what I'd planned to cover this year.. the ancient period. They covered a unit in Greece and discussed the influences on our American Government.
While he continued to bring home random library books, (not always my preferred choices) I read 'The Odyssey' with him at night. We continue to compliment the subjects at school with our Classical Conversations CD's for Cycle 1. Our Bible study has been covering the Judges, and likewise the 10 Commandments are a part of our memory work. A song about the Judges has likewise made it into our routine, and we (as a family)have daily read from the same 3 Psalms as well as listened to the entire CC CD daily.
So I threw in some of the 'yes' (2 curriculums) as I went. But you get the idea. Kids are going to be learning something while they are not reviewing their times tables. I need to know, no matter where they are, with whom how long, what is the grammar of my home. What will they find most important, the important grammar.
Fearless Inventory
I have found  it has been easier for me to 'light the fire' as opposed to 'filling the cup', with our current situation. Opposition in our home wasn't over the issue of home/away. It was more about actually getting it done. Peace was not a part of our home. My partner in this effort is now my husband. He's the one reading slowly and methodically with a patience that they will remember on a weekday morning, while I pack lunches, & bookbags. Because they are seeing his participation.
And our mutual agreement. Our united front. The kids know, this is what we'll be doing every weekday morning. If it's not CC, it's a classical music CD. But it's not just the quality of the grammar, or the repetition of the grammar-- it's the environment/ambience of the moment. The spirit in which it's delivered.  
The morning is packed with the 'grammar' of our lives, for some classical music may not be in your grammar. It's in mine. and that's something else I'm at peace with. It may seem 'the thing to do' trendy even, -- to make one's kids listen to classical music so they'll be classically educated. (the use of classical is coincidental) But that really is a part of our world. Allowing them to see that it wasn't just because it was 'required' by CC, and that we really enjoy it, and that the CD's we play were Daddy's before we married, when he didn't even own a TV..... ( I could do with a lesson in Essentials grammar. lol...)  The grammar of our lives and the musical knowledge of our home can be just as easily heard in the cajun, country, or jazz dare I say, even rock in our home? The sacred hymns are integral. Nightly sung.  On the doorposts.
Perhaps what I'll discover in the this 31 days, are the habits we actually do keep (Oh, Charlotte..) Perhaps I'll find out what really happens when this particular change comes about in a family. What we're really made of.

As October rolls around, for 31 days, I hope not only to bring out the fall garland, but maximize on the beauty of Channeling the Classical  Passion Before and After School.  To not just 'fill the cup' but genuinely 'light the fire,' in my heart and my family's with whatever resources are at my disposal.

Ancient History Reading for Kids & Monkey Bread

After the big change from home education to public, our reading material hasn't changed. We still have the same reading lists to accomplish, whether during the academic school year or throughout the summer.
At the top of our list are books like The Golden Fleece: and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles, by Padraic Colum.



For sometime we have also had and read Colum's, The Children's Homer: The adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy. Both of these volumes are illustrated by Willy Pogany and have proven their award winning qualities to our household listening audience. The stories are simple in their wording, but capture the essence and the feel of Homer, poetic and fresh in feel. We must chart the path of all the characters using a  map/banner from National Geographic that includes both Greek and Roman characters, and illustrates the families of the ancient legends of mythology. (Coincidentally, Beautiful Feet Books has a great post about introducing Ancient literature to kids *here*. They mention these among other books that are favorites of ours.) I must admit. Ancient is my favorite.

It's Birthday Month around here. Jack turns 9, and Henry turns 6. Somehow 1 day events turn into month-long events, but I'm trying to use all my newly delegated energy into joyful celebration opportunities. So today I'm making monkeybread & giving Jack (birthday # 1) a Greek god tatoo book, and a Greek & Roman coloring book. We've already done rock crystals this week, and colored side-walk chalk. And I think there has been a little bionical action figure accumulation going on. But I think the monkey bread is going to be the winner. BTW, I did not follow the recipe here, but I was inspired by the link above to make it... and yes it was from Pinterest. (smile)



God is Good at Water - Scritpure Meditation

While reading over at Walk with Him Wednesday at Holy Experience, I realized I wasn't memorizing scripture as often as I am trying to draw on it right now. (Here comes the excuse- new to homeschooling). However, it is crucial. The thought often crosses my mind when I'm not feeling physically, so great, that I'm thirsty, I need to drink more water. So with my effort to drink more water, I'm working on making it more meaning ful. I keep a icy glass of water on the counter throughout the day, and meditate even for a moment on the thought related to water from scripture for the day. The thought is random (some go like this -- 'day 1 woman at the well, never thirst again jn4 -- day 2 sea of galilee, calms the storm -- day 6 ocean here and no further, seemingly unmanagable). It's not planned- remember I'm a beginning homeschooler, and my planning time is already maxed out. But by the end of the week, I can see a scripture that needs to be put to memory. My memory, not the kids.

So here tis -

John 4:13 'Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water sprining up into ever lasting life."

My body is not the only thing that is often dehydrated. Often my soul is, its feeding on all the wrong things. While looking at the other links to this particular Wednesday in the Word, I stumbled upon this book title in a link.

REDEEMING THE TIME: Keller's Counterfeit Gods
This is a link to another bloggers book review. It happens to be about one of my favorite topics, modern idolatry, ie; the wrong things on which my soul is feeding. I have enough to read but may just have to check this one out. It pays to check out other's favorite blogs & links.

So this is what the method looks like, provoking me to memorize scripture so I'll have it in my memory bank. I have a stack of 3x5 cards, and as I fill my glass I think of what strikes me about water in the Bible. I write it down, as the day progresses, I might add a thought on paper, or I might not be able to think of the scripture right off, and don't have time, but I'll make the time somewhere. Drink the water as I go, and the meditation has taken place. No my knees are not crossed in the lotus position(I don't think I could do that anymore...), but my heart/mind is for a moment, and the connection is made, my heart is focused on God's ability & not my own.

One more connection. If you teach Bible class or school at home, you may wish to check out some material that has an entire series of lessons on 'God is Good at Water', as well as an entire sequential Bible study on 'Our Spiritual Heritage.' This is good stuff. Excellent & simple. This material can be used on all ages. I learned more while teaching this, synthesizing all of the material, it seemed from the years before. When I post schoolroom pictures, you'll see the 'purple' cards on the wall. Those are the time-line cards for 'Our Spiritual Heritage.'

Be sure to check out this post at Holy Experience today for tips on memorizing scripture. She has posted excellent resources that are available as well as many techniques. Be sure to enjoy the precious story about the generations of men memorizing scripture.

"Could there have been an intelligent Designer?"

Ben Stein's movie "Expelled-No Intelligence Allowed" .... 'things that aren't properly answered don't go away.' says Ben Stein in the afore mentioned movie. I live this problem...
The other day when trying to solve one of the Encyclopedia Brown mysteries, which is at the top of Jack's desired bedtime reading stack, one of the solutions depended on dinosaurs being present on the earth before man. And not just before, but before and died out/ended existence before man walked the earth. So even tho I have graduated(informally as it was) the amazing Lord, I Believe classes & workshops, I had not the answer organized and ready to explain to my son exactly what I thought about this. How do the numbers 12000 BC, 68 million years, etc.. line up with the time line I'm creating for understanding time & history? But more importantly, how do I explain the introduction to Jack's DK Book about the world, that says there was a big bang and then the world was? Ben Stein interviews numerous scientist of real/significant consequence who have been outed & ousted for merely questioning Darwinian Evolution and even mentioning Intelligent Design. This is a very interesting film, shining a light on the rediculous claims and lack of evidence that actually provide the foundation for many athiestic beliefs. I stand in the camp of Divine Designer, Supreme Creator, confessing my ignorance on many levels, respectfully appreciating those who are far more well-versed in subjects, even when I may fundamentally disagree with them, when all the dust settles. Lord help me to read & study more fully understand the greatness of Your Creation, to glorify You more.