Strewsday Tuesday - 7/31/12

Well, the big thing being strewn around here is the Olympics. We've actually been pretty frustrated trying to view it because for some reason we keep missing the events we want to watch. And forgetting to record them too. And then just not thinking about going to view them on line. I don't know why. Becky and Sean both want to see the gymnastics. We did watch the men's team which was sad because they kept messing up. Poor guys. We watched the men's synchronized diving. Very cool, but I do think they could wear more generous swim trunks and the world would be a happier place.

The surprising thing to me is one day we turned on the TV and found Olympic badminton which made me chortle derisively. I don't know why badminton just seems like something to chortle derisively about, but then it turns out it is fascinating to watch. Sean especially got into it. This is consistent with his interest in tennis and ping pong. He just likes that style of game, I guess.

That's all I have time for, folks!

Nourishing Cooking Journal - 7/29/12

I feel I had a pretty good week this past week.  Here are some of my successes:

1.  Ok, so I have a terrible time with Cod Liver Oil.  Have tried to take some now and again over the years and it just made me ill.  Recently, I bought some very expensive capsules on line and kept them in the freezer, but the minute I opened it I could smell menthol.  It wasn't listed in the ingredients but I could smell it.  Well, me and menthol don't get along.  It gives me severe pains for hours and hours.  But I thought, well, if it isn't listed, it must mean there is so little in it as to be considered inconsequential.  I'll try it anyway.  So I did for a couple weeks and then one night the pains came back.  All. night. long.  Awful.  That was before we went to Europe.    I determined to start anew once we got back.  I happened to be next to a natural foods store and just went in and bought Carlon's Lemon Cod Liver Oil.  This week I started taking it.

2. I also started to try to up my coconut oil intake.  I just can't do oils well, though.  It just makes me nauseated.  So here's the plan I came up with and it worked!  I would take just a spoonful of cod liver oil in the a.m. and then drink a whole glass of water to get rid of the icky oil coating down my throat that makes me wretch.  Then I would immediately eat breakfast, just to have something else in my stomach.  This is not the way you are supposed to do it according to Eat Fat, Lose Fat but I can't do it their way just yet.  Also I am not taking the amounts of oil they advocate, but I hope to work up to that.

To take coconut oil, I discovered that if I melt it and stir it into my oatmeal, which I top with maple syrup and fruit, I can eat it just fine.  In fact the oatmeal is really tasty.  I had oatmeal 3x this week.  Two times this week I had a yogurt parfait.  For this I had to wait for the coconut oil to cool a bit.  I got out my plain Greek yogurt (store bought - not making yogurt yet), stirred in the coconut oil, drizzled honey (local!) on top and then folded in fruit.  Yummy!

Saturday I had my 1/2 bagel with cream cheese so I didn't have either my cod liver oil or my coconut oil and you know what, I really went off my diet all day.  Shoot.

However, this a.m. (Sunday) I made my favorite version of healthy french toast:

Ezekiel's Cinnamon Raisin bread (from Trader Joe's)
Farm fresh butter (from local dairy)
Coconut oil (Dr. Bronner's from Whole Foods)
Farm fresh eggs from CSA
A splash of organic milk (not raw - haven't gotten there yet)
Cinnamon
Sea Salt
Fair Trade Raw Cane Sugar (from Trader Joe's)

Crack a couple eggs into a wide bowl.  Add a splash of milk, a couple of cranks of sea salt, some generous sprinkles of cinnamon and sugar and stir and beat til well mixed.

Dip the Ezekiel's bread in and saturate both sides.

Melt equal parts of butter and coconut oil in a wide frying pan.

Fry up French toast.

Serve with fruit and warm maple syrup (grade B organic)

Everybody loves this breakfast!!!!!  Hooray!

Another great recipe I tried this week is this one.  I felt so cool grinding my wheat and then soaking in yogurt overnight.  Becky helped me make the pizza pockets and everybody loved them too.  I think I will make that a staple for every other week for either lunch or dinner.

I also made chicken broth again this week. But I don't think I will this coming week. I have enough already to get me through the week. I really need to come up with other chicken recipes for cooked chicken. The plan is supposed to be that we have roast chicken once a week, a meal from the leftovers and then I make broth. But the only thing I do with the leftover chicken is make chicken salad. Sean, Rick and I will eat that but not Becky. Don't know about Josh. And frankly I've always found chicken salad a bit on the boring side. And more for lunch then dinner. And I want a dinner recipe that everybody will enjoy.

So this coming week, I'm going to find a different recipe for cooked chicken. I'm also going to make whole wheat buttermilk pancakes. When I ground the wheat for the pizza pockets, I ground way too much. I've got it in the fridge but I want to use it up before it goes rancid. I think I'll make pancakes for dinner one day this week.

{pretty, happy, funny, real] - 7/26/12

[pretty]

I fell in love with the storks of Avila.  These are all of the same stork.  (I am too lazy to go looking for other photos of storks amidst my hundreds of photos from our trip!)  This one was nesting on the top of the ruins of what looked to be a little chapel once, right in the middle of a street in Avila, Spain.

[happy]

Becky celebrated her 11th birthday with lunch at The American Girl Store/Restaurant.  The meal and the cake were absolutely delicious.  It was a really fun time.  Very much worth the money, I thought, especially if your girl is smitten with all things American Girl, as Becky is.

[funny]

This doesn't capture the hilarity of Clover, the kitten, chasing Tillie, the much bigger dog.  The kitty thinks he's being ferocious; the dog thinks they are playing tag.  Here Clover is getting ready to attack Tillie.

[real]

Here we are (well some of us) at a cafe in Paris waiting to be served lunch.

UPDATE:  Forgot to link to Like Mother, Like Daughter, hosts of [pretty, happy, funny, real]

Strewsday Tuesday - 7/24/12

Two things I'm trying to strew this week:

1) bedmaking. Let me give you the backstory!

We had a bedbug scare upon returning from our trip to Europe. We don't know for sure if we brought any back with us. If we did, we just had the beginnings of an infestation. My poor husband was just covered in really itchy bites which didn't show up until two days after we got home. It was really awful and he was miserable. I just got a few bites. Anyway, when the pest guy showed up, he, of course, had to look in our bedrooms. Well, the bedrooms were all a mess. The thing is, if you have bedbugs, you really don't want lots of clothing and clutter all over the floor because they can hide there. Looking at the messy, messy rooms through the eyes of 1)someone who desperately didn't want bedbugs (that would be MOI!) and 2) the eyes of a stranger inspecting our rooms so closely, I determined that maybe keeping a clean room is a good habit to get into. Also, I think keeping a clean room is just a good thing to do to develop organizational habits as well as consideration for others. If you aren't in the habit of cleaning up after yourself, you unwittingly become an inconsiderate nuisance to others.

I have had a kind of hands off policy towards the kids' rooms, mostly because I knew my own room wasn't a model of tidiness to say the least and I really didn't feel in the position to get on a soapbox about it. And I know from experience that sometimes kids, all on their own, will get sick of the messy rooms and clean them up themselves. Yes, it is true! It might not be as often as the parent would like, but it does indeed happen. I do make the kids pick up the stuff off their floors so that their rooms can be vacuumed once every two weeks. But that was all I required. It didn't address the massive clutter or the fact that they were just scooping up stuff and throwing it onto their bed or chair and then dumping it onto the floor after the vacuuming was done. Now you might ask me, why aren't your children doing the vacuuming? They have on occasion, but the truth is I am really lousy at focusing on housework. I just am not oriented that way and so alas, I have never established good habits with them, simply because, I personally don't have good habits to begin with. And yes, I wasn't raised this way. I learned to clean and cook and had lots and lots of chores to do growing up. Somehow, it didn't stick.

Back to the strewing: Now I had already started to clean up the boys room. I was taking advantage of the fact that Josh was still in Spain. Josh spent a lot of time in his room and really didn't like me cleaning up after him in there. Sean doesn't spend a lot of time in his room and he is happy when anyone else does the cleaning for him! So I started dejunking the boys rooms right after we got home. I still have a bit to do as I didn't quite finish the job.

The bedbug guy said we had to get everything off the floor in our master bedroom. That is the room they decided to treat. Treatment is really expensive and since only my husband seemed to really be bitten, they limited it to our room. Well, around my dh's little desk had accumulated for the past several years great piles of junk. His junk, not mine so I never felt free to go in and clean it up but my occasional gentle pleas fell on deaf ears. But now he HAD to clean that awful corner. So he did. Having our room look so much nicer, again inspired me to think about just how GOOD it is to live in a tidy, pretty space. It is good for the soul. It is more peaceful.

So, I've decided to begin to strew clean bedrooms by making beds in the morning. I always make my own bed. I have since being married. I didn't growing up, I'll admit. Over the years though Rick has gotten so used to the bed being made, that on those rare mornings where I don't make it, he will.

I'll give my kids a choice, either I come in and make their beds or they can do it. But either way, the beds get made. I'm hoping that if we establish this little ritual, that others will follow. And that they will soon see how easy it is to make a bed and how beneficial it is to the soul!

2) The other thing I'm strewing right now is a mix of strewing and not strewing actually. Sean hasn't picked up a book in months. He used to at least read comic books. Now he goes to bed with his DSI and plays games instead. During the day, he does read a lot on the computer. He is a Wikipedia nerd. He loves to research things on the internet which is great. But I am worried that there has been a complete cessation of book reading. So I got this idea of giving him a Kindle (Rick's old one) and strewing books that I think he'll like on it. So far I was to load up Animal Farm, and The Illustrated Man and Dandelion Wine, both by Ray Bradbury. I'm trying to think of other books he might enjoy. I want something with humor. And then I'm going to figure out what it takes to open his mind up to reading those books. I might say to Sean, no computer until you've read for 30 minutes or something obnxious like that. I might say, if I was to insist on you reading for a certain amount of time each day, how would you like me to do that????

We'll see.

My kids have been doing their own strewing. Sean really likes those TED videos. Yesterday he showed me this neat one. He thought it was the coolest thing ever!

Becky loves this youtube channel. She gets all sorts of ideas for making clothing, furniture, etc for her American Girl dolls.

Eat Fat, Lose Fat; The Healthy Alternative to Trans Fats - Book 31

One thing about our trip to Europe is that I ate a lot. I ate a lot of really scrumptious bread and I ate a lot of ice cream too. And when I got home, for some reason, that first week back I just binged on sweets. Until I felt really ill and didn't understand why I was so out of control. And I got on the scale and just about cried. I was heavier than I'd ever, ever been. WAH!!!

 Now recently I've been trying to do the Nourishing Traditions thing, but I really haven't done very well. I kind of stalled out after learning how to make soaked oatmeal and bone broth, both of which I did fairly consistently (though moreso the first than the latter). I got thrown off my groove when Hannah came home from college and had very different eating habits and was totally ignorant of all I had learned from my studies into Wise Traditions. I kind of just fell apart. Plus just the stress of getting ready for the trip and winding up school stuff and well, all sorts of unsettling little things were going on. But I don't know how to diet without going low-fat and doing the Weight Watchers thing. So in my despair and panic I got this book (Eat Fat, Lose Fat) on my Kindle even though I really don't like getting cookbooks on the Kindle for it just isn't practical. I thought it would inspire me. And it did to a certain extent.

The first part of the book is basically a rehash of Nourishing Traditions with the exception that the authors really stress the use of coconut oil as the magical link that helps you lose weight. This was a little disheartening because I've been trying to use more coconut oil and frankly, no one here (including moi!) really likes it. But once I got past all the info on why this way of dieting is the best way (don't they all say that???) and I got into the actual nitty gritty stuff of what foods to cook I started to feel really inspired. So I am going to give it a try, though I think it will take me a few weeks to get up to speed. I can't even think of drinking coconut oil in my tea without gagging. However, I did stir some into my oatmeal and that was good. I got some macaroons from Whole Foods and while I've been avoiding sugar all week, I did let myself eat them. Very coconutty. And delicious. So I'm going to slowly work in the coconut while at the same time:

 1. being careful to just eat 3 meals a day and no overeating!

2. Avoid all processed foods and sugary snacks/desserts (except aforementioned macaroons)

3. Very little bread. I think I only had bread once in a hamburger on Wed. and then 1/2 bagel this a.m.

Just by doing the above I've taken off 2 pounds since Monday (it is now Saturday).

I did waste my money getting this book on the Kindle though. I really need the cookbook portion of the book and that means I'll be plunking out money for the actual thing. So I am kicking myself for paying for two versions. And I noticed that the actual book is $2.00 cheaper than the kindle! What gives there???

Some of the recipes look really yummy and even like foods I could get my kids to eat. And as luck would have it, my dh loves coconut, so he's pretty thrilled with this whole idea.

So, I think Eat Fat, Lose Fat is worth checking out but don't get it on the Kindle! For more book reviews, see 52 Books.

The Essential Agatha Christie Stories - Book 30

I was cleaning out a cupboard with lots of forgotten things stashed in it, and I came across this CD collection of Agatha Christie stories.  I have a dim glimmer of memory that I bought it for a Christmas present or something for somebody.  But somehow it got shoved to the back of our icebox cabinet (my favorite piece of furniture!)and forgotten.  So when I found it, I thought, hey I'll listen to these in the car.  You must understand that for many, many years I drove around listening to children's music like Raffi in the car.  Then I drove around listening to my teens's favorite playlists.  But now with all my kids older, I do a lot of driving around alone or with children who are plugged into their own ipods or with children who don't mind if I listen to something of my own. I have been using this time to self-educate mostly.  I love those Modern Scholar audios. They have a bunch at my library.  I've listened to several now doing all my driving errands.  So when I came across the Agatha Christie collection, I pounced on it! I hadn't done any fiction listening yet.



I actually started listening about a week before we left for Europe.  I found the stories charming, well crafted, and well read.  They were really soothing to me in my pre-trip jitters.  So I was very much looking forward to resuming listening when I got back.  Since I've been driving kids to and from camp I've been able to finish them up fairly quickly.  There are twenty-two stories in all and it takes a while to get through them all.  They are narrated by well known British actors including David Suchet who plays Inspector Poirot in the BBC series.  He has got the most sonorous voice and of course, when he speaks as Inspector Poirot, he IS Inspector Poirot.  I have only watched a few of the Inspector Poirot shows, as well as the movie Murder on the Orient Express.  I'm late coming to appreciate mysteries as a genre of literature.  I first enjoyed the Lord Peter Wimsey stories and that kind of opened me up to trying other mystery writers.



These short stories are impeccably written.  Christie really was a wordsmith.  In just a few lines she sets the stage for an intriguing plot, paints a very vivid picture of what is going on and develops characters deftly. She hooks you into the mystery right away.  This collection of stories really made me appreciate the art of the short story as well as the intrigue of a well constructed mystery.  I enjoyed every one of the stories, but much to my surprise my favorite ones were not Inspector Poirot's.  I really most heartily enjoyed the ones that don't contain any well known detective:  A Fruitful Sunday, The Girl on the Train, and The Red Signal - all were just great stories.  I loved the Miss Marple mystery, The Thumb Mark of St. Peter.  My favorite Poirot story (and most of the stories are Poirot) was The Listerdale Mystery.



These stories are a joy.  I plan to give them to my daughter to enjoy when she's driving back to Dallas in August.

Two enthusiastic thumbs up!

For more reviews please go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Plans for this blog

Been thinking about this blog, in between times of thinking of lots of other stuff!  In other words, occasionally a thought floats to the top of my mind and I think I should do more with this blog!

But life is busy and promises to get busier!

So.

I think my goal will be as follows:

Blog for my 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge on either Saturday night or Sunday morning (usually).

I think I'll start up Strewsday Tuesday again.  I gave it up and tried to give it away but it kind of fell by the wayside.  Resurrection time!  (This will speak to my unschooling side!)

I've tried 7 Quick Takes that originated with Jennifer Fulwiler, but I don't think in terms of 7 Quick Takes when I am trying to sum up my week.  I didn't find it satisfactory.  I like to read other people's 7 Quick Takes, though.

So instead of 7 Quick Takes, I think I might try to participate in Like Mother, Like Daughter's pretty, happy, funny, real meme.  I might not make it every Thursday but it is a neat way to capture life as it is lived.  And it will force me to be able to post photos on the blog! (This will help make me more intentional in daily living - hopefully!)

I really liked participating in the Weekly Report from The Well Trained Mind.  I found that a good way for me to keep track of what is going on here academically.  I find I like to be able to report on who is reading what, what they are studying in math, what declension or chapter we got to in Latin.  Nitty gritty boring stuff, but it is fun to do it with a group of moms and get a peek into their homeschools as well. (This will speak to my more classical ed. side!)

So Sunday (books), Tuesday (strewing), Thursday (pretty, happy, funny, real - just as soon as I figure it out!), Friday - Weekly Report.

Starting next week.

What is in Store for this Week - 7/17-7/22

Becky begins her music camp this week.  This is a three week day camp (I only send her half day which means she gets out at 1:00) that she has attended for the last 4 or 5 years.  She loves it.  She learns an instrument (this year the piano), as well as songs and dance.  She participates in an Orff class.  They also have a couple of crafts the kids do.  The theme this year is The British Isles, so they will learn everything from madrigals to Benjamin Britten to the Beatles and punk rock!  The camp does a great job every year.  Last year the theme was New Orleans, another year it was music from around the world (Becky learned a lot of geography and a song in Chinese).  This means we have to get out the door every morning by 8:45 with a packed lunch, which isn't too hard to do.

Sean attends our parish's Junior High Workcamp this week.  This begins Wednesday night with a two hour presentation.  They get assigned to their particular work, hear inspirational talks, sing hymns and have a fun reception.  Then on Thursday, Friday and Saturday the go out and work at whatever their mission is.  Last year Sean weeded the gardens of a convent/monastery, went door to door soliciting food for a food bank and then went back two days later to collect the food which then had to be sorted. They come back from their assignments mid-afternoon to relax, play games, listen to talks, go to confession, etc.  They end the workcamp with the vigil Mass on Saturday.  Sean had a very good time last year and is excited to attend again this year.  Next year, he'll be old enough to go away to workcamp for a whole week.

Today we have the pest control guys coming to take care of our possible bedbug problem (the little critters we brought back from Europe).  At the same time the cleaners will be here.  They haven't been here for three weeks because while we were gone the electricity was out so they couldn't vacuum, etc.  In the middle of this, I'll have to leave to pick up Becky.  I have lots of laundry to do.  All the clothes that have been lying around our bedroom in heaps have to be washed and dried.  The dryer kills the bedbugs!

A great thing that came out of this creepy bedbug situation is that Rick finally got to all the junk that has piled up around the corners of his desk in our bedroom.  It was awful.  But last night at about 8:30, he suddenly got busy.  He finished around 10:20 p.m.  I was so tired by then!  But now our bedroom looks much neater!  Hurrah!  That was an eyesore that has been bothering me for YEARS!  See!  There's always a silver lining!

One thing I'd love to figure out this week is how to put photos from Europe on this blog.  Gotta corner Rick at some point and get him to show me (again!).

Other things besides the usual shopping, cooking, tidying, pet care, reading and writing:

• take the dog to get washed
• put give aways out on the driveway this Wednesday for the Lupus Foundation truck
• maybe work on Aquinas Learning stuff
• Even though it takes a lot of time to drive Becky back and forth to the music camp, I love that I can listen to audios in the car.  Right now I'm listening to a collection of Agatha Christie short stories read by lovely British actors.  Really fun!
• I want to try to finish up The Creed in Slow Motion, so I need to remember to read it every afternoon or evening to Becky and Sean
• Continue to read Anne of Avonlea to Becky and Rick
• try to reschedule Sean's appt.  

So that's this week!  Let her roll!

The Evidential Power of Beauty - Book 29

The Evidential Power of Beauty: Science Meets Theology by Thomas Dubay.  Thomas Dubay was a well loved Marist priest who passed away a few years ago.  He was a popular author, retreat director, counselor and television lecturer on EWTN.  He was known for his depth, intellect and sense of humor.  He was a really gentle man.  You can read more about him here.

Anyway, this title has been intriguing me for years and I finally got around to reading this book on my kindle.

Father Dubay starts out with the science portion of the book.  First he defines what beauty is.  Physicists, astronomers, microbiologists and others, often use the word beauty or elegance or similar terms to describe their findings.  He quotes scientists as saying when they discover something that is beautiful they know it is true.  Mathematics has this simple yet sophisticated elegance and it is the basis for everything in the world.  So what is beauty?  In order to define this he must also define what ugly is and also why some people can't recognize beauty as well as others.

I have to note that in this section of the book, I really disagreed with his very cursory treatment of rock music as 'ugly.'  I think he's thinking rock music is just heavy metal.  I don't think he's seriously listened to any of the many types of rock music for long.  There's soft rock - is the song Cats in the Cradle or songs by James Taylor, for instance, ugly? There are many examples of rock songs that are really poetry put to a beat.  Poetry that moves us, reflects emotions and the human condition in a poignant and compelling and highly listenable way.  Comparing music written for the courts or high society in Europe - which is what 'classical' music is, is not taking a very broad view of music from all over the world.  Rock music is closer to folk music, except that it got exploited commercially and used to define generations so as to make them better consumers of goods that Madison Avenue wants to sell them.  Divide and conquer is a good selling strategy, it turns out.  Some rock music is really awful and ugly and evil.  But even then beauty peeps through.  I think the Guns and Roses song Child of Mine is wonderful because you can't believe such a tender love-filled lullaby can come from such a source!  Or Kurt Cobain's scream of Here We Are Now, Entertain Us.  So lost, so full of sorrow.  It is beautiful because of its tragedy and the truth that it gives us a glimpse of.  So I think even in ugly places, beauty peeps through, sometimes.

But that really is just a quibble.  This book is so large and attempts to cover so much, that this differing of opinion didn't deter me from taking the other things Father Dubay said seriously.

Father goes on to really delve into the myriad of examples of beauty in science.  He divides this into three chapters:  Macromarvels - exploring the cosmos, Midimarvels - the world we see around us and Micromarvels - the microscopic world.  In each chapter he gives example after example of the wonders that scientists have discovered on each level, wonders of amazing complexity and unfathomable detail and searing beauty.

He then gets into the Intelligent Design theory which he obviously agrees with.  I was a little cautious reading this because I have heard good solid believers criticize this approach as shallow.  The main argument I've heard is the 'God of the Gaps" response, which is that if something is irreducibly complex, then it must mean it is designed to be that way.  I am not sophisticated enough to know if Father Dubay was really arguing this.  I am a creationist in that I believe God is the creator.  How He did it, I leave to science to find out.  I do think it is perfectly reasonable to look around and think that somebody must have started all this!  The more I learn about science (which isn't so much since I am not scientifically minded) the more I marvel at the universe's amazing qualities, which in turn makes me praise and thank the Creator.  Beauty does point me to my Creator.  I do think that analogy of the man walking along the beach who finds a watch (and has never seen one before) will automatically know it was not something that nature developed but rather something designed by an intelligent being, makes perfect sense.

Maybe the problem with the irreducible design argument is that if and when scientists realize things are reducible, will that prove that God wasn't the designer?  To me that seems like a narrow reading of God's capabilities when it comes to creating.

Father Dubay then goes on to discuss the Big Bang theory (developed by a priest) and the anthropic principle, which I've heard about before.  That is, that if the universe had expanded a fraction of time more slowly or more quickly, life and thus mankind could never have come about.  The first time I heard this was many years ago trying to read a book by Brian Swimme.  It absolutely sent chills up and down my spine!

The second half of the book is devoted to how Theology also uses beauty as a test for proof.  The most beautiful example of this is the sanctity of the saints.  This chapter is a wonderful read, very deeply spiritual.  He also talks about the beauty of revelation and the mystical experience of God as a glimpse of the beauty we will find in heaven.  It made me want to read Father Dubay's book The Fire Within which focuses on the mysticism of St. Theresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross.

This book is a JOYFUL read.  There is so much contained in this book.  Father Dubay writes in a very accessible and personal way, so it is not hard to read at all, but because there is so much mind-blowing food for thought here, it takes a while to get through it and digest it all.  I am sure I didn't give it enough time and could probably benefit from rereading it one or more times to really let it sink in.

So I give this book two thumbs up!  If you want to read more reviews go to 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Reading Routine

I want to do so much reading out loud this coming year. I've had trouble narrowing things down. I really wanted to read a version of Plutarch's Lives out loud, for instance. I've been thinking about that ever since I stumbled onto Ambleside Online years ago. However, I've had to restrain my ambitions, since it turns out that in Sean's Schola Alta program, he'll be reading Famous Men of Greece and Rome this coming year, it seems that it would be redundant to read aloud also what would be much the same material.  So, sadly, I put Plutarch away. Instead, I've lighted up the idea of reading Bullfinch's Mythology out loud. I think this is a good idea because 1) Both Sean and Becky are very interested in mythology. 2) the book I'm using is an old one given to my Aunt Jackie by her Aunt Stella for her 13th birthday. I think they'll think that is kind of cool. 3) I've heard some say Bullfinch's is dry but I've been reading it and I think it is charming! I think the kids will get a lot of out of it.  I'll only attempt to read the first part, The Age of Fable.

Anyway, the problem is trying to find a time to read aloud because we'll be out bright and early two mornings a week so no morning reading then.  Becky and I will be off to Aquinas Learning on Mondays and then Sean will go to a different Aquinas Learning on Thursdays (one that has the Schola Alta).  Usually our reading is done pretty casually over breakfast and sometimes lunch.  Breakfast has become difficult because of late risers and grumpy-in-the-morning people who only want to be left alone to wake up.  However, since we will have to be up two mornings a week, I hope we'll get in the habit of rising at a reasonable time and getting into the mood for learning in a slightly quicker fashion.  Yesterday I came up with a plan and taped it up over my desk so I'll remember it when fall rolls around.

Evening means dinner or just after dinner.

Monday evening - Catechism
Tuesday morning - Saint or Religious reading
Tuesday evening - Bullfinch's Mythology<br /> Wednesday morning - Bullfinch's Mythology
Friday morning - The Story of Science (first volume by Joy Hakim)

Every night - read alouds - regular literature/fiction read alouds by either me or Rick.

Every day - a reading hour devoted to assigned or good reading (gotta find a consistent block of time for this)

Mom and Sean - Philosophy reading - Tuesday afternoons (Becky is at art and Josh will be at Physics so it is perfect Mom and Sean time.)

Mom and Josh - Great Books reading discussion - Friday mornings.

Happy 11th Birthday to Becky!

I can not believe my youngest child is 11 years old today!  I remember being so very overwhelmed when all five children were home and Becky was younger.  Ah, it is best not to think about it too much.  I think I have a lot of regrets.  I wish I'd been a better mother.  More patient, less cranky, more creative, stricter about TV and computer time.  I definitely used those last two as babysitters.  Sigh.

Let me shake myself out of that funk!

 We got home from Spain late Saturday afternoon. We were exhausted. After checking on all the pets and getting laundry started, Rick went out and got subs from Subway and we watched the beginning of the first Lord of the Rings movie. We all went to bed at 7 p.m!

 Sunday we got up at 5 a.m. Still on Spain time! We all went to 10:00 mass. Then Rick and Sean went off to see The Amazing Spiderman movie and Becky and I did something special. We picked up a friend of hers and we went and had lunch at the American Girl store near us. It was really fun. The food was good and that place really knows little girls! Everything was perfect. Becky got a Julie minidoll and a new doll hairbrush.

 Becky proceeded to spend the next two days brushing her dolls' hair. I'm not kidding. She LOVES to do her dolls hair. I think she should go to beauty school. That way she'll always have hairdressing to fall back on if no other career pans out. She got to play over at another friend's house Wednesday afternoon, so both girls spent most of their time playing with their dolls. Last night, we went back to the American Girl store and I let Becky buy the rest of her gifts (keep in mind she's our youngest! We spoil her rotten!). She got one of those Just Like Me Dolls (number 44), a new outfit for a doll, a doll hat, the McKenna movie and Licorice the cat.

 Today, her actual birthday, she is having one or two friends over from her art class for lunch. Then they are going to watch the new McKenna movie. I told her she HAS to clean her room up before then, so we made lunch a little later (1:00 p.m.) So today will be a busy day cleaning, making brownies and lunch and then making dinner. Becky requested Shepherds Pie for her birthday dinner.

 So I guess I'd better get busy!

Name Change

I changed the name of this blog. Just a bit. It is now actually the combination of my first blog's title and the Strewing one. I've been thinking about changing the name for a while. My initial vision for this Strewing blog was to be a resource for unschoolers, but our family has moved away from unschooling as being the primary form of our education. Of the remaining three of five kids left here at home, Josh is 17 and about to finish his last year of high school here at home. He's done a pretty typical course of study, even though it hasn't always sat well with him, he couldn't seem to come up with an alternative plan, so unschooling kind of went by the wayside. A typical course of study was the default mode of operation. I'm not happy with it but it was how things fell out for him. My 13 year old, Sean, really wants to go to school. He's been terribly unhappy at home. He's stuck with home for one more year at least, but in order to counter his restlessness, boredom and misery, I find myself really micromanaging his time. He can not seem to cope on his own. My husband and I have some concerns and are going to seek counseling for him. It is hard to live with someone so unhappy. My just about to turn 11 year old, Becky, is very happy doing a formal classical curriculum which involves going to a "school" one day a week. It is a great balance for her when it comes to socialization and structure. She gets lots of free time to be really creative with her dolls, read, etc. And frankly, the vision behind this curriculum has ignited my own love for learning in a fresh and new way. I love it! I find myself becoming more and more committed to it.

 So I feel like the blog title had become a misnomer. My family is just too unstable when it comes to finding a niche for our style of learning. We shift back and forth, back and forth. It is a totally natural movement and if I insisted on remaining unschoolers in some ideological way, it would be untrue to who we are. At the same time, highly formal, structured learning a la The Well Trained Mind or something like that is grating and a real strain. We are some where in the middle constantly moving slightly up or down the spectrum.

Shirt of Flame by Heather King -Book 28

Shirt of Flame is the third book I've read by Heather King. She never fails to deliver! This is a profound journal of one year of her life, living in Koreatown in Los Angeles as a struggling, divorced, middle-aged writer who also happens to be in love with God and has adopted St. Therese of Lisieux as her muse. This book is so well written. King is a really gifted author who found her voice later in life than most and is making up for it! She is also a deeply intelligent and an honest observer of the human condition in our time, who can bridge the gap between the secular lost souls of today and the wisdom and piety of yesterday, especially in the voice of St. Therese of Lisieux. She is truly a gift from God.

 I've read her book Parched, about her years struggling with alcoholism, her next book, Redeemed, about her slow conversation to Catholicism and now this book, about trying to live out that conversion. I think Heather King is on the road to sainthood. Read her books and feel clsoer to God. For more book reviews, go to 52 Books.

Penrod by Booth Tarkington -Book 27

Penrod by Booth Tarkington has been on my imaginary to read list for ages and ages. I was asking around for suggestions on what to read on our long airplane flights and someone suggested this book. Oh yeah, I thought! I've been meaning to read that book! So I did! And I thoroughly enjoyed it and laughed a lot too because it is a very funny book.

 Penrod is an 11 year old boy at the turn of the last century, living somewhere in the northeast, I think. He has a mother and father and a pretty older sister named Maraget. Penrod is a bit like Tom Sawyer, in that he is always getting himself into scrapes and rebelling against the niceties that society is always pushing on him. Penrod gets himself in and out of trouble in many different ways. Tarkington writes about it all from Penrod's perspective and we can see how one thing he does leads to another and the whole catastrophe is laid out with perfect reasonableness and with the reader knowing what must ensue. I started this book on the plane but I finished it sitting in a little outdoor cafe in Avila, Spain. The book transported me into Penrod's world and had me laughing out loud all alone in an exotic, foreign place. Tarkington's pacing, wording, and wry wit are excellent!

 Apparently Penrod used to be as popular as Tom Sawyer, but fell from favor because Tarkington does have some racist language and caricatures in his book. While there is some for sure, it is not prominent. I found it ironic though that the two black boys who are introduced as new neighbors of Penrod's are wonderful characters, screamingiy funny and often a bit smarter than Penrod in a way. Penrod definitely is in awe of them. So while there is some racism there, there is also, rather astonishingly, some admiration and wonderful character drawing as well.

 I give Penrod two thumbs up!

 For more book reviews see 52 Books in 52 Weeks.