Thimble Summer - Book 41

Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright is a delightful story of one summer when Garnet Linden is 9 years old.  She lives on a farm somewhere in Wisconsin perhaps during the 1920s.  It's hot, so hot, and there are bills to be paid and a drought going on, but good times and adventures find their way to her.  It really is a wonderfully cozy read.  My husband overheard some of the book and remarked at how well written the prose is.  Elizabeth Enright also wrote Gone-Away Lake and other well-known children's books.

Both this book and the previous one, The Prairie Thief, are serving as wholesome antidotes for us right now.  My daughter had the misfortune of reading the book Twelve by Lauren Myracle.  My daughter had recently read the book Eleven by the same author and was longing for the next installment.  It wasn't to be found at the library so (where I could pre-read/skim it), and unbeknowst to me, she talked her father into buying her a copy from Amazon.  Parents beware!  Ms. Myracle has taken it on herself to explain to young girls everywhere the functioning of male anatomy.  She also has a very scary (to a young girl on the verge of adolescence) incident involving tampons.  This book has a cartoony cover and is being marketed to girls ages 10 and up.  My daughter was so traumatized by this book that she came to me sobbing and it took me awhile to get out of her what she had read.  It took several days for her to get over this.  She'd come to me, "Mommy, those bad feelings are coming because I remembered the book!"  And I'd have to hug her a long time and talk gently to her.  Now my daughter has been told the facts of life, so it is not like I am remiss in that regard, but this book really upset her.  I believe it is the sort of book that really is priming kids to read more titillating, salacious stuff later in their teen years.  The sort of book that makes sex into something to giggle and gossip about.  It hardens girls to think their virtue is cheap and that everybody knows more, is doing it, etc.  Thanks, but no thanks, Ms. Myracle.  I do not appreciate you butting into my daughter's life, seducing her with your story-telling abilities and then freaking her out.  To hell with you, I say.  To hell with all those people who exploit young children like this by deceitfully taking away their innocence in such a candy-coated, cunning way.    So many of the books aimed at middle schoolers do this.  I remember reading Judy Blume and feeling dirty afterwards.  Ms. Myracle even references Blume's books.  I guess that was her salute to an author she's obviously trying to emulate.   Sorry, ladies, you'll get no respect from me!  Crass, shallow interlopers you are!  Get your fat noses out of my daughter's life!  Who are you to appoint yourselves my daughter's sex ed teachers?  Presumptuous, officious and exploitative, that's what I think of you!

But Thimble Summer soothed us with its intelligent, authentic, untrendy heroine.  Absorbed us with the deep feelings of Garnet, the feelings of love and security that wafted from its atmosphere and characters.  We snuggled up together, shared and bonded.  Thank you Elizabeth Enright, for your gift that healed!  Thank you for Thimble Summer!  And it made me in retrospect, really appreciate Melissa Wiley's The Prairie Thief, all the more.

For more book reviews go to 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Week in Review 9/28/12

Monday was Becky's Aquinas Learning Day.  She enjoys going to 'school' for a day.  On that day all the memory work is introduced.  The kids also get a Good Books discussion, a lesson in music (yours truly trying to lead it.  Yikes!) lunch, recess, IEW/grammar class and Philosophy for Children.  Below is our Wall of Learning for Week 2.  This goes up on Tuesday morning.

As you can tell from the blue painter tape, I could not find the scotch tape!

Here's a close up of our Latin memory work for the week.

Becky also went to her second American Heritage Girls meeting Monday.  I guess that busy day was too much for her, because she woke up Tuesday morning with a bad sore throat.  She was okay if I kept giving her Advil but she was not up for attending her Art class.  That means she's missed the first two classes.  A fact that makes her very sad.  She did do a tiny bit of schoolwork - geography and one page of math but that was it.  Wednesday, the sore throat was mostly gone but she was completely stuffed up and even more miserable.  So she missed Historical Swordsmanship too.  Thursday we did some more AL activity sheets, mostly orally but she still wasn't 100% so she missed gymnastics.  Poor thing.  She's had not such a good week.  Instead we rented the movie Tin Tin and watched it, I read the book Thimble Summer out loud to her, she watched lots of episodes of Phineas and Ferb and lots of AG how to videos, as well as lots of Good Mythical Morning videos.  And she spent a lot of time just brushing and playing with her dolls' hair.  She even took her old Samantha doll apart and restuffed her! And she's been reading the Prairie Thief as well.

Sean is really doing well this year academically.  I know it's only been a couple weeks for his Aquinas Learn stuff, but he was starting off really well before that too with his math and science and handwriting.  He's much more into math than he was last year, he suddenly has no problem with handwriting, something he abhorred last year.  He is really into doing his Aquinas Learning homework and works very hard and diligently!  Hooray!   Here are all his books for this year, including the non-Aquinas Learning math and Life Science.

Left column:  Art of Argument, Lost Tools of Writing, All Ye Lands, Saxon Algebra I, Elementary Greek.  Right column:  Wheelock's Latin along with a special workbook that distills Wheelock for 7th and 8th graders, Catechism Student Resource book (especially for AL) and finally Life Science.

Josh is still job searching.  Sigh.  But he got a 104% on his last Physics exam!  Hooray for that too!  I'm making Josh earn his keep by running errands for me.  I had a terrible migraine all night Monday and ever since my stomach has been unsettled.  I don't know what's wrong with me, but his running errands has been wonderful.   He's gotten to be a very good driver.  So he's been working his way through Saxon's Advanced Math, studying Gov't with his dad (the lesson this week involved reading the whole Declaration of Independence), studying and attending his Physic class and then outlining Warriner's English Grammar and Composition, 5th course, reading How to Read a Book and today he'll watch the next lecture in The American Identity lecture series, work on his timeline and then we begin the first lesson in D'Angelo's Composition in the Classical Tradition.

I'm glad it's Friday.  With me feeling under the weather and Becky's cold and the fact that my husband has been crazy stressed at work this week, working long hours and then coming home so drained he looked pale and drawn, I am ready for the weekend!  I plan to let him sleep in as much as possible and watch as many football/baseball games as he likes!  Tonight I volunteered to help out at our parish's Jr High Youth Group kick off.  What was I thinking!!!  Ah well, I can relax on Saturday for the most part.  Though I have to plan my Religious ed class for Sunday morning and I'm helping to teach the K-3 kids their Science lesson on Monday at AL.  Good thing I enjoy lesson planning, LOL!

Seano finally finished his little leaf collection project.

{pretty, happy, funny, real} 9/27/12

{pretty}

One day last week, outside our front door

That's all I got this week!

Strewsday Tuesday - 9/25/12

Becky's been her busy self:

She played with food dye again to make beautiful colors.

She found a Pilsbury pre-made pie crust in the fridge and that inspired her to find a recipe on mini apple pies, which she made all by herself. Very yummy.  Here's the very last one saved for Daddy's breakfast!

She's also been playing a lot on the American Girl site, making business cards for herself because she recently receive her Red Cross Babysitters Certification.

Seano's latest thing is watching these guys on youtube every morning before he starts his day.

I found this one especially interesting. I had no idea zipper was once a brand name! Ya learn something every day!

So what's strewing with you???

The Prairie Thief - Book 40

Last week's book was kind of heavy. And I'm also currently reading a rather dry book with my 17 year old, How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler, so I felt the need to read something light this week. I took The Prairie Thief from my 11 year old (she was on the 3rd chapter!), cruel mother that I am! I had bought it because I sorta, kinda know the author. I met her once at a homeschooling conference and I've known her on line for many years. She has a blog, Here In the Bonny Glen and she also authored The Martha Years and the Charlotte Years books (prequels to the Little House books). I read those books out loud to my daughter several years ago and we loved them. So I was eager to read The Prairie Thief, and it proved a lovely, light read. It was so refreshing to read something directed at middle school kids that wasn't dark or trying so hard to be 'edgy'or 'real' to that age group. Instead it is a fun yarn with lots of unexpected twists and a very satisfying ending.

So now I can give it back to my daughter.

For more book reviews, please go to 52 Books.

Meals - once again!

I'm like a hamster on a wheel, running round and round and never getting anywhere. Anytime I start to really focus on nutrition and making homemade, healthy meals, other things get neglected. When studies and activities heat up, good wholesome food goes by the wayside and carry out becomes our best friend.

This past week was the first, completely-up-to-speed-academically-speaking and well, we ate a lot of junk. So I am resolved, this weekend, to focus on preparing for the week so we are good to go meal-wise for the whole 21 meals plus snacks cycle. Actually, 22 meals because I'll include tonight's (Friday).

Friday:

Gnocchi in Gorgonzola sauce (okay this is Trader Joe's frozen but Becky requested it and it is already 4 o'clock here so I am letting myself cheat here!)
Big fancy tossed green salad
Applesauce (there's an open jar that must be eaten up!)

Saturday:

B: bagels and cr. ch.
L: sandwiches (lunch meats - roast beef, turkey, ham, pastrami)
D: homemade chicken noodle soup (Becky's request - I actually planned this week while driving Becky to the dentist so it is everything she likes). This means I have to make the chicken broth tonight! I have leftover chicken in the fridge from a couple nights ago. Probably make some bread too, to go with it.

Sunday:

B: breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts (It is our new Sunday breakfast routine this year because I'm teaching RE at 9:30 on Sunday mornings.)
L: Leftover soup and sandwiches
D: Rick grills something, corn on the cob, salad

Monday:

B: eat up last of bagels from Saturday
L: sandwiches again, have to pack lunch for Becky
D: quiche, fruit salad, rolls (make quiche on Sunday evening)

Tuesday:

B: bacon and eggs,fruit or juice
L: fish sticks, homemade fries
D: Shepherd's pie, salad

Wednesday:

B: cinnamon toast, hot cocoa, nice cheeses, fruit
L: leftovers, pb&j
D: roast chicken, rice, steamed veggies

Thursday:

B: sausage and eggs, fruit juice
L: pack a sandwich for Sean, grilled cheese for Becky and Josh
D: pizza

Friday:

B: oatmeal, fruit
L: tuna or pb&j with fruit
D: mac and cheese casserole, veggies, canned peaches

Snacks: popcorn, chips and salsa, trail mix, fruit, drinkable yogurts, granola bars

So here goes! I'm off to the store!

Week in Review - 9/21/12

One really great thing we did over the weekend with Becky's American Heritage Girls Troop:  we participated in an Honor Flight.  We met World War II veterans at the airport and forming a long line, waving flags, we cheered and greeted them, shaking their hands and telling them thank you for their invaluable service so long ago.  It was really emotional.  My dad was a Navy fighter pilot in the Pacific and if he hadn't passed away eight years ago (he'd be 92 now) he could have been among those vets (well, except for the fact that this group was all from Wisconsin!).  It was pretty cool.  I highly recommend participating in an Honor Flight.  I'd really like to do it again. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. Rick took pictures on his phone but I have no idea how to get them off of there and onto here!  Plus his cell phone is with him at work and not here at home!

Monday - first day of our Becky's Aquinas Learning Center. Things went well, I think. I thought I had locked my purse in my car with my keys. Called Josh who brought me a second key. Then I found that I had left my purse in one of the classrooms. Duh. Anyway, I think the kids enjoyed the learning. Becky told us the whole story of Twelfth Night on the way home. And she talked about her writing homework and the Philosophy for Children characters they learned about too. Sean and Josh had math with the tutor in the a.m. and then worked at the library near the ALC. Sean is very into his ALC where he's doing the Schola Alta. He did some Latin homework for it, some Life Science for me, some math homework for his tutor and read some more of the Golden Fleece for literature. So he had a really good school day. Not sure what Josh did at the library. He was going to read How to Read a Book and work on the second chapter of his grammar book.  He did read his Government stuff in the evening.

Tuesday - Had a hard time getting started this a.m.  Weather was windy and rainy.  Rick taught Josh and friend Government in the dining room while I tried to get started with Becky and Sean but it was slow going initially.  Sean doesn't want me to teach him anymore.  He just wants to do his Aquinas Learning stuff and his math for the math tutor.  I said no.  Though I do think I'm going to give up on Bullfinch's Mythology, featured prominently in this pages a few days ago.  I feel as if time is getting tight and the kids' interest has waned.  With Becky:  we reviewed AL memory sentences, she did copy work, we worked together on the AL history page which was fun - filled in dates on a timeline and then made a family tree.  Becky also did a bit of math.  Sean wanted to do everything on his own, so he went up to his room and worked.  He did the rest of his Latin homework, another chapter in math and wrote an essay in history.  Josh's Physics class got cancelled due to the tornado watch and Becky didn't go to her first Art class of the year either because of the weather.  Josh worked on math in the late afternoon.

Wednesday - math tutor came in a.m. for Sean and Josh.  Becky did some copy work and math and her geography worksheet.  Sean went to art class while Josh ran errands for me.  Sean came home and did his history essay.  Sean and Becky went off to historic swordsmanship.  Josh worked on grammar.  Got home and I helped Sean write his first lit. essay on Jason (from The Golden Fleece).  Then Sean did his Logic homework as well.  I've been reading history at night from All Ye Lands to both Sean and Becky.  Josh ran more errands and then went to CLC.  Becky read the book Frindle in one night! Beautiful fall weather meant we spent some time outdoors.

The stinkbugs were out, but so was this fellow, who decided to dine with us on the screen porch.

Sean enjoying the lovely weather.

Thursday - got up early and got Sean to his Aquinas Learning Center.  Came home, Becky and Josh were still sleeping in!  Got them up.  Josh read and am not sure what else.  Becky and did copy work, math, Latin and she worked on her Key Word Outline for writing.  Josh went to Physics class.  Took Becky to her gymnastics class which she really loves.  Sean got dropped off for me.  That was very generous of the lady driving him for me.  Sean announced that once again Latin was his favorite class.  Came home and vegged out.  Made huge vat of overnight slow cooker oatmeal.  I'm the breakfast fairy for the 6:15 Teen Mass and  Breakfast.

Friday - well, had an epic oatmeal fail!  The water to oatmeal ratio was way off - too soupy by far!  So I was in the grocery store at 6 some thing this a.m. buying croissants and cinnamons rolls to substitute for my oatmeal gruel.  But anyway, Josh got to the Teen mass (1st of the year). Then we came home and watched the next lecture on William Penn.  Josh worked on his history timeline.  Then Josh and I were supposed to meet over grammar and writing and HtRAB.  But we are both waaayyy behind in HTRAB and though we did talk grammar a little bit we talked more about his plans for the next year or two.  We decided we'd officially start writing next Friday.  I read History of Science out loud to Becky and Sean.  Sean did some math and Becky finished up her Aquinas Learning Activity sheets on science and grammar.  Then they both worked briefly on the leaf collection project started last week.  Then Becky  had to go back to the dentist and that pretty much ended any official school work for the week.

This has been the first full week both kids are back doing Aquinas Learning and I am really pleased.  It seems to be just enough structure, just enough 'school', that it really motivates them.  They have a clear differentiation between what is expected of them academically and when they can just vege around. As an unschooler for most of my homeschooling life, this was something that I didn't like.  I wanted life and 'learning' to be one and the same, however, I am finding my kids like dividing up things into what is formally expected of them and when they can just follow their own independent rabbit trail.  They've been spending a lot of this week making goofy videos together and then editing them with background music, sound effects, little visual jokes, etc.  A very engrossing project for them both.  Becky's done lots of reading, Sean has been really into reading online about lots of things going on with space exploration.  Both have played outside a good deal.  So it isn't like they don't have free time to pursue their interests.  But at the same time they are very satisfied to work on school formally and feel good about going down that checklist and accomplishing things.  I really think with Aquinas Learning, we have found our groove.  Sean and Becky both announced this week they did not want to go to school but would be happy to homeschool all the way through!  And this from Seano who has been talking about school for more than a year now.  That's how much Aquinas Learning suits us!

All in all, a very good week!

Strewing 9/18/12

Fun and light strewing. Becky has discovered fancy duct tape and has done all sorts of things with it:

Like covering and strengthening a hoola hoop.

She made me this bookmark out of a piece of cardboard and duct tape!  Complete with tassel! 

She also covered a headband and a pencil.

That's all for now, folks!  Any strewing going on at your place?

Strength in What Remains - Book 39

I'm on a little African kick, after The White Nile. This book, Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder, (winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Mountains Beyond Mountains), is about a young medical student named Deogratias from the country of Burundi. I'd read Tracy Kidder's books Among Schoolchildren and House, so about a year ago when I was picking up books for my teens at B&N, the store had one of those tables with the buy two get one free. And Strength in What Remains was my choice for that third free book. I kept meaning to read it. So now, interested in all things African, I remembered it and got it down from the bookshelf.

Strength in What Remains is the harrowing and almost miraculous true story of how Deogratias (Deo) escapes the brutal ethnic violence in his country and somehow eventually manages to flee to New York City where he is homeless and can not speak the language. However, a few generous people choose to help him and two years after arriving, he enters Columbia University!

Burundi is a tiny country next to Rwanda and it shares the ethnic groups of Tutsi and Hutu. The same genocidal movement that was so horrendous in Rwanda also occurred in Burundi. Rwanda's genocide actually lasted 4 months, but Burundi's trouble took the form of a civil war and lasted for years and years. And it rendered Burundi, already poor to begin with, one of the poorest countries on earth.

The book details Deo's journey and it is told exceptionally well. Kidder is actually a friend of Deo's. He met him while researching his book Mountains Beyond Mountains and they knew each other several years before he accompanied Deo on one of his trips back to Burundi. Deo has a dream of opening a clinic in his native land. Deo had entered Dartmouth medical school, but his dream of getting healthcare to his poor, beleaguered countrymen is greater than his desire to become a doctor and at the end of the book he has stopped his medical education to devote himself full time to making his clinic happen. If you want to find out how he did, go to the Village Health Works site and see!

This book is chilling, deeply moving and surprisingly joyful. Deogratias is a wounded, wounded soul who, in spite of himself, is indomitable. I found this book to be a real education, in modern African history, in international public health issues, in how one man copes with the unimaginable, and through sheer perseverance and will, honesty and intelligence, can turn his own personal horror into a little glimmer of hope. In the face of terrific cruelty, one man's sense of decency triumphs.

Two thumbs up. For more book reviews go to 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Week in Review 9/14/12

Monday - was supposed to go on a tour of a school we are looking at for high school for Sean. Fought traffic and got there a bit late only to find out that the tour was for middle schoolers. Oops. So we go on 9/19 for the high school tour. Came home and did morning studies with Becky and Sean. Josh was supposed to be doing his own thing but I don't think he was. Then we were off to our Aquinas Learning Center's parent orientation. We are at a new location and trying to work out the kinks. It was pretty chaotic but hopefully everybody learned something and next Monday we'll be good to go on our first day. Becky went to her first American Heritage Girls meeting of the year. The children's music director from the parish has a girl in the troop so she teaches the girls songs (the girls then go and sing at nursing homes). Becky learned Swing Low, Sweet Chariot which she loves and has been singing all week. They also went bird watching around the grounds of the church which Becky thought was fun.

Tuesday - Rick taught Gov't class to Josh and a friend. Originally, this was supposed to happen Sunday afternoon but Rick decided he could take off Tuesday mornings. Both guys were enthusiastic about it afterwards. Josh went off to Physics.

Copywork was from Jeremiah:

Practise honesty and integrity; rescue the man who has been wronged from the hands of his oppressor; do not exploit the stranger, the orphan, the widow; do no violence; shed no innocent blood in this place.

We read more about Manners (Don Quixote) and about Prometheus and fire. We reviewed more Latin - going over declension and conjugations paradigms for 1st and 2nd of both those categories. We reviewed the properties of verbs - voice, mood, tense, number and person. Sean read more of The Golden Fleece and then worked on his Leaf Collection project for Life Science. I never did get to math with Becky though, for some reason.

Wednesday - Math tutor came for the boys. Hooray! While she worked with the boys Becky and I did some work on fractions. Then Sean went to his art class. He liked it a bit better this time. I had to run out to get gardening/work gloves for them both for their historical swordsmanship class which was at 3:30. They both really enjoy the class but it is a lot more physically taxing then you'd realize. The coach is just wonderful. Josh has been working through the first chapter of Warriner's English Grammar and Composition, 5th Course. Wed. night he went to his CLC group.

Thursday - big day for Sean. He started at his Aquinas Learning Center Schola Alta group. We got up early and left the house by 7:20. I was a bad mommy and got him an Egg McMuffin on the way. I wanted him to eat and I knew he would eat that! So I might treat him to an Egg McMuffin on Thursday mornings. We got there right on time. It's an all day thing. He said he had a good time and that his favorite class was Latin! Meanwhile at home with Becky we did some math again, then went off to the library, came home and then off to her gymnastics class. I dropped her there and was supposed to drive over to someone's house who had brought Sean home for me, but I got lost several times. Was very anxious because I picked up Becky 40 minutes late from her gymnastics class, but she was fine. They had a TV in their little waiting area that was showing cartoons. She just sat and watched them until I showed up. She wasn't even aware that I was that late.

Today I hope to do a Friday freewrite, read some more from History of Science, Sean will do math, Becky though has to go to the dentist this a.m. Josh also should work on math homework. Before that, Josh and I are going to 8:30 a.m. mass together and then we are going to meet to discuss How to Read a Book, watch a history lecture from The American Identity and start his history timeline. I told the younger kids they were allowed to sleep in on Fridays so Josh and I could have some one on one time.

I've got two meetings this weekend to get ready for our own Aquinas Learning. Becky and I start on Monday. In addition to that Becky has an Honor Guard to attend Saturday evening with her AHG troop and I am teaching my first 7th grade Sunday school on Sunday morning. And somehow meals need to be planned and shopped for, the house tidied (it is a wreck right now!) and Sunday at sunset Rosh Hashanah starts!

{pretty, happy, funny, real} 9/13/12

{pretty}

I went for a walk this morning around the pond that lies just beyond our backyard.

There were some wild flowers.

The sky was a beautiful autumn blue.

{funny}

(Oops, I think happy was the next category, but I'm too tired to switch the photos around)

I think the idea that people spend 2.5 million dollars on these ugly homes is very funny.  They actually look okay here but in real life, they are big and pretentious and really ugly.  There used to be fruit orchards here.

I like this escapee from someone's garden's pluck, growing up out of the gravel like that!

{happy}

I spied my 17 year old son coming back from his morning walk.

I just thought this was a pretty shot.

{real}

This really is a big drainage pond and it fills up fast when it gets rainy out.

Construction trailer - they are still building the ugly, silly, overpriced box mansions.  More, more, more!

This is looking over the pond at my house, only it is behind those trees so you can't see it!

For more {pretty, happy, funny, real} go to Like Mother, Like Daughter.

Not strewing

I am in scheduling mode right now. I wanted to post this but didn't know how. I asked my local computer guy, Seano. He sat down and wrestled with the computer for about 15 minutes and then, voila! Here it is. If you click on it, it gets bigger!

The White Nile - Book 38

This book (an audio I got out of my local library) continued my armchair explorations into places and history I know very little about. The first book this year that I'm mentally putting into this category was Salt, then later I read about the Basque people. Next I learned about the wanderings of the Blind Traveler. The White Nile continues in this vein of the history of exotic (to me!) places.

The White Nile was written by Alan Moorhead who was a very interesting person in his own right. He was a reporter in North Africa among other places during World War II. He wrote many popular books. The White Nile was published in 1960 and tells the story of the European (mostly British) exploration of the Nile during the 1800s and into the early 1900s. It begins with Sir Richard Burton and his exploring partner John Speke, then goes into depth about the explorers and British governors who followed, General Baker and his beautiful blond wife, Livingston the missionary and Stanley the American newspaper man who 'found' him, the heroic General Gordon the governor-general of Khartoum and many others. The characters and the exploits of these men are detailed in such a comprehensive, articulate and gripping way. Alan Moorhead could really write! I found myself completely captivated by the dangerous and often bizarre events told by Moorhead. He based much of his recounting on journals, letters, and newspaper articles at the time. The book seems impeccably researched.

I know very, very little about African history, especially places like Uganda and The Sudan. This book sent me to my globe and I spent time looking at maps of this area of Africa.

The character that really stands out in this book is General Gordon. In fact while listening to it I thought, wow, this story would make a great movie. It turns out that Hollywood did make a movie about the whole escapade starring Charlton Heston as Gordon in the movie Khartoum made in 1966. It's on my must see list, though I am sure Hollywood strayed from the exact story.

Moorhead's writings are based on his Victorian explorers' writings mostly, so there is quite a bit of bigotry towards the Arabs and African Natives. It is hard to know what is true and what is exaggerated because it is filtered through Victorian British eyes. Moorhead does try to be objective in many ways, but there are also many assumptions and tales that seem a bit slanted, to say the least. The Arabs had been in the area for a long time, making lots and lots of fortunes in the slave trade. The natives are portrayed often as very brutal. The whole Mahdist uprising sounded familiar to my ears just because we've seen this type of thing before with the likes of the Ayatollah in Iran, Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, etc. Islam does seem to lend itself to this sort of cult leader and subsequent instability.

Moorhead himself, born in Australia and spending many years living in England, might have had his own prejudices. One little area that I did know about in Ugandan history was the story of St. Charles Lwanga and the Christian Martyrs. According to Moorhead though the Scottish missionary, whose name I forget, was much more successful then the French missionary priest and there were more Protestant converts than Catholic, but actually there were very few converts at all. The missionaries were having a tough time bringing the populace around. He does talk about the martyrs, how they refused to submit to the Ugandan king who had a proclivity for sodomizing young boys. When Charles Lwanga and others refused, in the name of Christ to allow the king to abuse the boys, they were burned alived. (This whole thing is ironic in light of the scandals that have recently rocked the Church!). Moorhead's book was written in 1960 and I don't know what the situation was like then, but now Uganda is 42% Catholic and growing. There is a vibrate faith culture there and a famous shrine dedicated to the martyrs. So perhaps that French missionary wasn't quite the failure Moorhead makes him out to be!

Moorhead wrote another book about this whole era and place, called The Blue Nile. I'd love to read that too.

For more book reviews go to 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Week in Review - 9/7/12

Monday - Labor Day. I was going to pretend that it was a regular Monday. We were just getting into a groove last week and I didn't want to spoil the momentum. Ha ha. Right in the middle of starting our morning work, the doorbell rang. Our next door neighbors who had been in Jordan for most of the summer visiting relatives had come home the day before. Their kids wanted to play! So Becky and Sean spent most of the day playing with them.

Tuesday - Will's last day before he left for college. He woke up covered in hives! From what we don't know. He spent the morning at the emergency care place in town. This day was shot through with unexpected errands and doing last minute things with Will. Josh went to his physics class.

Wednesday - Will and Rick left very early to catch the train to Boston. We managed to do a pretty normal amount of morning studies. Sean had his first art class, which went ok. Then later he and Becky had their first historical swordsmanship class. That was really cool!

Thursday - did our morning work. Becky had her first gymnastics class, this also turned out to be something that looks really good. Josh went to Physics.

Friday - today I meet with Josh to discuss How to Read a Book among other things. We'll do a normal morning workload. Even Latin. We never did get to Latin this week, but on Fridays we plan to do flashcards and games. We can at least do that much today!

Read Alouds:
Religion - Since we finished our great catechism book last week and we haven't started Aquinas Learning yet, I decided to read this book out loud: Manners in Modern Life; The Poetry of Conduct, The Virtue of Civility. It is EXCELLENT!
History/Mythology - Bullfinch's Mythology - a classic
Science - The Story of Science, Volume I by Joy Hakim - very interesting, lots of great graphics and maps.
Literature - Rick is almost but not quite done reading The Hobbit out loud.

Reading:
Sean is plugging his way through The Golden Fleece by Padriac Colum.

Math:
Becky worked some more on Fractions in Key To workbook

Copy work:

In honor of Labor Day and also because Samuel Gompers is my great great grandfather (and the kids' great, great, great grandfather) we did a quote from him:

Time is the most valuable thing on earth: time to think, time to act, time to extend our fraternal relations, time to become better men, time to become better women, time to become better and more independent citizens.

Sean did the first chapter in his Life Science book.

Next week we go full swing into the academic year beginning Sunday afternoon when Rick starts teaching a government class to Josh and a friend.

No pictures at all this week. My camera's battery died and I couldn't find the charger.

Strewsday Tuesday - 9/4/12

Oh my. It seemed liked the summer stretched out forever and then suddenly time sped up and began to go in fast motion.

No conscious strewing going on right now. Let's see if I can think of any unconscious stuff:

Becky and Sean are both into movie making. Becky has been making videos for her little youtube channel for a while now. She's just discovered the secret to stop motion. Yesterday (or maybe the day before?) she made a cute little 9 second video. It took her a couple of hours to get those 9 seconds! Takes a lot of hard work and patience!

Sean also has been busy making little movies. He got some kind of a special effects program. Yesterday he showed me a little video of himself blowing up in a very impressive fiery explosion. The attention that must be paid to detail is pretty impressive. He asked me if I thought the flash of light that only lasted 1/12 of a second should be longer. I really didn't have an opinion to give him, but he considered the matter very seriously and decided that yes, it should be slightly longer.

Poor Josh has been hunting for a job for several weeks now. He's getting a bit discouraged. Yesterday he had an interview with a local frozen custard place. They said they'd call him in the afternoon to let him know if he got the job. They didn't call. At prayers last night he asked us to pray that he gets a job. I forgot how completely disheartening job hunting is. So he's getting one of those life lessons.

Also, last night we decided to celebrate Labor Day by going out to a Korean BBQ restaurant. Actually, we just decided to go out because Will is a fan of Korean BBQ and since he's leaving this week to go back to Berklee, we thought it would be a nice going away gesture. So we packed everyone up and drove down the road to this restaurant that, it turns out, president Obama brought the president (or prime minister? Sorry, shaky on my titles!) of South Korea when he was visiting. I really love where we live. I love that it is so multicultural you can just go down the road and find a Korean restaurant, but also that you can just happen upon a place where the president of the U.S. has eaten. Apparently Hilary Clinton also ate there once after coming back from a visit to South Korea. The whole family that runs the restaurant got their picture taken with her. The food was good and it is fun because they cook up the bulgogi and such right at the table. After dinner we went to the same frozen custard place and had a 'last day of summer' treat. The place was definitely understaffed. Why didn't they call?

I've been reading Tom Brown's School Days and wanted to watch a film adaptation on it, so we got the old one made in 1940 or something, with Freddie Bartholomew. Becky and Rick watched it with me. And I've been listening to The White Nile on audio in the car and talking about the exploration of the Nile to anyone who listens. It is a fascinating subject!

Sean is also really interested in population. For instance we found out that the whole population of Greenland is something like 1/6th of our county's population. This completely astonished Sean who now goes around comparing populations of different places around the globe. We also found out that Greenland is communist! Apparently, a lot of former communists from the Soviet Union fled there. Well, not a lot, cracks my husband. Because you know, there are not a lot of people there to begin with.

Anyway, that's my paltry attempt to write a strewing post today.

What strewing in your home?

The Creed in Slow Motion - Book 37

The Creed in Slow Motion is a collection of sermons given by Monsignor Ronald Knox to the students of an all girls Catholic boarding schooling back during World War II.  Knox is a well regarded theological scholar.  He was asked and did translate the Bible into English.  He was friends with C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and the like.  It is odd that a man of rather ivory tower scholarship should wind up the chaplain of an all girls school but circumstances led to this and we should all be thankful.  Because he knew perfectly how to relate to those young girls somehow.  His lectures were very popular and thus compiled into this book.

At the suggestion of Suzie Andres, I began to read this book out loud to Becky and Sean on the first day of Advent.  We have been plugging along through it slowly for many months.  The thing is, you can read a paragraph or two and then wind up having a half hour long discussion about the theology just explained.  Knox hits just the right tone for children.  He never talks down to them, his sense of humor never fails, the clarity of his analogies and explanations are spot on, and through it all comes an affection and thoughtfulness that makes reading these lectures so pleasant.  And when you are done this book, you will have a thorough grasp of what you are praying when you say the creed.

Ronald Knox is really a fascinating person.  My aunt Jackie, when she got her Fullbright scholarship, spent it in London, England.  This was in the early 1950s.  One day she noticed flyers tacked up around the streets.  Ronald Knox was going to be speaking at a nearby church.  She was delighted.  She went and saw him speak and said he was wonderful.  She's now 88 years old and still very happy she got to hear him before he passed away.

There's a Ronald Knox Society of North America! I think this might become a favorite site of mine. I'm looking forward to reading more by Knox.

For more book reviews, go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.