And Away She Goes

Marguerite Eloise graduated yesterday. The ceremony was lovely, and we were all so proud of our kids. Mea was a Senior Scholar which means she graduated with highest honors. She plans on studying neuroscience at the University of Michigan. Watching her congratulate all of her friends and carry out all the rituals and traditions was encouraging because I know she will carry forward the energy into this next more demanding phase of life. 

Congratulations, Mea! I always knew you could do it and I knew you could do it well.

I'm Sorry, Mom.

Two weeks ago my youngest son had to be hauled out of mass during the Eucharist by his Protestant sister.  As she made her way to the door, he shouted, " I'm sorry, Mom!" over and over. Most of us repent when we're about to face the music, and most of that doesn't stick.

Today, my son, without prompting, packed a bag of goodies to keep him happy and busy during Mass. When he forgot it, he was distraught, but decided he could try with just a squishy worm toy. He had a few hiccups, but mostly he did all right. I explained and reminded. He listened and made corrections.

I didn't expect him to have such a big change of heart and a willingness to work at doing it differently. What a great example he's setting for me.

Surprise Party

I love surprises. Life is going along dull as dish water and wham, surprise! At least I love the good ones, like Jimmy. I'm hoping to pull off a surprise party for our Crowhook kids. I've asked them to come up with at least 35 examples of works inspired by The Odyssey. I'm willing to accept everything from the Odyssey episode of Arthur to James Joyce' Ulysses. If they pull this heavy feat off, I'm going to whisk them off to my house for pizza and the 1954 Italian classic, Ulysses. I'm so excited. I helped my kids with finding examples, so the party is guaranteed. Thank God for Little Caesars and great kids.

In Bed.

Adding the phrase "in bed" to the fortune in a fortune cookie is one of my husband's favorite games.  I like to work in bed.  I like nice squishy surfaces, and our king mattress offers lots of room to spread out.  It also insures nightly cleanup as sleeping under books and papers is only appealing in college.  I have a desk that I love and work at occasionally, but a big project or a new project will almost always find me in bed.

Thanks to the snow day, my bed was covered in books, papers, pens, highlighters, my writer's desk, my iPad, and some Smurfs.  I was working out the literature class I hope to teach next year.  Selecting appropriate and interesting works turned out to be way more challenging than expected.  I thought I'd split the day with "A Taste of Redwall."  Thankfully we have another snow day tomorrow, because the following short list took me all day.

Crowhook Literature List for the Middle Ages

(I know the dates aren't accurate.)

525 Boethius The Consolation of Philosophy

529 St. Benedict The Rule of St. Benedict

660 Caedmon Caedmon's Hymn

731 Venerable Bede An Ecclesiastical History of the English People

975 unknown Beowulf

1140 unknown Song of Roland

1150 St. Hildegaard Physica

1175 Ibn Jubayr The Travels of Ibn Jubayr

1274 St. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica

1317 Dante The Divine Comedy

1320 Marco Polo The Travels of Marco Polo

1370 William Langland Piers Plowman

1385 unknown Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

1405 Christine de Pizan The Book of the City of Ladies

The Book of Deeds of Arms and Chivalry

1500 Machiavelli The Prince

1516 Thomas More Utopia

1563 Montaigne Essays

1588 St. Teresa of Avila The Interior Castle

1605 Miguel de Cervantes Don Quixote

Good things come to those who think

A Glorious Synthesis

God and art has long been one of my favorite intersections.  A few years ago I discovered Sister Wendy's videos and I am slowly becoming a Sister Wendy omnivore.  If you are a person of any kind of faith, you will find her uplifting. Her discussions of great art are very accessible which may be the best thing about her work.  Nowhere is this more obvious than in her book of prayers for children.  Each prayer grows out of a work of art.  The works chosen are the kind that reward prolonged study, and the prayers have the profundity of all things simple.  Get this book for the children you know.  It will be a blessing. 

A Tale of Five Iliads

Ok, it's six if you count The Children's Homer.  How does a woman end up with five copies of the Iliad?  It helps to be scatter-brained.  It all began when my mother-in-law downsized and gave us her set of The Great Books--the set I had envied since day one.  They are a reverend object not to be dragged around and read, but more to be admired from a distance.  Then my mother downsized her classroom and gave me a cheap, secondhand copy of The Iliad that sucked into our family book void, never to be seen until it was too late.  I wanted a copy I could write in, so I went to B&N and bought a copy of the Iliad, and--I thought-- a copy of The Odyssey.  When I got home I had two different translations of The Iliad.  One was much cheaper than the other, so I started that, intending to return the other one.  Came the day when I was in pressing need of reading material, so I grabbed the other version since it was close to hand.  Behold, sometimes, you get what you pay for and the Fagles translation is much better than the one I had started reading.  My legs were numb when I decided I could live with owning two, no three, no four copies of The Iliad.  You know how it is when you're a parent.  I wanted my kids to enjoy all the wealth I had just discovered so I bought them

The Children's Homer.  Still one short?  You are clever to keep up.  After watching it for months and encouraging others to buy it, I went into Love Inc, and they practically gave me a second set of The Great Books in a better binding and just loved enough that we don't feel bad about loving it some more.

Buying books is an adventure.  The great thing about the ancients is that they cost their publishers nothing, so you can get them in all kinds of modes, traditional bound, e-book, document file.  You can pay nothing, or next to nothing at thrift stores, or you can buy them in hand bound leather editions.  All of Shakespeare can be bought for the nook for about 6 bucks.  If you're comfortable with reading off your computer it's all there for free if you look.
So let my surplus inventory be a warning and a comfort.  If you end up with three copies of the Iliad, you're still two short of me.

PS. I have found Robert Fagles translations of The Odyssey and The Aeneid to be worth the extra dollars too.

Where I Come From

I have to admit as a homeschool mom I'm always hoping for a snow day so my older kids can stay home.  I miss them even though I know I've done the right thing sending them to school.  Tricky thing about snow days in Michigan, is living in Michigan.  We see a lot of snow.  It's always cold (try swimming in the lake in July).  We are tough and used to this, so school never seems to close.  Except for the last two days.  Wow, that's weather to make Alaskans shrug their shoulders enigmatically.  I don't care.  It meant two more days of having my big girls home.

Unlike wimpy Indiana where driving in such weather is illegal, Kurt went to work, and it really felt like the old days.  We slept in, but the big girls jumped in upping my homeschooling manpower so that we could finish the essential work in a couple hours.  It was fun, and I mean that non-homeschoolers.  It was really fun.  No such delight expected tomorrow.  We're back to the usual, well, as usual at it gets in a world where throwing boiling water out your back door is a science experiment.  If I didn't have such wonderful friends I'd be moving to Florida--then again, they didn't get a single day off.  

Hanging Up My Straight Jacket

There are things I've committed to doing in order to break free from the internal prison of fundamentalism.  

1.  I reserve my primary energy for my kids.

2.  I write both for my novel and for my personal blog.

3.  I take my friends wherever I find them.  I don't check ID, political affiliation, or theological preferences anymore.

4.  I make time and means for growing in my relationships, most importantly with my husband, but also on Shepherd's fish and in my local 3D life.

5.  I work on projects to make the world better, currently raising funds for St. Martin DePorres Orphanage in Tanzania.

6.  I read the Great Books for my own enrichment and to teach at the Homeschool Cooperative.

7.  Last but most important, I grow in my Catholic faith.

Over and Above My Wishlist

Earlier in the season, I posted a list of books I'd like and wished for the time to read them.  The books came and I'm making the time.  I started with Myths from Mesopotamia by Stephanie Dalley.  She includes so many details and end notes that my interest was stirred beyond the story of Adapa, and I found myself thinking of ancient stories in new ways.  Practical matters like missing bits and lost cultural assumptions.  I wanted the kids at our homeschool cooperative to have the same experience, but I knew it'd be difficult to acquire sufficient copies of the text.  "Ye have not because ye ask not" is a piece of ancient literature I was taught well.  On a whim I looked up Ms. Dalley and sent her an email asking if I might copy the pages for the kids.  To my great delight she replied the seven pages I needed were an allowed amount to copy.  It felt so good to send out those pages to my students.  It's going to be such a great class.  

Ms. Dalley also suggested we watch her documentary on finding the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.  You can see it HERE on YouTube.  It is exactly the kind of thing we want the kids to be watching.  The careful detective work, the critical contributions and leadership of a woman, and the terrible losses we are suffering because we'd rather fight instead of fight for peace, these are all values every kids should be exposed to.  Sometimes it's not just a book, sometime's it a new world or a new hero.  Sometimes it's all of the above.

Musical Toothbrush

There is always that one cool toy you buy your kids, but wish Santa had bought one for you.  This toothbrush is my secret wish this year.   Sure two minutes seems like forever, but you don't notice as much when the music is going straight into your brain.  The things they have for kids these days.

See it here. 

Early Christmas Present

I am proud to announce my oldest daughter has been accepted by The University of Michigan, her first choice.  We are all so proud of her and her accomplishment.  She'd like to study neuroscience even though she is an amazing writer.  Whatever she does, she does well.

Christmas Wish List

1.  Myths from Mesopotamia translated by Stephanie Dalley

2.  Legends of the Gods: The Egyptian Texts, Edited with Translations

3.  The Tale of Sinuhe translated by R.B. Parkinson

4.  Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt
5.  The Book of Deeds of Arms and of Chivalry: by Christine de Pizan
6.  The time to read them all.

I Kissed Veritas Press

And I liked it, though I think they'd prefer I kiss dating goodbye. Veritas Press makes me so mad I border on apoplectic, and then they meet my needs so perfectly I can't help but be grateful.  It's a complicated relationship and has inspired many posts that were never posted--posts like "A Boy's Best Slave Is His Mother."  It started with the beautiful timeline cards they offer with their elementary level history program, but then there was day after day of racist and chauvinist content.  I was so glad to find Susan Wise Bauer and I promised myself I'd never look back.  Then there was the Omnibus.  Mea had finished The Story of the World Series, and I wanted her to take on something stronger but still classical.  Veritas had a beautiful book, the Omnibus with great readings and artwork, so I bought it.  It was a fine reading list and a beautiful book, but the racism and chauvinism pushed me to bench it on the bookshelf while we turned to The Great Courses for help interpreting the readings in a more balanced way.

I thought I was done with Veritas Press.  The very offensive catalogs had quit coming and I thought we were done.  Then I tried to teach Jimmy to read.  Our tried and true phonics program was a complete non-starter.  I had to find something else, and it had to have high interest and short work 
times.  I looked through many curriculums, and chose Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons.  I was afraid that might be too gimmicky and short on content, so I went back through everything, and realized I needed to look at Veritas Press again.  We spent a week this summer in Washington, DC going through many museums, and we had all enjoyed it.  The Phonics Museum recreates and uses the museum-going experience to ramp up the fun factor in learning how to read.  Instead of cartoony pictures of apples, master artworks by greats like Van Gogh and Degas are used for the ABC cards.  There's a great story about a knight and a little boy (I know) exploring a museum and finding the sounds, and a cardboard museum in which to hang the paintings and paper dolls to wander the museum.  It is perfect for Jimmy, and from the moment the box arrived in the mail, he has been excited about playing with it.  There are still moments when I step back and say, "Really?"  For example, the icon on the worksheets for man is a turn-of-the-last-century boxer--really, this is the sum of a man?  There are so many wonderful things about men that that icon leaves out, and there are so few things about boxers worth keeping in.

Nevertheless, long and the short of it.  I like the Phonics Museum, and more importantly, so does Jimmy.

Mummy

This is our third trip through the ancients.  Mummifying a chicken has been on the activity list every time.  My older girls are more squeamish, and they vetoed it both times.  My younger three are more adventuresome, so we are mummifying a chicken.  I am thrilled because anything that brings history to life so vividly is my idea of good teaching.  This also is major bragging right as we'll be working on The Book of the Dead.  Learning the curse for the spirit that swallowed an ass is worth the price of admission right there.  Homeschooling is the best.

Day and Night

Yesterday, I woke up late and had to start at a run.  It never stopped until I went back to bed.  Today will be just the same.  

This is the best homeschool year yet.  Three seems like a very balanced number of students.  We get so much done together that I won't be changing anything on our lesson plans.  The trouble is I don't even get lunch.  In previous years, there has been a half an hour or so when I supervised but didn't instruct.  This year I'm working with someone from 9:30-3:00.  To get a workout and the elevated endorphins that go with it, I treadmill over lunch. 

We have two major "social" activities each week.  Religious Education at St. Mary's is one of my favorites because it is so easy and the content elevates our hearts.  The LMHSC Muskegon Homeschooling Co-op is also terrific.  My kids enjoy the classes and have a chance to practice useful skills like raising their hand, walking in lines, and changing rooms.  I have the pleasure of teaching subjects I love. For us it is a win-win.  This year co-op has expanded into the afternoon with a 

stronger emphasis on academics, and all the classes co-ordinate around ancient history.  We have Aristotle Leads the Way about ancient scientists.  We have Ancient History-based Writing Lessons, and I am team teaching History through Art and Literature, taking the literature part.

I am up to my armpits in work and people that I love, but I'm going to have to hope I get through lesson prep, reading a Shakespeare play and the Lamb version every week.  I'm also going to be reading and rereading important works of the ancients.  I have to prepare good content after the reading, and there is the physical toll of being present everywhere I'm needed, never mind the housework.  I don't know if I can do all this, but I can try.  It's only everything I ever wanted to do. 

It's my cylinder seal. 

Ready or Not

Tomorrow I start teaching two classes for the LMHSC Muskegon Co-op--Shakespeare and Ancient Literature.  I'm excited and terrified.  I have a degree in English Education and a passion for both subjects, but things atrophy over time and I suspect that without three advanced degrees I would still feel uncomfortable.  The thing I keep reminding myself of is that this class doesn't have to be the last class before they earn a doctorate in the subject.  This class only has to be an enthusiastic introduction of some of my very old friends to some of my new ones.  Wish us luck!

The Other Christmas

If you homeschool, preparing for school is a lot like getting ready for Christmas.  Secrets abound, rooms are off limits, lengthy discussions occur about what's festive and what's crazy.  I love it every year.  This year is the best year.

Studying the ancients takes one on a whirlwind tour through cultures and places.  Last year all we needed was a ship for the Age of Exploration, but for the ancients, we needed a Tardis.  Kurt and I had such a good time putting this together for the kids.  It's a huge hit with my most reluctant student asking me to start school half an hour early.

They had 3D Tardis, but it wasn't bigger on the inside. :)

The Dalek is there for motivation.  Motivation he happily supplies

These are the Tardis controls.  We collected them from thrift stores, antique stores, and whatever wasn't currently in use around the house.  Most items are non-functioning.  The drum set works.  Simon works.  We bought a weather station because we are studying weather first trimester.  We attached a holder for the iPad too.

My friend Janet Tyson helped create our Tardis interior.  I told her I wanted it to look like a theremin sounds.  She certainly succeeded.  We attached inflatable planets to the ceiling, but we can't keep the sun inflated.

This is the back of the Tardis controls.  It is also an arts and crafts depot.  My kids are growing up and can be trusted with paint and markers.  Hallelujah!

The time out chair and the Dalek's original home, but I thought it might be overkill.

The bulletin boards/portholes are supposed to have Mesopotamian items on them, but I can't find the timeline I was going to cut them from.  I guess the Tardis portholes are on the fritz until Egypt.

Video equipment for The Great Courses, the kid's books, binders and supplies, white board and storage,  drawers for copies and completed work in need of grading.

We bought this table when our oldest seemed too short for it.  We were right to buy it.  We'd never have seen it again and it cost us next-to-nothing.  We're doing Flannelgraph this year.  The Bible is ancient literature too.

All those book over all those years, they add up.  The planets continue across the ceiling.  My workstation is there in the corner.

Mea made this for the kids to get them to do their work within the time allotted. Everyone who does so gets a sticker to get them closer to the top.  With our fancy Tardis interior we are running out of wall space.

This is the most fun I've had in years.  The Tardis theme makes everything play and exploration.  What a wonderful gift from this other Christmas.

Not My Grandmother's Flannelgraph

Though it is her couch (long story involving six children, general destructiveness and fond memories).  Flannelgraph played an incalculable roll in my spiritual development.  The first time I heard the story of Christ's passion he was hanging from the cross on a deluxe flannel overlay background.  I made my first profession of faith the same day.  Given the choice of with Flannelgraph or without, even hardened teenagers opted for the charming cut out people in their inexplicable worlds and costumes.  Sunday School was the most frequent place for Flannelgraph use. My grandmother was an excellent teacher investing hours of time in her weekly opportunity to change hearts and minds.  She always used the church issued Flannelgraph that was actually flocked paper and sometimes she glued it down because she disliked the interruption to the story telling.

My mother had put off going through Grandmother's Sunday School materials because the items awakened such strong memories.  I came down to go through it with her.  It was inspiring.

My older girls had gone down with me, and on our way home we talked about our family's foray into Flannelgraph.  I bought a complete set of Betty Luken's Bible stories.  That is the crem de la crem of Flannelgraph.  If a woman was heading to the mission field, her friends would go in together to get a set as a parting gift.  The thing is die cut flocked paper is much easier to prep then cutting out hundreds of characters from felt.  The project ate three pairs of scissors before I gave up and let my dramatic personality make up for the lack of figures.

Grandmother's example has me giving it another try, this time with Mea's unexpected help.  We are having a great time trimming and conquering the sheets one herd of camels and many many Jesus' at a time.  I think Grandmother is very proud.

A Mother's Bucket List

A play friend was trying to convince me that being a girl was the worst.  He was getting very frustrated because I was too young to be unhappy about my gender.  Having exhausted all his arguments, he pulled out the big one, the dark secret of womanhood that sealed the horror of my fate. Making sure no grown ups were listening, he leaned in dramatically, "Girls grow up and have the babies."  I double-checked, and as soon as I was certain of what he was saying, I ran off in a rapture to ask Mother if it was true.  Blushing, rubbing her large belly with a loving hand, she confirmed it was true.  I was certain then, and I am certain now, women have the best deal.

I can see the end of my motherhood, and I want to finish strong.  Those childish daydreams of loving my babies deserve fulfillment, and I want my kids to have the deepest sense of being loved that I can provide.  With a project this important it helps to make a list.

1.  Keep the Creator/Redeemer first.  It's tempting to let him slide and the kids creep in, but I'll actually be the best mother with his balance and strength than I will without him.

2.  Love and take care of their dad, whether he likes it or not.  There's only one man in the world who can take full responsibility for my six, and they need him.

3.  Be certain that each one understands that they are so very special and unique.  Don't ever let a root of bitterness get planted between them.  Keep everyone safe and happy by loving each one equally, and teaching them to love one another dearly.

4.  Make cookies.  A little homemade love goes a long way.

5.  Have something else to do with yourself when it's time to release them into adulthood.

6.  Don't lighten up until the last one crosses the finish line.

7.  Be grateful as things get easier.  Don't cry about the right and inevitable events of parenting.

Doctor Who Decor

Decorating for school is so much fun.  I've done all kinds of things.  Last year it was a pirate ship for the age of exploration.  Stepping into the period every day was very helpful in feeling a part of things.  This year I want them to soak in the ancients.  We're looking at the period through history, art and literature.  Last time we studied the ancients I put up a bulletin board about Egypt, and that was it.  The trouble with the ancients is how distinct each group is from the others.  I could recreate a ziggurat, but it'd be obsolete as soon as we moved on to Egypt.  That many costume changes for one classroom seems exhausting.  We went to see The Wolverine today, anyone who knows Kurt knows that was a must, and they were selling Dalek cutouts.  It hit me.  We are time travelers this year.  The classroom is our Tardis.  They do sell Tardis cut outs.  If I really get crazy I might try to work out some kind of teal and orange scheme.  Maybe we could get a bunch of thrift store junk to make our own control panel.  I'll have to do some research, but I'm pretty sure the Doctor will be our companion.