I really enjoyed reading The Seasons on Henry's Farm; A Year of Food and Life on a Sustainable Farm by Terra Brockman. Henry is Terra's youngest brother who has taken over the job of running the family farm. Terra moved away from the homestead to go to college and spent a good fifteen years living in cities and having a career before finally returning home to help her brother on the farm. Because of the type of land, rolling hills rather than plains, the farm did not succumb to the move in the 1960's and 70's to become a single crop farm growing just corn or soybeans. The land didn't lend itself to that type of farming, so though it did go through hard times then, because Terra's parents never really got on board with the 'modern' way to farm, it was very easy to restablish the farm as a sustainable, organic one. In fact, much of their sustainable, organic practices are simply doing things the way their great grandparents did, on the farm.
Terra Brockman is a lovely writer. She begins and ends the year's journey through farm life in November with the harvesting of the garlic. She takes the reader through each season in great detail, explaining the science, the history, the traditions, the relationships and the practicalities of farming this way. It is a rich life full of beauty and also very hard work. Exhausting work. My back hurt just reading about all the endless hours spent in the fields sowing, weeding and harvesting.
This book reminded me a bit of Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle in that it embraces the organic, local food movement and in fact, its financial success relies on that. The farm is a CSA and regularly sells its produce at the Evanston Farmers' Market. Henry grows a wide variety of vegetables, starting very early in the season in his 'hoophouses' all the way through that final harvest in October. Henry's wife is Japanese and he tends to grow a lot of Asian vegetables as well as many better known to Americans. The farm is a family affair. Terra's parents still help out, Henry's wife and children help as well. Terra, of course, and then another sister, Teresa, has a nearby fruit and herb farm, which is also part of the whole enterprise. Terra's other siblings who have moved away from the area come to visit and help. The farm also has apprentices who regularly live there in mobile homes during their time on the farm, learning earth friendly practices from Henry.
The book is also the story of Terra's family in one year. Their ailing, 101 year old grandmother passes away. Their father is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and spends weeks in the hospital after surgery and then slowly, slowly recovers once he is back home on the farm. Terra and Teresa go on a business trip together to Poland to see if they can learn how to grown a berry called aronia and make it profitable. The only country that really appreciates this wonderful, healthy berry is Poland for some reason.
The author's descriptions of the seasons are wonderful and mixed with many literary references. Sometimes these felt a bit stretched to me. Occasionally the author tried a little too hard, for instance in the chapter on corn which kept making references to corn p*rn. Didn't quite work for me. And she sometimes gets a little too effusive about the glories of farming. Like Kingsolver, I got the impression that farming is practically a religion to Brockman. There were a couple of jabs at more mainline religions, here and there, but not nearly as heavy handed as Kingsolver's. And since I am not a farmer, some of the details in how they weed or harvest got a little too technical for me. I don't even know what burdock is but harvesting it requires a complicated, sychronized digging of ditches which again made my back ache just reading about it.
I enjoyed spending a year with Terra Brockman's family though. They are hardworking, decent, loving and warm. I'm glad there are folks out there who can have this kind of dedication to sustainable, organic farming and are leading the way. This book inspired me to go join a CSA, something I'd been meaning to do but hadn't gotten around to.
I really felt much admiration for Henry. He's the leader of the whole operation and comes across as a great man, very wise, who can manage the complexities in a calmly organized way. He is the hardest working of them all and his family seems very close and sweet.
I read this book for free on my Kindle. Someone I know on facebook alerted me to fact that there was a one day freebie opportunity. However, the book is illustrated with photos which I could have appreciated more in a real book.
Two thumbs up! For more book reviews go to 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Style, Sex and Substance - Book 18
Style, Sex and Substance is a just released book, edited by Hallie Lord. It is a collection of essays by various well known Catholic women bloggers who write about contemporary issues facing Catholic women! It is very insightful. These women are all gracious, intelligent, honest, penetrating and witty writers. And full of Christian love. It is a quick read if you want it to be or it is the type of book that you could read slowly and use as a source for meditating on one's life and relationship to Christ. I could also see it being used for a mother's group or some other women's support group.
Four of these women, Karen Edmisten, Jennifer Fullwiler, Danielle Bean and Simcha Fisher, I regularly read in the blog-o-sphere. All of them are profound thinkers, believers and their advice is uplifting, realistic and funny! They regularly broaden and brighten my world. And reading their essays here was no exception. If you need a boost for your prayer life, read Karen Edmisten's God and Godiva! If you want to think a little deeper about your role as mother, read Simcha Fisher's chapter on motherhood. I got teary-eyed myself.
For those women who I was not already familiar with, I especially enjoyed reading Hallie Lord's take on style and fashion (I hadn't ever really thought about those issues). I also enjoyed Elizabeth Duffy's chapter on sex, which I think should be required reading for every reporter who doesn't get the Catholic understanding of sex (which is all of them, pretty much). The chapter is sort of a glimpse into married sex life with a very practical (and reverent) twist. And I LOVED Barbara Nicolosi's chapter on engaging media and living in the 21st century as faithful Catholics. That lady rocks!
One thing I'll say for sure, is none of these ladies is stuffy in the least! Very refreshing!
At the end of each chapter there are several thought-provoking questions designed to really make you think about the issues raised in the essay. I found these quite provocative and worth mulling over.
So I give Style, Sex and Substance two enthusiastic thumbs up!
For more reviews go to 52 Books.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Don Quixote - Book 17
I read Don Quixote. Oh yes I did! And you should too!
It took me a long time to get it read and kind of slowed me up on my 52 books in 52 weeks project. But that's okay. I'm not behind yet! And I'm glad I read it. For one thing, I'm going to Spain this summer, so I wanted to read something classic from that country. For another, it is a world class piece of literature and I'm slowly expanding my list of greats that I've got under my belt!
The translation that I read is an old edition that I found years ago on my parents' bookshelf. When they passed away I took and it sat for years on my bookshelf, unread. The prospect of going to Spain soon is what finally made me resolve to read it. Walter Starkie was the translator and he is quite the character. He wrote a very long and entertaining Prelude that is pretty much brilliant. Starkie was an Irish academic who was sent by England to Spain during World War II. Starkie was Catholic and so he fit in in that way. He apparently was quite fluent in Spanish and in love with the culture and he became a respected scholar not only of Cervantes but also the Romani, or gypsies of Spain.
Don Quixote was actually much easier to read than many other classics I've tried to tackle. I think one reason is that I was reading it in translation. It isn't like trying to parse through Milton or Chaucer. Starkie was funny in that he translates the many peasants in the story as speaking with colloquial Irish accents and idioms. It was a weird disconnect because while I knew I was in Spain, I kept imagining the voices with Irish accents!
The two main characters of the story are, of course, Don Quixote himself and his squire Sancho Panza. Don Quixote is a middle aged man who has read too many romances of knightly deeds. He's gone mad with this obession and has convinced himself that he indeed is a knight-errant from the earlier age of chivalry. He bedecks himself out as best he can and sets out to have adventures. Since all knights need a lady love to adore from afar he picks some woman he has only a passing knowledge of and names her Dulcinea del Toboso. He acquires a squire, a peasant from the same town, named Sancho Panza. There are all sorts of minor characters as well. Some that appear and disappear and some that show up again at the very end of the novel.
This book reminded me a lot of Shakespeare's comedies. It is one tale after another of rollicking, slapstick humor. It is full of word play and convoluted situations. Cervantes is very clever and like Dante, he take jabs at personalities and issues going on in his own day. Don Quixote is mad but he is also highly principled, with great courage and a strong sense of duty and honor. He is actually quite wise. The same goes for Sancho Panza, who is extremely funny and wise in his own way. The story actually references Shakespeare a lot which surprised me. I didn't know that Shakespeare was so popular a poor soldier (which Cervantes was) would be so familiar with his works. Several times Hamlet is quite obviously referenced. And there is a similiarity in that we get to see how all these minor characters react to Don Quixote's madness, much the same way in which we learn of the character of the people who surround Hamlet when he seems to be mad.
Cervantes is very clever. Apparently the first book of Don Quixote was published and became a huge success. So Cervantes wrote a second and third book as sequels. What's funny is that he uses the first book as a ploy in the remaining two books. People who read about the ficitonal Don Quixote want to meet him and you are never quite sure if it is because they really believe he's a knight errant or if they just want to sport with him in his madness. People go to great lengths to play jokes on Don Quixote and his squire. Really the whole thing is very tongue-in-cheek. But it is gentle too, because everyone comes to love Don Quixote and his squire, Sancho.
This version of the book was slightly abridged and was only 593 pages long!
I give Don Quixote two thumbs up! It takes a while to plow through but it is well worth it!
For more reviews please go here.
It took me a long time to get it read and kind of slowed me up on my 52 books in 52 weeks project. But that's okay. I'm not behind yet! And I'm glad I read it. For one thing, I'm going to Spain this summer, so I wanted to read something classic from that country. For another, it is a world class piece of literature and I'm slowly expanding my list of greats that I've got under my belt!
The translation that I read is an old edition that I found years ago on my parents' bookshelf. When they passed away I took and it sat for years on my bookshelf, unread. The prospect of going to Spain soon is what finally made me resolve to read it. Walter Starkie was the translator and he is quite the character. He wrote a very long and entertaining Prelude that is pretty much brilliant. Starkie was an Irish academic who was sent by England to Spain during World War II. Starkie was Catholic and so he fit in in that way. He apparently was quite fluent in Spanish and in love with the culture and he became a respected scholar not only of Cervantes but also the Romani, or gypsies of Spain.
Don Quixote was actually much easier to read than many other classics I've tried to tackle. I think one reason is that I was reading it in translation. It isn't like trying to parse through Milton or Chaucer. Starkie was funny in that he translates the many peasants in the story as speaking with colloquial Irish accents and idioms. It was a weird disconnect because while I knew I was in Spain, I kept imagining the voices with Irish accents!
The two main characters of the story are, of course, Don Quixote himself and his squire Sancho Panza. Don Quixote is a middle aged man who has read too many romances of knightly deeds. He's gone mad with this obession and has convinced himself that he indeed is a knight-errant from the earlier age of chivalry. He bedecks himself out as best he can and sets out to have adventures. Since all knights need a lady love to adore from afar he picks some woman he has only a passing knowledge of and names her Dulcinea del Toboso. He acquires a squire, a peasant from the same town, named Sancho Panza. There are all sorts of minor characters as well. Some that appear and disappear and some that show up again at the very end of the novel.
This book reminded me a lot of Shakespeare's comedies. It is one tale after another of rollicking, slapstick humor. It is full of word play and convoluted situations. Cervantes is very clever and like Dante, he take jabs at personalities and issues going on in his own day. Don Quixote is mad but he is also highly principled, with great courage and a strong sense of duty and honor. He is actually quite wise. The same goes for Sancho Panza, who is extremely funny and wise in his own way. The story actually references Shakespeare a lot which surprised me. I didn't know that Shakespeare was so popular a poor soldier (which Cervantes was) would be so familiar with his works. Several times Hamlet is quite obviously referenced. And there is a similiarity in that we get to see how all these minor characters react to Don Quixote's madness, much the same way in which we learn of the character of the people who surround Hamlet when he seems to be mad.
Cervantes is very clever. Apparently the first book of Don Quixote was published and became a huge success. So Cervantes wrote a second and third book as sequels. What's funny is that he uses the first book as a ploy in the remaining two books. People who read about the ficitonal Don Quixote want to meet him and you are never quite sure if it is because they really believe he's a knight errant or if they just want to sport with him in his madness. People go to great lengths to play jokes on Don Quixote and his squire. Really the whole thing is very tongue-in-cheek. But it is gentle too, because everyone comes to love Don Quixote and his squire, Sancho.
This version of the book was slightly abridged and was only 593 pages long!
I give Don Quixote two thumbs up! It takes a while to plow through but it is well worth it!
For more reviews please go here.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Journaling the Day 4/12/12
Today is Thursday and usually Becky and I are out at our Aquinas Learning Center for the morning but we've got Easter week off so I am luxuriating in being at home this a.m.
What we've done so far (it's 10:15 a.m. right now)
-did the 8:30 breakfast table routine again. The kids are acclimating.
-Becky reminded me to read a prayer by st. Thomas Aquinas before breakfast. We had sausage and fried eggs.
- Sean started his math test (test 16 in Saxon 8/7)
- Josh showered, ate breakfast and worked on math in the study.
- Becky and I worked on word problems which dismayed her greatly, so I quick cut short that topic to be dealt with later when she wasn't feeling so sour about it. Instead we reviewed rounding and did some estimating problems. We also talked about prime numbers and did a worksheet on them.
- Math tutor came for Josh and Sean. I got on computer momentarily and then got stuck there as Becky decided to braid my hair
-printed out worksheets for AL next week.
- Becky and I did the geography worksheets for AL - Montana (41st state) and Washington (42nd)
- Becky worked on 6x and 7x tables again.
- Becky and Sean watched the new Muppets movie.
- for some reason I am really tired today. I go take a nap (read a little of Don Quixote)
- Becky makes French fries from scratch, Sean has cottage cheese, I eat leftovers, Josh has hot dogs. One of those fend for yourself lunches.
- I read 3 more letters from Screwtape to Sean.
-Josh works on drivers Ed.
- Becky watches Muppets again. She loves the songs.
- I am still tired so Sean and I did more Latin in my room while I've got my feet up. Talk about teaching at rest!
- Sean finishes Week 9, Day 4 writing assignment in Writing with Skill.
- never did get to Sean copying questionnaire some more. Well, there's always Saturday!
- really felt crummy in the late afternoon. Just out of it.
- made tacos for dinner. Made a homemade recipe for taco seasoning. It was pretty good.
- in the middle of cooking, took Josh to his SAT study from 6 to 7.
- Becky spent a lot of time chatting with girls in girlsgogames. Hope that is safe. I'm pretty sure it is pretty safe. . . .
- Sean was writing something on the computer, a review about something, but I don't remembe what. He complained he was getting a headache. It was a come and get it dinner, so he ate and then took a walk. He said he thought it would help his head.
- right now Josh and Becky are talking downstairs and Josh is making Becky laugh. Josh is usually shut in his room most of the time, so it is nice when he comes out and socializes.
- I meant to clean the mudroom today but never did get to it. Just such low energy today. Sigh.
- Rick came home and ate, the kids remembered we still had ice cream from Josh's birthday and they all treated themselves to a dish.
- Said prayers. Read Anne of Green Gables to Becky. The funny thing is that Rick has been listening in and so I'm kind of reading it to him as well.
What we've done so far (it's 10:15 a.m. right now)
-did the 8:30 breakfast table routine again. The kids are acclimating.
-Becky reminded me to read a prayer by st. Thomas Aquinas before breakfast. We had sausage and fried eggs.
- Sean started his math test (test 16 in Saxon 8/7)
- Josh showered, ate breakfast and worked on math in the study.
- Becky and I worked on word problems which dismayed her greatly, so I quick cut short that topic to be dealt with later when she wasn't feeling so sour about it. Instead we reviewed rounding and did some estimating problems. We also talked about prime numbers and did a worksheet on them.
- Math tutor came for Josh and Sean. I got on computer momentarily and then got stuck there as Becky decided to braid my hair
-printed out worksheets for AL next week.
- Becky and I did the geography worksheets for AL - Montana (41st state) and Washington (42nd)
- Becky worked on 6x and 7x tables again.
- Becky and Sean watched the new Muppets movie.
- for some reason I am really tired today. I go take a nap (read a little of Don Quixote)
- Becky makes French fries from scratch, Sean has cottage cheese, I eat leftovers, Josh has hot dogs. One of those fend for yourself lunches.
- I read 3 more letters from Screwtape to Sean.
-Josh works on drivers Ed.
- Becky watches Muppets again. She loves the songs.
- I am still tired so Sean and I did more Latin in my room while I've got my feet up. Talk about teaching at rest!
- Sean finishes Week 9, Day 4 writing assignment in Writing with Skill.
- never did get to Sean copying questionnaire some more. Well, there's always Saturday!
- really felt crummy in the late afternoon. Just out of it.
- made tacos for dinner. Made a homemade recipe for taco seasoning. It was pretty good.
- in the middle of cooking, took Josh to his SAT study from 6 to 7.
- Becky spent a lot of time chatting with girls in girlsgogames. Hope that is safe. I'm pretty sure it is pretty safe. . . .
- Sean was writing something on the computer, a review about something, but I don't remembe what. He complained he was getting a headache. It was a come and get it dinner, so he ate and then took a walk. He said he thought it would help his head.
- right now Josh and Becky are talking downstairs and Josh is making Becky laugh. Josh is usually shut in his room most of the time, so it is nice when he comes out and socializes.
- I meant to clean the mudroom today but never did get to it. Just such low energy today. Sigh.
- Rick came home and ate, the kids remembered we still had ice cream from Josh's birthday and they all treated themselves to a dish.
- Said prayers. Read Anne of Green Gables to Becky. The funny thing is that Rick has been listening in and so I'm kind of reading it to him as well.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Journaling the Day 4/11/12
I guess I'm in a journaling mood. Only have a few minutes so just put down day in bullet form:
- Did the 8:30 breakfast table thing. Kids weren't hungry - had toast and some cut up oranges. I had a parfait of greek yogurt, Uncle Sams cereal, honey and raisins.
- Read out loud The Creed in Slow Motion about the Holy Spirit. Very interesting.
- Sean started on math lesson - took him all morning. He just can not focus.
- I went over rounding with Becky. She gets it!
- Josh worked on math too - in the study
- I booked us a room for our overnight stay in Lourdes. Hurrah!
- Becky decided to bake chocolate chip cookies all by herself. Major production but she made 50 cookies.
- Lunch - hot dogs again, along with Falefel chips and hummus
- Monica the art teacher came at 1:00 and taught Sean drawing.
- After Monica left, I laid down but Becky and Sean were laughing and shrieking doing something, I don't know. I had to tell them to quiet down. So then they went down to the basement to laugh and shriek over whatever it was. Josh was down there doing drivers ed and keeping yelling at them to quiet down.
- At some point during the day Becky practiced her 7x and 6x tables.
- I did manage to nap for a little bit
- Got up and had cup of tea
- Read Across Five Aprils to Sean
- Sean did a little bit of copy work (miniscule would be the world)
- Sean and I worked on Latin - plural accusative endings
- Sean did a little bit of Writing with Skill
- Becky this whole time was up in her room listening to Natalie McMaster and playing with her dolls. She did their hair, dressed them up and then posed them to take fashion photos of them.
- Josh started working on Shakespeare quote test
- Made Shepherds Pie for dinner with leftover lamb. Becky came down and helped. It was delicious.
- Becky and Sean are making silly movies to send to Sean's friend Jack
- Josh is off to CLC and I'm going over to someone's house to watch Catholicism
- Poor Rick is still at work. Haven't heard from him so he must be busy.
- Took Josh to CLC but then he realized that he'd forgotten his books for secretary, so I had to drive back home, get them and take them to church then drive over to friend's to see Catholicism. Then drive back, pick up Josh. Got home at 9:30 p.m.
- Sean is doing a little bit more math with Rick right now.
- I'm about to read Anne of Green Gables to Becky.
Journaling this day - 4/10/12
Yesterday started off very badly. I had a terrible, violent migraine for the first part of the day, brought on, no doubt by too much Easter candy. I recovered quite suddenly but the rest of the day I was completely without energy and quite fuzzy brained. It was a strain to nag the boys to do math homework and to drive Hannah to the airport. I had to focus quite deliberately while driving. Didn't accomplish much at all.
Slept well last night and woke up today a new woman! Hurrah! So I feel like journaling this day. We've had the most gorgeous spring weather here for WEEKS. Today was a bit cloudy but now it is beautiful blue, the temperature is in the low 60's and the trees are all in bloom.
I started a new routine for the morning. The kids have to be up, dressed and at the breakfast table by 8:30 and they must be polite! No more nasty morning grumpies! If these requirments aren't met, they lose screen privleges for the whole day. Yesterday didn't really count because I was so sick, so today was the first real day. Becky got up at 7:30, got dressed, came downstairs and laid on the couch for a 1/2 hour before getting up and playing on the computer before breakfast. Seano got up while I was in the shower around 8 or so. He was talking with his friend Jack over the computer, but he'd forgotten about 'getting dressed' requirement so I reminded him at 8:28. He ran up and quickly got changed. I can't say I'm really enforcing these new rules with Josh as he's pretty good at getting up in the a.m. and doing his own thing. And, you know, he is 17!
Anyway, scrambled eggs and Ezekiel's cinnamon raisin sprouted grain brain for toast (which is my new favorite thing) was for breakfast. Josh however just had a bowl of honey nut cheerios and milk.
Both boys started in on their math homework. The tutor came at 10 and Josh and Sean worked with her for an hour. At 11:00 they went off on their separate ways. Not sure what they've been doing since (it is now 12:30). Sean did eat a couple of slices of pizza for lunch. Haven't seen Josh though.
Meanwhile, Becky and I worked on math out of a fun workbook I got from Amazon. She reviewed reading Roman numerals and also place value and reading large numbers up to a billion. Later, she reviewed her 7x table on the ipad app. She also watched some My Little Pony on my laptop while I cleaned the kitchen and started up some chicken broth. I also did a couple of loads of laundry (not put away yet).
Update: Becky and I did a little Spanish with Getting Started with Spanish. She LOVES this. Found Sean and read the next letter from Screwtape Letters to him. Screwtape was advising Wormwood on how to best exploit the 'patient's' spiritual trough (as opposed to peak) after he had converted to Christianity. Lewis makes chills run and up and down my spine when I read him. He's got it down pitch perfect with such clarity and subtly. Amazing. Sean and I had a very nice chat afterwards about religion and important stuff. Then Sean wrote a little bit more on his questionnaire for school next year. Actually, he did that while I was gone. I took Becky to her art class and then went shopping at Trader Joe's.
Speaking of shopping, I am trying to not eat refined sugar and grains and only eat a little bit natural/unrefined sugars and grains. So I shopped very carefully as a result. The migraine yesterday is a major impetus for this.
Today I've eaten:
2 mugs of organic fair trade coffee with milk (over the course of the morning)
1 cup of tea with milk (after lunch)
5 glasses of water (so far)
a small serving of scrambled eggs and 1 slice of cinn. raisin toast with Kerrygold butter.
Morning snack was a banana with peanut butter (just organic peanuts crushed with salt)
Lunch was an entirely too healthy to be a hot dog, hot dog with some dijon mustard. I was really low on fruit and veggies, thus the lack of them at lunch.
I was hungry when I was shopping but I resisted buying bad stuff! I'm so proud of myself. Instead I came home and ate cucumber slices that I dipped in roasted pepper hummus. I also had some Falafel chips which are yummy. Made with garbanzo peas and corn.
For dinner though, not sure. We have track practice tonight. Usually kids eat a hearty snack of fruit and cheese and crackers around 4:00 p.m. Then after practice (almost 8 at night) we've been going to Subway which is close by. I'll try the flatbread sandwich or maybe I'll go around the corner to CA Tortilla and just get a salad.
Gotta go check on Josh now. Hopefully, he's been working on his driver's ed course. I think he was also supposed to work on Shakespeare homework. Gonna go do a little Latin with Sean before we go to track.
Update (next day!). Sean and I did do a little Latin. We read the beginning story in chapter VII in Ecce Romani and did the questions orally. I was falling asleep at this point. Sean wandered off. I snoozed for a few minutes. Woke up realizing we needed to get water bottle and running shoes on and go pick up Becky (Becky always goes home with a friend after art class and plays over there). So we scrambled and got into car and picked up Becky, then fought rush hour traffic trying to get to track practice. The wind had picked up and it was growing quite chilly. I spent most of the practice in the car listening to a lecture from the CIRCE institute (I had brought my ipad) then I took a 20 minute walk. The wind was really cold! The kids were miserable. Freezing and hungry and really grouchy after practice. We rushed over to Subway and got some sandwiches. I called Rick to see if he was coming home and if he wanted a sandwich. He had just pulled into the driveway and had forgotten we'd be out. So I ordered him a sandwich too and we headed home. By the time we'd eaten, it was after nine, so we said prayers and I made the kids go take showers. Afterwards, I read Anne of Green Gables aloud to Becky until 10:00. Then my eyelids wouldn't stay open any more. So she went to bed. However, Rick put on the next history lecture (we've been watching a Teaching Co lecture series on the American Revolution) and I'm sure I watched some of it, but since I was half asleep I have no recollection of what it was about!
Slept well last night and woke up today a new woman! Hurrah! So I feel like journaling this day. We've had the most gorgeous spring weather here for WEEKS. Today was a bit cloudy but now it is beautiful blue, the temperature is in the low 60's and the trees are all in bloom.
I started a new routine for the morning. The kids have to be up, dressed and at the breakfast table by 8:30 and they must be polite! No more nasty morning grumpies! If these requirments aren't met, they lose screen privleges for the whole day. Yesterday didn't really count because I was so sick, so today was the first real day. Becky got up at 7:30, got dressed, came downstairs and laid on the couch for a 1/2 hour before getting up and playing on the computer before breakfast. Seano got up while I was in the shower around 8 or so. He was talking with his friend Jack over the computer, but he'd forgotten about 'getting dressed' requirement so I reminded him at 8:28. He ran up and quickly got changed. I can't say I'm really enforcing these new rules with Josh as he's pretty good at getting up in the a.m. and doing his own thing. And, you know, he is 17!
Anyway, scrambled eggs and Ezekiel's cinnamon raisin sprouted grain brain for toast (which is my new favorite thing) was for breakfast. Josh however just had a bowl of honey nut cheerios and milk.
Both boys started in on their math homework. The tutor came at 10 and Josh and Sean worked with her for an hour. At 11:00 they went off on their separate ways. Not sure what they've been doing since (it is now 12:30). Sean did eat a couple of slices of pizza for lunch. Haven't seen Josh though.
Meanwhile, Becky and I worked on math out of a fun workbook I got from Amazon. She reviewed reading Roman numerals and also place value and reading large numbers up to a billion. Later, she reviewed her 7x table on the ipad app. She also watched some My Little Pony on my laptop while I cleaned the kitchen and started up some chicken broth. I also did a couple of loads of laundry (not put away yet).
Update: Becky and I did a little Spanish with Getting Started with Spanish. She LOVES this. Found Sean and read the next letter from Screwtape Letters to him. Screwtape was advising Wormwood on how to best exploit the 'patient's' spiritual trough (as opposed to peak) after he had converted to Christianity. Lewis makes chills run and up and down my spine when I read him. He's got it down pitch perfect with such clarity and subtly. Amazing. Sean and I had a very nice chat afterwards about religion and important stuff. Then Sean wrote a little bit more on his questionnaire for school next year. Actually, he did that while I was gone. I took Becky to her art class and then went shopping at Trader Joe's.
Speaking of shopping, I am trying to not eat refined sugar and grains and only eat a little bit natural/unrefined sugars and grains. So I shopped very carefully as a result. The migraine yesterday is a major impetus for this.
Today I've eaten:
2 mugs of organic fair trade coffee with milk (over the course of the morning)
1 cup of tea with milk (after lunch)
5 glasses of water (so far)
a small serving of scrambled eggs and 1 slice of cinn. raisin toast with Kerrygold butter.
Morning snack was a banana with peanut butter (just organic peanuts crushed with salt)
Lunch was an entirely too healthy to be a hot dog, hot dog with some dijon mustard. I was really low on fruit and veggies, thus the lack of them at lunch.
I was hungry when I was shopping but I resisted buying bad stuff! I'm so proud of myself. Instead I came home and ate cucumber slices that I dipped in roasted pepper hummus. I also had some Falafel chips which are yummy. Made with garbanzo peas and corn.
For dinner though, not sure. We have track practice tonight. Usually kids eat a hearty snack of fruit and cheese and crackers around 4:00 p.m. Then after practice (almost 8 at night) we've been going to Subway which is close by. I'll try the flatbread sandwich or maybe I'll go around the corner to CA Tortilla and just get a salad.
Gotta go check on Josh now. Hopefully, he's been working on his driver's ed course. I think he was also supposed to work on Shakespeare homework. Gonna go do a little Latin with Sean before we go to track.
Update (next day!). Sean and I did do a little Latin. We read the beginning story in chapter VII in Ecce Romani and did the questions orally. I was falling asleep at this point. Sean wandered off. I snoozed for a few minutes. Woke up realizing we needed to get water bottle and running shoes on and go pick up Becky (Becky always goes home with a friend after art class and plays over there). So we scrambled and got into car and picked up Becky, then fought rush hour traffic trying to get to track practice. The wind had picked up and it was growing quite chilly. I spent most of the practice in the car listening to a lecture from the CIRCE institute (I had brought my ipad) then I took a 20 minute walk. The wind was really cold! The kids were miserable. Freezing and hungry and really grouchy after practice. We rushed over to Subway and got some sandwiches. I called Rick to see if he was coming home and if he wanted a sandwich. He had just pulled into the driveway and had forgotten we'd be out. So I ordered him a sandwich too and we headed home. By the time we'd eaten, it was after nine, so we said prayers and I made the kids go take showers. Afterwards, I read Anne of Green Gables aloud to Becky until 10:00. Then my eyelids wouldn't stay open any more. So she went to bed. However, Rick put on the next history lecture (we've been watching a Teaching Co lecture series on the American Revolution) and I'm sure I watched some of it, but since I was half asleep I have no recollection of what it was about!
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Unschooling, Interrupted
It's Good Friday! Lent ended yesterday so I guess it is okay for me to stop my blogging fast. Today, we fast from food!
Circumstances have lent themselves to formality in learning these past few months. Sean's wanting to go to 8th grade at a classical Christian school next year. So he's been working on math with a tutor to make sure he's ready for Algebra. Math has become the dominating subject lately. The tutor assigns a LOT of homework in an effort to get through the Saxon 8/7 textbook. She comes every Tuesday and Thursday morning from 10:00 to 11:00 and somehow we've never gotten it all done even though it seems like we are ALWAYS doing math. Sean sometimes works quite diligently but often times he spends hours and hours doing a couple problems and then he daydreams, pouts, paces, gabs, fiddles, and doodles until finally he buckles down and does a couple more problems. He frequently wants to wait until his dad gets home from work so that he can help him, however, Rick has been swamped with work, leaving early in the a.m. and then coming home late. Sometimes though he sits up with Sean and works with him. He's a good dad! But math has become painful around here. Gone are the blithe unschooling days. Sad.
Josh has gotten in on the math act too. Josh, who has been sort of doing the same high school track as his older siblings, pretty much by default as opposed to any conscious plan of action on his part, has struggled with motivation. Struggling is perhaps not the adjective. I'm struggling with his lack of motivation, he's pretty much succumbed to it, except when it becomes apparent he has dropped the ball. When confronted with this fact, he hangs his head in shame for a minute, then suddenly brightens up, announces emphatically he is going to change his ways, starts off, heartily, to do some work and peters out after about five minutes. I kept talking to him about how he wants to do things. Maybe he wants to do something completely different next year? College is something we'd like to see him do one day, but he certainly doesn't have to do it right away. He could do something else instead. I make suggestions. He looks kind of blankly at me and then says, no he really does want to just keep doing what he's doing. Except what he's doing is completely blowing his chances. For instance, he simply stopped doing his Pre-Calculus on line class. Just. stopped. I nagged. And nagged. Nothing happened. Then we found out that he had done no Shakespeare homework since December. He does work on Chemistry, I think because the teacher is so demanding and chemistry comes easily to him. He does do Latin but that is because I'm in class with him and drag him along with me. He doesn't try as hard as I do or really anyone else in the class. Sigh. So, Rick and I decided we just had to tighten up with him. If he wants to take these classes, then he's got to learn to buckle down (a phrase I've been using a lot lately!). So he is now working with the math tutor as well. We've started all over again with Saxon's Advanced Math. For Shakespeare, I took his ipod away from him. Once he catches up on his backload of homework assignments, he can have it back. We are meeting and making a weekly plan out and he checks things off as he does them. So things are a bit better, except because of spring break, the schedule is off and throwing us out of whack. There's always something. He turned 17 on Wednesday. He's taking all these changes calmly and even occasionally thanking us for getting stricter. I think he knows he's drifting and doesn't know, right now, how to moor himself, so that's what Rick and I are doing; the mooring for him. Some kids just don't do unschooling well!
In addition to this, end of year testing is coming upon us. I'd like to have it done by then end of May so we can focus on our travels in June. I'm not worried about Sean and Josh but though Becky's been reading Life of Fred (which she loved until one day she suddenly announced she didn't, and just. stopped.) but she doesn't have the technical stuff down. So we've been reviewing times tables and basic stuff like carrying and borrowing. We've got to tackle fractions and long division and such. It's going to be pretty intensive for a few weeks, But she is NOT into it. Soooo, starting Easter Monday I'm going getting really strict. We've got time restrains here and we do have to get a certain amount of math under our belts before CAT time!
On a happier note, Becky and I have started learning Spanish using Getting Started with Spanish. And she found these old BrainQuest question cards on U.S. Geography which she's been studying and quizzing me on. She's reading up a storm, always has her nose in a book. She's just generally very busy all the time, playing with dolls, making things, lately she's been into mending things like sewing on buttons, playing on her Girlsgogames, writing emails to her friends, teaching herself songs (she sings to herself a lot; she's got a good voice and she is starting to realize it), she cooks, she weeded the garden for me the other day. She's just always got something going on. She is easy to unschool! But not right now because we've got to do the dreaded end of year testing. Lord help me through this!
Circumstances have lent themselves to formality in learning these past few months. Sean's wanting to go to 8th grade at a classical Christian school next year. So he's been working on math with a tutor to make sure he's ready for Algebra. Math has become the dominating subject lately. The tutor assigns a LOT of homework in an effort to get through the Saxon 8/7 textbook. She comes every Tuesday and Thursday morning from 10:00 to 11:00 and somehow we've never gotten it all done even though it seems like we are ALWAYS doing math. Sean sometimes works quite diligently but often times he spends hours and hours doing a couple problems and then he daydreams, pouts, paces, gabs, fiddles, and doodles until finally he buckles down and does a couple more problems. He frequently wants to wait until his dad gets home from work so that he can help him, however, Rick has been swamped with work, leaving early in the a.m. and then coming home late. Sometimes though he sits up with Sean and works with him. He's a good dad! But math has become painful around here. Gone are the blithe unschooling days. Sad.
Josh has gotten in on the math act too. Josh, who has been sort of doing the same high school track as his older siblings, pretty much by default as opposed to any conscious plan of action on his part, has struggled with motivation. Struggling is perhaps not the adjective. I'm struggling with his lack of motivation, he's pretty much succumbed to it, except when it becomes apparent he has dropped the ball. When confronted with this fact, he hangs his head in shame for a minute, then suddenly brightens up, announces emphatically he is going to change his ways, starts off, heartily, to do some work and peters out after about five minutes. I kept talking to him about how he wants to do things. Maybe he wants to do something completely different next year? College is something we'd like to see him do one day, but he certainly doesn't have to do it right away. He could do something else instead. I make suggestions. He looks kind of blankly at me and then says, no he really does want to just keep doing what he's doing. Except what he's doing is completely blowing his chances. For instance, he simply stopped doing his Pre-Calculus on line class. Just. stopped. I nagged. And nagged. Nothing happened. Then we found out that he had done no Shakespeare homework since December. He does work on Chemistry, I think because the teacher is so demanding and chemistry comes easily to him. He does do Latin but that is because I'm in class with him and drag him along with me. He doesn't try as hard as I do or really anyone else in the class. Sigh. So, Rick and I decided we just had to tighten up with him. If he wants to take these classes, then he's got to learn to buckle down (a phrase I've been using a lot lately!). So he is now working with the math tutor as well. We've started all over again with Saxon's Advanced Math. For Shakespeare, I took his ipod away from him. Once he catches up on his backload of homework assignments, he can have it back. We are meeting and making a weekly plan out and he checks things off as he does them. So things are a bit better, except because of spring break, the schedule is off and throwing us out of whack. There's always something. He turned 17 on Wednesday. He's taking all these changes calmly and even occasionally thanking us for getting stricter. I think he knows he's drifting and doesn't know, right now, how to moor himself, so that's what Rick and I are doing; the mooring for him. Some kids just don't do unschooling well!
In addition to this, end of year testing is coming upon us. I'd like to have it done by then end of May so we can focus on our travels in June. I'm not worried about Sean and Josh but though Becky's been reading Life of Fred (which she loved until one day she suddenly announced she didn't, and just. stopped.) but she doesn't have the technical stuff down. So we've been reviewing times tables and basic stuff like carrying and borrowing. We've got to tackle fractions and long division and such. It's going to be pretty intensive for a few weeks, But she is NOT into it. Soooo, starting Easter Monday I'm going getting really strict. We've got time restrains here and we do have to get a certain amount of math under our belts before CAT time!
On a happier note, Becky and I have started learning Spanish using Getting Started with Spanish. And she found these old BrainQuest question cards on U.S. Geography which she's been studying and quizzing me on. She's reading up a storm, always has her nose in a book. She's just generally very busy all the time, playing with dolls, making things, lately she's been into mending things like sewing on buttons, playing on her Girlsgogames, writing emails to her friends, teaching herself songs (she sings to herself a lot; she's got a good voice and she is starting to realize it), she cooks, she weeded the garden for me the other day. She's just always got something going on. She is easy to unschool! But not right now because we've got to do the dreaded end of year testing. Lord help me through this!
Friday, April 6, 2012
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm - Book 16
I read Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm to to my 10 year old daughter, also named Rebecca. It is a classic story written by Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin, who also wrote another story we enjoyed, The Birds' Christmas Carol. The prose is old-fashioned and lovely. I'm always amazed at how elevated the language in supposed children's books was back in the good old days. I think people just thought in more nuanced ways.
The story opens with Rebecca arriving by stage coach at the home of her two maiden aunts. Her own mother married badly, in the eyes of the world, and is left a poor indebted widow with seven children. They have the terrible shame of having a mortgage on the family farm (how quaint, to be ashamed of being in debt!). The maiden aunts have been persuaded to take on the raising of Rebecca to help out with the finances. Rebecca's mother hopes it will be the 'making of her.'
Rebeccca is only ten when she arrives. She's a plucky young girl with charisma. She lives on a deeper plane than most of those around her and has a special gift for poetry. Aunt Miranda, her dried up, narrow-minded, New England-frugal aunt makes Rebecca miserable at first but as the years go by, Miranda comes to love her and Rebecca learns to forgive her aunt. There are lots of well drawn characters that inhabit the little village of Wareham, the stage coach driver and his wife, Rebecca's kinder maiden aunt, Jane, Rebecca's best friend Emma Jane, her school teachers, her annoying schoolmate, Huldah, etc.
I found the story and character of Rebecca really charming in the first part of the book, when she is younger. As the book progresses and Rebecca goes away to boarding school for her high school career, I found that author switched subtlely to a more tell than show way of illuminating Rebecca's character. This bothered me a bit. Also, there is a growing, but very mild, romantic development between a much older man and young Rebecca. At the end of the book you discover, in a very poetically obscure way, that the older man, Alan Ladd is indeed in love with her. He's 34 and Rebecca is still 17 at the end of the book. I guess I am too much a creature of my time, but I just find that age difference creepy. It always bothered me in Jane Austen books too.
But overall, the book is very charming in that old-fashioned way. If you want to read a piece of turn of the century Americana, this is the book for you!
One last thought. The book reminded me, initially, of Anne of Green Gables. There is a similiarity in that they are both coming of age books about a plucky poor girl succeeding in life, mostly through education. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm was written in 1903 and Anne of Green Gables in 1908. Frankly, Anne of Green Gables is the better story, but this one is very much in the same vein and is worth a read as well.
I read this book on my Kindle.
For more book reviews go to 52 Book in 52 Weeks.
The story opens with Rebecca arriving by stage coach at the home of her two maiden aunts. Her own mother married badly, in the eyes of the world, and is left a poor indebted widow with seven children. They have the terrible shame of having a mortgage on the family farm (how quaint, to be ashamed of being in debt!). The maiden aunts have been persuaded to take on the raising of Rebecca to help out with the finances. Rebecca's mother hopes it will be the 'making of her.'
Rebeccca is only ten when she arrives. She's a plucky young girl with charisma. She lives on a deeper plane than most of those around her and has a special gift for poetry. Aunt Miranda, her dried up, narrow-minded, New England-frugal aunt makes Rebecca miserable at first but as the years go by, Miranda comes to love her and Rebecca learns to forgive her aunt. There are lots of well drawn characters that inhabit the little village of Wareham, the stage coach driver and his wife, Rebecca's kinder maiden aunt, Jane, Rebecca's best friend Emma Jane, her school teachers, her annoying schoolmate, Huldah, etc.
I found the story and character of Rebecca really charming in the first part of the book, when she is younger. As the book progresses and Rebecca goes away to boarding school for her high school career, I found that author switched subtlely to a more tell than show way of illuminating Rebecca's character. This bothered me a bit. Also, there is a growing, but very mild, romantic development between a much older man and young Rebecca. At the end of the book you discover, in a very poetically obscure way, that the older man, Alan Ladd is indeed in love with her. He's 34 and Rebecca is still 17 at the end of the book. I guess I am too much a creature of my time, but I just find that age difference creepy. It always bothered me in Jane Austen books too.
But overall, the book is very charming in that old-fashioned way. If you want to read a piece of turn of the century Americana, this is the book for you!
One last thought. The book reminded me, initially, of Anne of Green Gables. There is a similiarity in that they are both coming of age books about a plucky poor girl succeeding in life, mostly through education. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm was written in 1903 and Anne of Green Gables in 1908. Frankly, Anne of Green Gables is the better story, but this one is very much in the same vein and is worth a read as well.
I read this book on my Kindle.
For more book reviews go to 52 Book in 52 Weeks.
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