No Friday recap, I forgot to record what we did this week! I had a cold and was kind of out of it anyway. I was sooo tired at the beginning of the week. And a lot of stuff got cancelled this week too which was nice because did I mention how very tired I was?
Anyway, instead here are things I enjoyed reading this week.
Bad Parenting; Why the Ban Against Communion for Divorced and Remarried Catholics is Unjust.
I agree with this! The Church has been so very horrible at catechizing its own children. For decades now parish religious education and sacramental prep has been abysmal. The culture took over and the Church, by and large, capitulated. Well, you reap what you sow. If you allow people to marry in the Church knowing that they don't know squat about what they are doing, but then get all punitive after the fact. . . . that is not right, not fair, not merciful, not responsible, not loving. I think Dr. Popcak's proposals are good ones.
Speaking of marriage, here is a wonderful article about a remarkable marriage surviving beyond all expectation because of Christ, community support and love.
And since Halloween is upon us, here are two Halloween-appropriate tales that are very enjoyable.
First, Sean introduced me to this charming, funny, and clever and surprisingly thought-provoking short cartoon series Over the Garden Wall. The cartoons are quite short so to watch them all only takes the time a regular length movie would. Click here is a preview of the series. Some of the animation is just gorgeous. Elijah Wood voices one of the main characters. Christopher Lloyd plays a character too. The music is fantastic too.
And we've been revisiting Legend of Sleepy Hollow this month. B was props staff for the community theater presentation last week, and then we all read it for book club this week. Here is an audio version free on youtube.
Happy Halloween! Since I am going to attempt NaNoWriMo, I am not going to be blogging much for the month of November.
Friday, October 30, 2015
Thursday, October 29, 2015
NaNoWriMo's coming up!
NaNoWriMo is just a few days away. I don't have the time or the focus for it, but I feel strongly drawn to at least attempting it. I have attempted it in the past and never made it through. This year I am thinking, if I can make it through Lent with giving up stuff, which I have done successfully for many years, why can't I just make it through 30 days writing 1,667 words a day? It is only a month! So maybe if I look at it as a sacrificial act. . . . something seems wrong with that line of thinking though.
Here is Suzie Andres giving a pep talk at her local library for her NaNoWriMo group.
I found the little exercise where you write out what you like about a novel vs. what you don't like about a novel to be really interesting. It got me thinking.
What I like in a novel:
1. Characters I care about
2. Characters that seem real, develop over the course of the novel, but are consistent too.
3. Descriptions that evoke a time or place (unlike Suzie I love a good description of a room! It is hard to do!)
4. Novels that make me think
5. I don't like gratuitous violence, graphic sex or crude language. However, if the violence is an integral part of the story, if the sex is not graphic but more implied and if the language is just a little crude because it reflects a particular character's personality or something like that, then I am okay with it. So if the author includes these dangerous elements, it needs to be done adroitly and for very solid reasons. Otherwise I get turned off.
6. No existentialism. I want real meaning.
7. I enjoy humorous light novels as well as serious, thought provoking novels so it is the telling of the story, not whether it is breezy and uplifting or solemn and deep, that attracts me.
8. Wit
9. Beautiful writing - the ability to express things in a captivating way. I love a good turn of phrase.
10. A plausible plot.
What I don't like in a novel:
1. Lots of violence, sex and crude language.
2. When the author doesn't seem to like the characters, when the characters have ugly souls and there is no sense of redemption.
3. Authors who deliberately keep me, the reader, from closely identifying with the main character.
4. Authors who seem angry or are so busy pushing a particular political point so that their agenda intervenes and makes the novel all didactic and two dimensional. I don't mind novels that teach something, but it needs to be done with finesse and respect for the reader.
5. When the novel is too plot driven so that the characters are just vehicles for the plot. Characters should be people!
6. Plots that don't make sense if you think about them for 2 minutes.
7. I am not a great fantasy, sci-fi reader. I appreciate someone who can recreate reality but with deeper insight. I find fantasy and sci-fi kind of boring for some reason. It just doesn't hold my interest very well.
8. I don't like best sellers about criminals and fast-paced plots with grisly violence.
9. I don't like a lot of best sellers because they tend to reflect the current dysfunctional values of today's society. I like authors who can transcend that.
10. Clunky writing.
I found the little exercise where you write out what you like about a novel vs. what you don't like about a novel to be really interesting. It got me thinking.
What I like in a novel:
1. Characters I care about
2. Characters that seem real, develop over the course of the novel, but are consistent too.
3. Descriptions that evoke a time or place (unlike Suzie I love a good description of a room! It is hard to do!)
4. Novels that make me think
5. I don't like gratuitous violence, graphic sex or crude language. However, if the violence is an integral part of the story, if the sex is not graphic but more implied and if the language is just a little crude because it reflects a particular character's personality or something like that, then I am okay with it. So if the author includes these dangerous elements, it needs to be done adroitly and for very solid reasons. Otherwise I get turned off.
6. No existentialism. I want real meaning.
7. I enjoy humorous light novels as well as serious, thought provoking novels so it is the telling of the story, not whether it is breezy and uplifting or solemn and deep, that attracts me.
8. Wit
9. Beautiful writing - the ability to express things in a captivating way. I love a good turn of phrase.
10. A plausible plot.
What I don't like in a novel:
1. Lots of violence, sex and crude language.
2. When the author doesn't seem to like the characters, when the characters have ugly souls and there is no sense of redemption.
3. Authors who deliberately keep me, the reader, from closely identifying with the main character.
4. Authors who seem angry or are so busy pushing a particular political point so that their agenda intervenes and makes the novel all didactic and two dimensional. I don't mind novels that teach something, but it needs to be done with finesse and respect for the reader.
5. When the novel is too plot driven so that the characters are just vehicles for the plot. Characters should be people!
6. Plots that don't make sense if you think about them for 2 minutes.
7. I am not a great fantasy, sci-fi reader. I appreciate someone who can recreate reality but with deeper insight. I find fantasy and sci-fi kind of boring for some reason. It just doesn't hold my interest very well.
8. I don't like best sellers about criminals and fast-paced plots with grisly violence.
9. I don't like a lot of best sellers because they tend to reflect the current dysfunctional values of today's society. I like authors who can transcend that.
10. Clunky writing.
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Saint Paul - Book 50
Saint Paul by Pope Benedict XVI is really a collection of his lectures at the General Audiences from July 2, 2008 - February 4, 2009 in the Vatican declared Year of Paul.
This book is a beautiful, clear, profound and accessible study of the life and theology of St. Paul. Each lecture explores a theme. The first goes into the religious and cultural environment Paul would have known and lived in. Another lecture is about his dramatic conversion. The lectures go on to explore his relationship with the other Apostles, his relationship with the historic Jesus, his developing Christology, his developing of the idea of justification, his foundational understanding of the sacraments, his pastoral letters and finally his death.
I mostly read this slender book (only 131 pages) in the morning as a meditation. Sometime I could read a whole chapter in one sitting but other times I would only read a page or two and that would be enough food for thought for that day. Pope Benedict is such a good teacher. He writes in a humble, reasonable, logical way. Underneath everything is joy and hope. My copy is a hard bound one but I sort of wished it wasn't. If it had been paperback I would have been underlining and writing in the margins, which I think would have done me good. But I couldn't let myself do it in such a pretty little hardbound volume.
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Black Mischief - Book 49
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| What an ugly cover! My edition had a sort of an Art Deco look to it which was far nicer! |
The novel was published in 1932 and is set in the imaginary African country of Azaria. While it does have some racist elements, given that it was written by a British white guy in the 1930s about Africa, because Waugh takes no prisoners in his send up of the folly of man, he actually is harshest on the British themselves, it seemed to me. In other words, he's being so mean to everybody, you hardly notice the racist bits!
It was an entertaining read and an interesting glimpse into the British colonial mindset and all that was wrong with it. I read Waugh's book Scoop , a couple years ago. I can't find my review of it, nor is it listed in any of my 52 Books pages. I remember writing the review though. I read it because I was focusing on reading classic humor books and I'd looked up lists of the funniest novels and Scoop kept turning up. It is very similar to Black Mischief in that it is set in a fictional African (or maybe middle Eastern) country where things are just as absurd. It is about the adventures of a man mistakenly forced into a journalist's job overseas. Scoop, in my dim memory, has more of a British white supremacist feel to it and the satire got tiresome to me. I might not have ever quite finished the book, but just skimmed to the end of it. Anyway, for some reason I found Black Mischief more palatable. It might be that I wasn't expecting one of the funniest books, so I didn't have any high expectations. It might also be that I had just finished The Blue Nile and all the happenings going on in Black Mischief had a familiar ring to them. Waugh was satirizing many events that actually happened.
While the satire is amusing, I found it a bit depressing too. Not one character in the book is worthwhile. The author jeers at them all. So while it was a funny book that had me laughing and then gasping at the wickedness in turn, I couldn't keep up a steady diet of this sort of thing without becoming even more cynical than I am about the state of humankind.
For more book reviews, Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Friday Recap - 10/22
Monday:
Woke at 4 with headache - went away by 8 though.
Got kids up late
Saint: Blessed Paul VI
Element: Calcium
Cursive practice
Copy work: quote from Midsummer Night's Dream about being little but fierce!
S - math homework
B - watched beginning of lecture on Intro to Geometric proofs; worked 3 one-step and 2 two-step algebra problems to brush up on her algebra.
S - worked on some Latin
Read history and did note taking sheets
Read some Lord of the World
Went grocery shopping
While gone B did a lot of work - her science and her Latin and practiced voice
S did science
S had physical training
made potato cheese soup
Got B to rehearsal
Tuesday:
I forgot to record this day. I know S and B did history in a.m. and then took a quiz in history class later. Both said they thought they did well.
Trying to read Lord of the World but not getting far.
B to rehearsal
Wednesday:
Forgot to record this day too. We did math, Latin, S and B had speech class. B gave her speech. Voice and bass lessons.
B to rehearsal
Thursday:
Another bath headache. What the heck! This bothered me most of the day.
S did math and driver's ed. He had sent in an on line job application earlier in the week. He went over to park and it looks like he got the job. It's to be an attendant at the winter light show the park hosts every Christmas time. He has to fill out forms and return. Hopefully tomorrow or Saturday. The light show opens 11/13.
B did some Geometry with J in a.m.
Went to Aquinas but headache was bothering me. Managed to mentor Latin 1 and 2.
B babysat there.
B to rehearsal. This is opening night. Josh went to see the play. Said it was good. He is picking her up too. Going to be a late night.
Friday:
S to math tutor
Let B sleep in.
didn't get to Natural law
Read a little of Lord of the World
Mass
Lunch
Met with friends to discuss a tiny bit of LotW, decide on the book club discussion (Legend of Sleepy Hollow) and walk in the park for an hour on this beautiful day. Unfortunately, my headache came back
B to her show. Rick picked her up at 9:30
I fell asleep before I could listen to Will's radio show. Darn. Apparently he had on his friend who plays bluegrass so well.
This past week was rough. I had three different headaches on three different days, I didn't stick to my meal plan, and a lot of stuff didn't get done. BUT, it looks like S got a job. He'll be a seasonal worker His first job. So that is a wonderful thing. And B was properties staff for the crew of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. She was out every night this week. Tonight Rick and I are going out to dinner (S might come too) and then seeing the show.
Woke at 4 with headache - went away by 8 though.
Got kids up late
Saint: Blessed Paul VI
Element: Calcium
Cursive practice
Copy work: quote from Midsummer Night's Dream about being little but fierce!
S - math homework
B - watched beginning of lecture on Intro to Geometric proofs; worked 3 one-step and 2 two-step algebra problems to brush up on her algebra.
S - worked on some Latin
Read history and did note taking sheets
Read some Lord of the World
Went grocery shopping
While gone B did a lot of work - her science and her Latin and practiced voice
S did science
S had physical training
made potato cheese soup
Got B to rehearsal
Tuesday:
I forgot to record this day. I know S and B did history in a.m. and then took a quiz in history class later. Both said they thought they did well.
Trying to read Lord of the World but not getting far.
B to rehearsal
Wednesday:
Forgot to record this day too. We did math, Latin, S and B had speech class. B gave her speech. Voice and bass lessons.
B to rehearsal
Thursday:
Another bath headache. What the heck! This bothered me most of the day.
S did math and driver's ed. He had sent in an on line job application earlier in the week. He went over to park and it looks like he got the job. It's to be an attendant at the winter light show the park hosts every Christmas time. He has to fill out forms and return. Hopefully tomorrow or Saturday. The light show opens 11/13.
B did some Geometry with J in a.m.
Went to Aquinas but headache was bothering me. Managed to mentor Latin 1 and 2.
B babysat there.
B to rehearsal. This is opening night. Josh went to see the play. Said it was good. He is picking her up too. Going to be a late night.
Friday:
S to math tutor
Let B sleep in.
didn't get to Natural law
Read a little of Lord of the World
Mass
Lunch
Met with friends to discuss a tiny bit of LotW, decide on the book club discussion (Legend of Sleepy Hollow) and walk in the park for an hour on this beautiful day. Unfortunately, my headache came back
B to her show. Rick picked her up at 9:30
I fell asleep before I could listen to Will's radio show. Darn. Apparently he had on his friend who plays bluegrass so well.
This past week was rough. I had three different headaches on three different days, I didn't stick to my meal plan, and a lot of stuff didn't get done. BUT, it looks like S got a job. He'll be a seasonal worker His first job. So that is a wonderful thing. And B was properties staff for the crew of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. She was out every night this week. Tonight Rick and I are going out to dinner (S might come too) and then seeing the show.
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Reading The Bible
A couple of weeks ago, I was reading something and it had a quote from Lamentations. And it occurred to me that I didn't really know the book of Lamentations, so I flipped to it and started reading. I read it all in one sitting. Maybe it took me 30 minutes. It is a long poem bewailing the fate of Jerusalem, who has been destroyed by her enemies and her people killed or scattered into exile. The poem at turns praises God and recounts Israel's faithlessness At other times it begs God for forgiveness, talks of his wrath and ends on a real downer note, stating maybe this time God's people have sinned beyond forgiveness.
Anyway, what surprised me was that it didn't take very long to read it! So then I started to toy with the idea of reading the Bible all the way through. Now I have read books of the Bible before. I took both Old and New Testament way back in college. I was in a study of the Psalms many years ago and another study of Revelation. And even further back I was in Small Faith group two parishes ago and I know we studied a couple of books, though I can not recall which ones at all. And I know I've done a couple other studies too. But I have decided to start anew and just do my own thing. I am counting the ones that I recall that I've read fairly recently. I know I studied the book of Job with Josh when he was either 11th or 12th grade. I know I read through Luke a couple years ago using the Navarre Scripture study series. So I am counting those.
Today though I did something kind of silly. I looked up a list of all the 73 books of the Catholic Bible in order from shortest to longest. Yes. I am going to read them starting with the shortest and going to the longest. Here's the link. Anyway, today, while sitting outside Becky's voice lesson and Sean's bass lesson (each 30 minutes) I managed to read 1 John, 2, John, 3 John, Jude and Philomen. None of these are very long, but they are very interesting because they reveal so much about the early church.
So! Job, Luke, Lamentations, 1, 2, 3 John, Jude and Philomen. That's 8! So only 65 more to go! I am crossing them off as I go on a new page called Reading Through the Bible.
Anyway, what surprised me was that it didn't take very long to read it! So then I started to toy with the idea of reading the Bible all the way through. Now I have read books of the Bible before. I took both Old and New Testament way back in college. I was in a study of the Psalms many years ago and another study of Revelation. And even further back I was in Small Faith group two parishes ago and I know we studied a couple of books, though I can not recall which ones at all. And I know I've done a couple other studies too. But I have decided to start anew and just do my own thing. I am counting the ones that I recall that I've read fairly recently. I know I studied the book of Job with Josh when he was either 11th or 12th grade. I know I read through Luke a couple years ago using the Navarre Scripture study series. So I am counting those.
Today though I did something kind of silly. I looked up a list of all the 73 books of the Catholic Bible in order from shortest to longest. Yes. I am going to read them starting with the shortest and going to the longest. Here's the link. Anyway, today, while sitting outside Becky's voice lesson and Sean's bass lesson (each 30 minutes) I managed to read 1 John, 2, John, 3 John, Jude and Philomen. None of these are very long, but they are very interesting because they reveal so much about the early church.
So! Job, Luke, Lamentations, 1, 2, 3 John, Jude and Philomen. That's 8! So only 65 more to go! I am crossing them off as I go on a new page called Reading Through the Bible.
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Joining the Classics Club
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| Gray-haired and with glasses, I am working my way through some major tomes! |
I am joining the Classics Club. I've been hovering around its periphery for years now, being devoted to the Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks challenge. But now I've decided to take the plunge and join. One of the requirements is to list at least 50 books I plan to read. So here is my very ambitious plan!
50 Classics I’d like to read before I am 60:
1. The Bible
2. Anabasis by Xenophon
3. Herodotus
4. Plutarch’s Lives (Dryden)
5. Oedipus Trilogy
6. The City of God
7. Metamorphoses by Ovid
8. The Consolation of Philosophy
9. Summa Theologica
10. Interior Castle
11. Pensees by Pascal
12. The Life of Johnson
13. The Faerie Queen
14. Democracy in America
15. Apologia Pro Vita Sua
16. The Intellectual Life
17. Nicomachean Ethics
18. Rhetoric
19. Shakespeare (as much as I can!)
20. Utopia
21. War and Peace (I have tried but never gotten into it)
22. Crime and Punishment (ditto)
23. The Story of Art by Gombrich
24. Civilization by Kenneth Clark
25. Life of Moses (Gregory of Nyssa)
26. Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain
27. The Practice of the Presence of God
28. The Tenant of Wildfeld Hall
29. Out of Africa (this would be a reread)
30. West with the Night
31. Divine Comedy (I’ve read Inferno but not the other two books)
32. The Betrothed
33. Things Fall Apart
34. Frankenstein
35. Mythology by Edith Hamilton
36. Fiction by Borges (He wrote mostly short stories)
37. Wise Blood
38. The Wasteland by T. S. Eliot
39. The Moviegoer
40. Winesburg, Ohio
41. Go Tell It On the Mountain
42. Up From Slavery
43. Silent Spring
44. The Road to Wigan Pier
45. A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wallstonecraft
46. Hildegard of Bingen (Collection of her writings)
47. Margery Kempe (memoirs, I think)
48. Kathleen Thompson Norris (novelist)
49. Kathleen Norris (poet/religious books)
50. Helena by Evelyn Waugh
Blood Diamond - Movie Review
Rick and I watched the movie Blood Diamond starring Leonardo DiCaprio. It came out in 2006. Since we both read The Last Resort, which talks about the illegal diamond market in Zimbabwe, Rick has become fascinated with the diamond industry. He's reading a non-fiction book on it right now. In The Last Resort, one of the black market diamond dealers talks about how inaccurate the movie Blood Diamond is, and how he wants to write his own movie about the whole thing. Anyway, somehow Rick recorded the movie, so we watched it the other night.
First of all, there is a ton of brutal, brutal violence in it that to me was just unwatchable. It is like watching a movie about the holocaust or something. Some things are just too dreadful. Gangs of thugs pulling into villages and randomly slaughtering all the fleeing women and children or capturing them and then cutting off their hands, is just too evil to bear. So we fast-forwarded through a lot of those scenes because I couldn't watch them at all. So very wicked and distressing. God help us!
The main character, DiCaprio, I can't remember his name in the movie, is a white Zimbabwean whose parents were apparently killed in the civil war and who seems to have been taken under the wing of a 'general' who is corrupt and both buys black market diamonds from warring states like Sierra Leone while at the same time attacking them with his army. I am not sure of the politics of this at all. How did a South African general get involved in another country's civil war? Maybe they gave military aid? I don't know the situation. Anyway, DiCaprio is a corrupt smuggler out for money and completely inured against the brutality all around him. In fact, he's part of the brutality. He, however, finds out about a huge pink diamond stone found by an enslaved diamond worker, whose family has been displaced by an attack on their village. He doesn't know where his wife and children are. This man, Solomon, winds up in the same jail as DiCaprio. DiCaprio has connections so he gets out of jail and then works it so Solomon can get out. He's trying to get Solomon to tell him where he hid the pink diamond. Solomon isn't saying. He is obsessed with finding his family and he is almost crazed by it. So DiCaprio brokers a deal, he'll work it so that Solomon can find his family if Solomon gives him the diamond. Into this mix, is a pretty, cliched American reporter played by some beautiful actress whose hair never gets dirty, even as they travel from village to countryside to city trying to help Solomon. She's got higher aspirations than DiCaprio. She wants the truth about the Blood Diamond trade and she cares about the people who are suffering so horribly.
All this has a humanizing effect on DiCaprio's character. In the end DiCaprio gives his life to help Solomon get his son back (the son it turns out has been kidnapped by the rebels and trained to kill). I have only seen a couple other movies with DiCaprio, Catch Me If You Can, in which I thought he was just brilliant and The Aviator which honestly I didn't care for so much because I found all the characters so unsympathetic and basically not that interesting. Anyway, I didn't find DiCaprio all that convincing. I found his attempt at a Zimbabwe accent uneven. The movie had its silly trite Hollywood romance element in it too between him and the reporter. I find all the flirtation very effected. Do real people ever talk to each other that way? In spite of the artificiality, the reporter does say something that is meaningful. When DiCaprio goes to her to get help for Solomon, she sees through him that he actually is just using Solomon to get the diamond and she doesn't want to play along. She says something, like why should I help this one person when there are millions who need help? Then realizes what she's said.
I had Ronald Colman on the brain I think, because watching the scene where DiCaprio's character is alone on a hillside in Sierra Leone waiting to either die from his wounds or get shot by one of the surrounding soldiers combing the countryside, he has an epiphany about the meaning of his life. I half expected him to start orating: Tis a far, far better thing I do, than I have ever done . . . .
But the movie does have a Christian ending. Even though DiCaprio has been a lost black sheep all his life and done many evil things, at the end he shows the greatest love by laying down his life for his friend.
The movie had other themes going too, about fatherhood. DiCaprio's father died young and the father figure in his life is the general who is corrupt and who has corrupted him. Then we see the young village boys being taken by the rebel armies and made to shoot their own parents and then brainwashed by the soldier to do their bidding. Again, corrupt fatherhood. But Solomon's whole reason for living is to be a good father and husband. He can't rest until he finds and rescues his son. We also meet another man who takes in children who've been maimed and programmed to kill, and he tries to give them love and security and heal them. He has dedicated his life to being a good father figure to the children. Ironically he gets shot by a boy soldier, but almost miraculously he survives.
This movie has many 4 letter words. It is especially fond of the one beginning with 'f.'
The guy who played Solomon was just terrific. Apparently he won best supporting actor for the movie.
So. in conclusion, it is a very violent, disturbing and flawed movie, but it does try to make a moral point and that part came across pretty well.
Monday, October 19, 2015
Minimalist Monday - Weekly Planner
For the second week in a row, I've printed out a weekly planner with all the stuff we have to do for the week. I wrote in pencil because inevitably things will change or get shifted around or something added or subtracted. I am pretty proud of myself. Two weeks in a row! Betting on whether this will last into the third week has now commenced. The odds aren't good though, given my track record. But still. I feel pretty together as we start into the week.
Saturday, October 17, 2015
The Blue Nile - Book 48
I listened to the audio book of The White Nile by Alan Moorhead a couple years ago. It was a thrilling and energetic telling of the exploration to find the source of the Nile. A couple weeks ago while at the library I noticed the audio recording of The Blue Nile, read by the same wonderful reader, Patrick Tull. Really good stuff!
The Blue Nile book starts earlier in time, in the 1700s with the exploration by the Scottish eccentric James Bruce. While the White Nile winds up being mostly about the Sudan, The Blue Nile is mostly about Ethiopia. After Bruce's story, comes Napoleon to conquer Egypt from the Mamelukes. In the power vacuum and chaos left after Napoleon slipped back to France, a new colorful and power-hungry character arises, Muhammed Ali. And finally we have Theodore, the mad king of Ethiopia, hopelessly trying to defend his kingdom from General Sir Napier of the British Bombay army. All this history, of exploration, of exotic places of ancient history never before seen by European eyes, and of brutal battles, is told in a gripping, colorful way. All the characters come to life, all the complicated details are clearly delineated so that the telling of the history of the Blue Nile is completely engrossing.
I especially found the story of Napoleon's adventures in Egypt interesting as we had just studied much about Napoleon last year. And the story of violent, paranoid, tormented and pious King Theodore is like a Shakespearean tragedy.
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| Poor King Theodore or Tewodros II - as crazy and brutal as they come, but somehow sympathetic too. |
Patrick Tull is the perfect narrator for this story. He reads with the gusto the book deserves. In fact, I looked up what other books he's read for Recorded Books. He read the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey/Maturin series! That is a series I've always wanted to read. I think I'll check the library to see if they have some of those in audio.
This book continued my Africa jag. I am sure I will never visit Africa, but I definitely am enjoying reading (and listening) about it!
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Friday, October 16, 2015
Friday Recap-10/16/15
I thought I'd switch my template from summer to autumn. I never rearrange the furniture in my house, but I do like to change my template seasonally. :)
Monday - Columbus Day. Because I am not on facebook I did not hear one diatribe about how terrible Columbus was!
Slept in.
Did do a little bit of math in a.m.
S worked with physical trainer
B and I went on a hike with her AHG girls (cleaned up some trash at a local park)
S went driving with Rick
B made dinner - breakfast casserole with hash browns, sausage, eggs and cheese. Yummy.
Read Lord of the World and did history homework in the evening.
Tuesday:
Saint: Blessed Marie-Rose DeRocher - I had never heard of her. A Canadian.
Element: Argon - very short video. They need to redo that one!
Copy work - we didn't do copy work actually - we focused on cursive. We'll do copy work tomorrow.
B didn't really get to Geometry today
S did a tiny bit of math
We finished up history homework
Took kids to their history class
S did problems from chemistry lecture video
B did her Latin
S is no longer taking programming. Rick let him drop it. So now he's doing Latin again.
S did his Latin
B remembered they had Speech homework!
Both B and S worked on writing a 3 minute speech. They could chose from a list of 5 topics, some serious some funny. They both chose funny ones. Writing that took a while.
Made feeble attempt to clean master bathroom
Made meatloaf, roast potatoes for dinner
Josh showed me how to do some Geometry problems after dinner.
S worked on math homework
Read Lord of the World
Wednesday:
Saint: Saint Callistus
Element: Potassium
Copy work - just worked on cursive - still didn't get to Shakespeare for copy work.
B again didn't do any math. Argh!
S did math homework in a.m.
B and S both did Latin work - yay!
B and S did online Speech class
S went to math tutor - forgot his homework though. Oops.
B to voice lessons
S to bass lessons
Made slow cooker baked chicken. Note to self: I do not like slow cooker baked chicken. Too dry and stewed tasting.
B to rehearsal.
S once again didn't go to CLC, he really doesn't like it at all anymore, even though that is where he sees two of his friends and several other acquaintances. He just hates the 'sharing' format.
Once again didn't get to Lord of the World. I am postponing our Friday book club meeting to next Friday - no way can we finish it this week.
Thursday:
Saint: St. Theresa of Avila - one of my favorites!
Didn't do an element
Cursive practice only
S was supposed to do some math in the a.m. but I don't think he did
J worked with B on her Geometry - that seemed to go well
B and I left for Aquinas Learning. She had babysitting and I taught Latin
S did a lesson in Driver's Ed and worked out with physical trainer
Best thing!!! We got a new vet who comes to the house. J was here and they did a thorough exam on Tillie. Ever since I left that other vet, whom I did like, I have been putting off taking care of Tillie and then feeling this stupid paralyzing anxiety about neglecting her. I am so happy we got a new vet and I didn't even have to be here. J took care of it all!
B did a bit of Latin at AL but finished up most of it at home.
With leftover chicken, made white enchilada casserole for dinner.
S worked on more math after dinner.
Friday:
S to math tutor
B and I hung out in the Starbucks parking; she did Latin and I read
Watched Natural Law lecture No. 6 - Aristotle's 4 causes
Went to Mass - Feast of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
Ate at Chipotle then went shopping for Confirmation gift for John Michael
Stopped at Target to get S new khakis and B got shoes and socks.
Took B to her rehearsal.
Weekend - getting up early on Saturday to go to John Michael's Confirmation. I am looking forward to the pretty drive into the mountains in October. Saturday night both kids are going to the teen group's Corn Maize trip. Bring flashlights. Sunday afternoon we have an AHG meeting so the girls can work on their dance badge.
Monday - Columbus Day. Because I am not on facebook I did not hear one diatribe about how terrible Columbus was!
Slept in.
Did do a little bit of math in a.m.
S worked with physical trainer
B and I went on a hike with her AHG girls (cleaned up some trash at a local park)
S went driving with Rick
B made dinner - breakfast casserole with hash browns, sausage, eggs and cheese. Yummy.
Read Lord of the World and did history homework in the evening.
Tuesday:
Saint: Blessed Marie-Rose DeRocher - I had never heard of her. A Canadian.
Element: Argon - very short video. They need to redo that one!
Copy work - we didn't do copy work actually - we focused on cursive. We'll do copy work tomorrow.
B didn't really get to Geometry today
S did a tiny bit of math
We finished up history homework
Took kids to their history class
S did problems from chemistry lecture video
B did her Latin
S is no longer taking programming. Rick let him drop it. So now he's doing Latin again.
S did his Latin
B remembered they had Speech homework!
Both B and S worked on writing a 3 minute speech. They could chose from a list of 5 topics, some serious some funny. They both chose funny ones. Writing that took a while.
Made feeble attempt to clean master bathroom
Made meatloaf, roast potatoes for dinner
Josh showed me how to do some Geometry problems after dinner.
S worked on math homework
Read Lord of the World
Wednesday:
Saint: Saint Callistus
Element: Potassium
Copy work - just worked on cursive - still didn't get to Shakespeare for copy work.
B again didn't do any math. Argh!
S did math homework in a.m.
B and S both did Latin work - yay!
B and S did online Speech class
S went to math tutor - forgot his homework though. Oops.
B to voice lessons
S to bass lessons
Made slow cooker baked chicken. Note to self: I do not like slow cooker baked chicken. Too dry and stewed tasting.
B to rehearsal.
S once again didn't go to CLC, he really doesn't like it at all anymore, even though that is where he sees two of his friends and several other acquaintances. He just hates the 'sharing' format.
Once again didn't get to Lord of the World. I am postponing our Friday book club meeting to next Friday - no way can we finish it this week.
Thursday:
Saint: St. Theresa of Avila - one of my favorites!
Didn't do an element
Cursive practice only
S was supposed to do some math in the a.m. but I don't think he did
J worked with B on her Geometry - that seemed to go well
B and I left for Aquinas Learning. She had babysitting and I taught Latin
S did a lesson in Driver's Ed and worked out with physical trainer
Best thing!!! We got a new vet who comes to the house. J was here and they did a thorough exam on Tillie. Ever since I left that other vet, whom I did like, I have been putting off taking care of Tillie and then feeling this stupid paralyzing anxiety about neglecting her. I am so happy we got a new vet and I didn't even have to be here. J took care of it all!
B did a bit of Latin at AL but finished up most of it at home.
With leftover chicken, made white enchilada casserole for dinner.
S worked on more math after dinner.
Friday:
S to math tutor
B and I hung out in the Starbucks parking; she did Latin and I read
Watched Natural Law lecture No. 6 - Aristotle's 4 causes
Went to Mass - Feast of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
Ate at Chipotle then went shopping for Confirmation gift for John Michael
Stopped at Target to get S new khakis and B got shoes and socks.
Took B to her rehearsal.
Weekend - getting up early on Saturday to go to John Michael's Confirmation. I am looking forward to the pretty drive into the mountains in October. Saturday night both kids are going to the teen group's Corn Maize trip. Bring flashlights. Sunday afternoon we have an AHG meeting so the girls can work on their dance badge.
The White Sister - Movie Review
This is an silent oldie starring Lillian Gish and Ronald Colman. I caught it on TCM the other night. I didn't quite see the beginning but I could follow the story anyway. It is from 1923 and the film itself is somewhat damaged as it would flicker from a nice clean black and white to a yellowed patina especially in the scenes with Ronald Colman for some reason. it is a hugely melodramatic and
compelling story rife with tragedy and the nobility of the Catholic faith.
In essence, Gish plays an Italian woman in love with a soldier. There are all kinds of complications to keep them apart but they are deeply in love and want to marry. Right after it seems that they will indeed be able to marry, he is called away by the army to go on some campaign in the Sahara. His group of men is attacked by Bedouins and he, Giovanni, winds up being imprisoned for over two years in a little jail in the middle of the desert. Meanwhile back home in Italy, Angela thinks that he has been killed. So she winds up becoming a nun to devote herself to serving the sick until she can be reunited with her love in heaven.
Once I got used to the old time acting and the slow pacing that lingers too long on facial expressions, I really got drawn in by Ronald Colman's acting. I have only ever seen him in the old movie version of The Tale of Two Cities. Lillian is also good. I think I am coming to really appreciate the acting that went into those old silent movies.
Giovanni manages to escape and makes it back to Italy, but will he get there before she takes her vows? And if he is too late, what happens? A lot! It is an over the top melodrama and a powerfully romantic ending about strength, fidelity, selflessness and forgiveness. Hooray for nobility!
Apparently, they remade the movie in 1933, starring Helen Hayes and Clark Gable. My mom always liked Helen Hayes. I remember her playing a woman sleuth, maybe Miss Marple, back in the 1970s or so?
Anyway, I thought this movie was really intriguing. I am glad I caught it. As I told Rick last night, I don't like Ted Turner but I do really appreciate TCM.
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Women's Classic Literature Event
Introduce yourself. Tell us what you are most looking forward to in this event.
Well, I am me, Faith, and this is my rinky-dink blog. I am most looking forward to reading books by women! I love women authors. I love men authors too, but I tend to go on jags with women authors moreso than with men.
Have you read many classics by women? Why or why not? I think I have read a fair amount of books that would be considered classics. I have not read so many contemporary books perhaps as I am rather conservative in taste and don't always like the feminist slant that more contemporary works can take.
Pick a classic female writer you can’t wait to read for the event, & list her date of birth, her place of birth, and the title of one of her most famous works. Well, since Halloween is coming up, I've been toying with the idea of reading Frankenstein. My husband read it a few years ago and couldn't get over that it was written by a such a young woman! I started to read it but I wasn't in the mood for something dark and gloomy at that time. So I want to try again. Anyway, Frankenstein was written by Mary Shelley. She was born in London in 1797.
Think of a female character who was represented in classic literature by a male writer. Does she seem to be a whole or complete woman? Why or why not? Tell us about her. (Without spoilers, please!) Well, I do like the way Nathaniel Hawthorne writes women. I think Hester of The Scarlet Letter is amazing. I love that her portrayed her loneliness, anxiety, confusion, toughness, great-heartedness, loyalty and perseverance. She never had any idea how things would turn out. She was oppressed on all sides; and yet she was true to what she knew was good and she lived out that vision as best she could. Heroic! Another heroic woman wonderfully portrayed by a male author is Joan of Arc by Mark Twain. I adore this!
Favorite classic heroine? (Why? Who wrote her?) I am going to be very conventional and say Elizabeth Bennet. But if I were going to be more unconventional I might say Fanny Price in Mansfield Park.
We’d love to help clubbers find great titles by classic female authors. Can you recommend any sources for building a list? (Just skip this question if you don’t have any at this point.) Here is a link to a page here on the blog entitled Lovely Books.
Recommend three books by classic female writers to get people started in this event. (Again, skip over this if you prefer not to answer.) I am going to list three books I don't think are as well known as others: 1) Precious Bane by Mary Webb - I love the atmosphere of this novel. It is very bucolic with the sometimes brutal superstition of the country folk as an underlying dark theme. The main character is hopelessly in love with someone from afar but she has a hare-lip and will never be accepted or loved. 2) Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell. This was her first novel she wrote while recovering from the death of one of her children. She laid on the sofa and wrote this book to distract herself. It is the precursor of the better known North and South but honestly I love it just as much or more because it is so political. It starts out slow but wow, it has a fantastic ending! 3) My Friend, Flicka (and sequels) by Mary O'Hara. People dismiss this as a children's story but it isn't really. It's as much about a marriage as it is about a young boy's coming of age. Just beautifully written. The sequels are good too.
Will you be joining us for this event immediately, or will you wait until the new year starts? I will probably start soon (before the end of October) but right now I am on a heavy theological jag as well as a heavy Africa jag.
Do you plan to read as inspiration pulls, or will you make out a preset list? I am not good at preset lists at all. But maybe I'll try to combine my theological-Africa theme!
Are you pulling to any particular genres? (Letters, journals, biographies, short stories, novels, poems, essays, etc?) I tend to like memoirs and novels. But I am open to anything.
Are you pulling to a particular era or location in literature by women? Nope. I don't think so.
Do you hope to host an event or read-a-long for the group? No worries if you don’t have details. We’re just curious! I like read-a-longs. Maybe!
Is there an author or title you’d love to read with a group or a buddy for this event? Sharing may inspire someone to offer. Well, maybe people would want to do a Frankenstein read-a-long? I am new to the Classics Club so I don't know if Frankenstein was recently read by any group.
Share a quote you love by a classic female author — even if you haven’t read the book yet. My first reading jag was the Little House series back when I was 8 or 9, so I think I'll quote her!
“The real things haven't changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures; and have courage when things go wrong.” ― Laura Ingalls Wilder
Finally, ask the question you wish this survey had asked, & then answer it. Can't think of any!
Monday, October 12, 2015
Tweaking our schedule
First of all I found this great resource where you can design your own planner. Check it out! The best planner for me personally is one that shows the week, including Saturdays and Sundays (because we don't stop learning and living on the weekends) and one that gives times from about 8:00 a.m. to about 9:00 p.m. at night. Then I like to plug in all the givens in the week, like when the kids have history class and AHG and rehearsals and music lessons, my RE class, my Latin classes, etc. After that I plug in things like other academics, planning periods for me, grocery shopping for me, any appts that are special to that week. That way I can look at the whole week and see how things will fit. I am going to try to fill in the planner sheet each Sunday and put it on the fridge so that everyone can refer to it.
Second, I am reworking the schedule a bit:
I have asked Josh to spend an hour from 10-11 a.m. on Thursday morning with Becky, going over all the math work she's done that week and making sure she is getting it, and tutoring her as she needs.
On Friday mornings while S is at the math tutor's house, I will bring B along and we will go to the nearby Starbucks and hang out there working on Latin. That way we'll have to get a solid hour of Latin in.
I think we'll do science on Monday mornings and Friday afternoons. That way the kids can work on history and/or Speech on Tuesday before class.
I also am reworking when S should do his programming homework since that takes hours and the teacher arbitrarily makes it due on Saturday (three days before the class itself) and counts off if you turn it in late. It is really a pain. We are kinda resentful about it.
A couple of other little changes: We are going to start cursive practice up again in addition to copying out a few lines a day from A Midsummer Night's Dream. While the kids practice, I plan to read Lord of the World. Usually I do that at night but B has rehearsal almost every single night this week, so that won't work. So I'll read it in the a.m. and try to fit it in any other place I can.
Second, I am reworking the schedule a bit:
I have asked Josh to spend an hour from 10-11 a.m. on Thursday morning with Becky, going over all the math work she's done that week and making sure she is getting it, and tutoring her as she needs.
On Friday mornings while S is at the math tutor's house, I will bring B along and we will go to the nearby Starbucks and hang out there working on Latin. That way we'll have to get a solid hour of Latin in.
I think we'll do science on Monday mornings and Friday afternoons. That way the kids can work on history and/or Speech on Tuesday before class.
I also am reworking when S should do his programming homework since that takes hours and the teacher arbitrarily makes it due on Saturday (three days before the class itself) and counts off if you turn it in late. It is really a pain. We are kinda resentful about it.
A couple of other little changes: We are going to start cursive practice up again in addition to copying out a few lines a day from A Midsummer Night's Dream. While the kids practice, I plan to read Lord of the World. Usually I do that at night but B has rehearsal almost every single night this week, so that won't work. So I'll read it in the a.m. and try to fit it in any other place I can.
Sunday, October 11, 2015
The Last Resort - Book 47
My husband read this book and was really enthralled by it. He found out about it after he got fascinated with the incredible hyperinflation that took place in the Zimbabwe economy. When he found out the government actually was printing 100 Trillion dollar bills, he had to have one! I was going to include a photo of it but I don't know where it is and he is still sleeping so. . . you can google it though and see for yourself that 100 Trillion dollar bills really were printed by Mugabe's government.
This book is an amazing read. Douglas Rogers is a white guy born in Zimbabwe. His parents were farmers while he was growing up there, but after he had left (he couldn't wait to get out of Zimbabwe, first he went to university in South Africa, then he moved to London and finally New York where he is a travel writer), they bought land not suitable for farming and instead they turned it into a backpackers tourist resort, and called it Drifters. This decision saved them. In 2000 Mugabe, the dictator of Zimbabwe, decreed that all white owned farms could be taken. Actually, he also took many blacks farms too if they happened to be supports of the MDC, the democratic opposition party.
Douglas' parents, Rosalind and Lyn, lived through some terrible times but weathered it all through sheer grit, good luck, and absurd twists and turns that happened because of the people who sought refuge at Drifters. After the backpackers stopped coming, the restaurant and cottages became a brothel (the guy they leased the restaurant to started this up), then it became a place where displaced white farmers could stay until they figured out what they were going to do (many fled to South Africa). Finally, Rogers' parents gave refuge to the MDC workers who were being hunted by Mugabe's thugs.
The white culture of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia before Mugabe won the civil war and took over) reminded me so much of cowboy culture. These are rough-talking, hard drinking, chain smoking people who are tough as nails. They have seen it all.
Rogers writes with such a big heart and with such honesty, except I do think maybe he filtered the racial tensions a bit. He doesn't seem to have any bitterness or bigotry in him. He talks to everybody, whites and blacks with the same genuine interest and openness. He even talks for a while to a soldier named Walter, a war veteran who began fighting for Mugabe at age 13 after he saw his village and his parents terrorized by the white government soldiers. This man was still devoted to Mugabe and was responsible for many deaths of people Rogers knew, yet Rogers can see things from his point of view. And Walter on his part recognizes some sort of a friendship with the Rogers family. And even though he might have been just getting money out of them, he might also very likely have helped protect them when farms all around them were being attacked and burned, the people tortured and often murdered.
The book has some truly laugh out loud situations and lines in it. The whole situation has such bizarre elements. It really is an absolutely fascinating glimpse into what life is like in a state spiraling into disaster.
The book ends kind of abruptly and I really wanted to know more about what happened since the last election. I googled and found this video. I was so happy to see Rogers' parents and some of the main players from the book. They are working together to try to get Drifters back up and running. However, I noticed this was filmed in 2011. I can't find anything later than 2013 on the family. In fact the author's blog ended in 2013.
A great true story full of humanity. Two thumbs up (but there is a lot of swearing and violence too). For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Book Binge
Went to local Columbus Day fest where they have a big used book sale. For 12 bucks I got 12 books! I know that I have books sitting in boxes that need to go OUT of the house and here I am bringing more in, but I can't help myself. Whimper, whimper.
Looking over the them, though, I started laughing at myself - most of them have something to do with Catholicism; either the authors are well-known Catholic authors or the books themselves have something to do with Catholicism. I am pretty predictable.
Well-known Catholic Novelists:
I got two paperbacks by Graham Greene. I got 1)The Ministry of Fear which I don't know anything about except it seems like one of his sophisticated, English thrillers and 2) The Heart of the Matter which was a book I had on my to read list. I am going through a real Africa jag right now and that made me recall that Grahame had written a book set in Sierra Leone. I actually just made a note to myself last night to see if The Heart of the Matter was in the library next time I went.
There were a slew of Evelyn Waugh books on one table but I decided just to get one: 3) Black Mischief, which is set in an imaginary African British colony trying to modernize itself. I wonder how racist it is? It was published in 1932 originally.
Non-fiction Catholic Authors:
4) Suffering: The Catholic Answer by Dom Hubert van Zeller. I have already van Zeller's wonderful Holiness for Housewives.
5) Rediscovering Catholicism by Matthew Kelly. I saw an interview recently with Kelly about his latest book Rediscovering Jesus which I really want to read. But I will read this one first.
6) Pensees by Blaise Pascal - I have wanted this ever since I read A Song for Nagasaki about Dr. Takashi Nagai, who was an atheist who converted to Catholicism partly because he loved Pascal's Pensees so much.
Novels about Catholic clergy by non-Catholics:
7) Death Come for the Archbishop by Willa Cather - I read this ages ago with my older kids but I don't know what happened to my copy; it's disappeared.
8) Monk's Hood by Ellis Peters - a Brother Cadfael mystery. I have only read one or maybe two in this popular series. Might be a good book to have around when I am in between other books.
Digging through the stacks I found a photo album type book: 9) Walking in Faith; The first 25 years; A History of the Diocese of Arlington. It has got photos of all the parishes except for the newest ones in the last ten years or so. It is kind of a neat trip down memory lane and also a rather dismaying trip through ugly church architecture.
Other books:
10) In Search of History; A Personal Adventure by Theodore H. White which just seems to be a really gripping memoir of someone who was a biggie in the 20th century U.S. political arena.
Two children's books: 11) Mandy by Julie Edwards (who is really Julie Andrews). I had heard that Andrews wrote children's books but I have never read any. This one looks very British and very cozy.
12) Dover Books has gotten me into Eric Sloane Americana books. I found a nice hardback published in 1955 entitled Eric Sloane's Almanac and Weather Forecaster. It is written in his clear, homey but intelligent style with his signature charming illustrations.
A good book haul!
Looking over the them, though, I started laughing at myself - most of them have something to do with Catholicism; either the authors are well-known Catholic authors or the books themselves have something to do with Catholicism. I am pretty predictable.
Well-known Catholic Novelists:
I got two paperbacks by Graham Greene. I got 1)The Ministry of Fear which I don't know anything about except it seems like one of his sophisticated, English thrillers and 2) The Heart of the Matter which was a book I had on my to read list. I am going through a real Africa jag right now and that made me recall that Grahame had written a book set in Sierra Leone. I actually just made a note to myself last night to see if The Heart of the Matter was in the library next time I went.
There were a slew of Evelyn Waugh books on one table but I decided just to get one: 3) Black Mischief, which is set in an imaginary African British colony trying to modernize itself. I wonder how racist it is? It was published in 1932 originally.
Non-fiction Catholic Authors:
4) Suffering: The Catholic Answer by Dom Hubert van Zeller. I have already van Zeller's wonderful Holiness for Housewives.
5) Rediscovering Catholicism by Matthew Kelly. I saw an interview recently with Kelly about his latest book Rediscovering Jesus which I really want to read. But I will read this one first.
6) Pensees by Blaise Pascal - I have wanted this ever since I read A Song for Nagasaki about Dr. Takashi Nagai, who was an atheist who converted to Catholicism partly because he loved Pascal's Pensees so much.
Novels about Catholic clergy by non-Catholics:
7) Death Come for the Archbishop by Willa Cather - I read this ages ago with my older kids but I don't know what happened to my copy; it's disappeared.
8) Monk's Hood by Ellis Peters - a Brother Cadfael mystery. I have only read one or maybe two in this popular series. Might be a good book to have around when I am in between other books.
Digging through the stacks I found a photo album type book: 9) Walking in Faith; The first 25 years; A History of the Diocese of Arlington. It has got photos of all the parishes except for the newest ones in the last ten years or so. It is kind of a neat trip down memory lane and also a rather dismaying trip through ugly church architecture.
Other books:
10) In Search of History; A Personal Adventure by Theodore H. White which just seems to be a really gripping memoir of someone who was a biggie in the 20th century U.S. political arena.
Two children's books: 11) Mandy by Julie Edwards (who is really Julie Andrews). I had heard that Andrews wrote children's books but I have never read any. This one looks very British and very cozy.
12) Dover Books has gotten me into Eric Sloane Americana books. I found a nice hardback published in 1955 entitled Eric Sloane's Almanac and Weather Forecaster. It is written in his clear, homey but intelligent style with his signature charming illustrations.
A good book haul!
Friday, October 9, 2015
Friday Recap - 10/9/15
Monday:
Saint: St. Faustina Kowalska
Element: silicon
Copy work - still working on Oberon's Speech
S worked on big programming homework
B and I watched all of 1.4 on Angles and she did 1st 5 problems
Since it was Rick's birthday - I went shopping for special birthday dinner foods.
Come home, checked up on the kids - then out to run another errand.
Still need to get car inspected though - I am driving around on an expired sticker.
S worked on math homework
B worked on reviewing old vocabulary in Latin and learning new
B baked Rick's birthday cake - did a great job and decorated it very well
S had Physical Training
I cleaned house a bit
I planned RE class
I did my Latin homework
Started cooking Rick's b-day dinner: crabcakes, broiled steaks, mashed potatoes, caesar salad (all his favorite foods).
The crabcakes were the most delicious I have ever tasted! I had never made crabcakes before!
Had a nice birthday party/anniversary party (H and p have been married one year).
After H & P left - S, B and I did some history but we didn't finish it.
Tuesday:
Saint: St. Bruno
Element: phosphorus
Copy work - finished up Oberon
S worked on programming and math. I think we have to rethink his schedule. The teacher expects the programming homework in by Saturday for some reason. S is always late with it. He needs to allocate more time during the week. S is not happy with the class and keeps saying he wants to drop it.
B worked on some math
We finished up history homework
Took kids to history class, then ran some errands. Bought delicious pizza bread from bakery.
Kids had quiz in history class we totally forgot about. Both got only 50%. How? We had just finished the homework that morning?
Ran another errand. Sent out some AHG emails.
B got to hang out because I wasn't ready with her Latin
S worked more on programming
I taught RE
Had no plans for dinner so I wound up bringing Subway sandwiches home. So much for whole foods eating!
After dinner - kids worked on Speech and Communications homework. They had to write a paragraph from an imaginary speech they were giving using at least one rhetorical device. S wrote a clever one about his tuna sandwich. B wrote a sincere one about changing fashion standards.
Read a bit of Lord of the World.
I feel 'behind.' We didn't do any science and B didn't do any Latin and both instances are because I did not plan. I have got to making planning an ironclad time during the weekend. I didn't even get to my own Latin homework. And I never made it to the store for regular grocery shopping this past weekend.
Wednesday:
Wow time is flying.
Saint - Our Lady of the Rosary (but did we even say a rosary today? No. Boo hoo.)
Element - Phosphorus
Copy work - another quote from Midsummer Night's Dream (about the not smooth course of true love)
B worked on more angles. What trips us up is the algebra solving for x thing. LOL.
S did math homework
B and I worked a bit on Latin but didn't do much.
B and S did the online Speech class. I heard lots of laughter coming from the study. Funny thing was it was about fire and brimstone speeches and we had just looked at a video on brimstone at breakfast. While they did that I prepped for Latin classes.
Took S to math tutor
Took B to voice
P/u S from math tutor
Came home and cleaned a bathroom!
Took S to bass lessons- while I waited walked to store and bought stop gap dinner.
Came home and immediately had to take B to her playmakers rehearsal.
Prepped more for Latin
J is picking up B for me @ 9:45.
Thursday:
Saint: St. John Leonardi
Element: Chlorine
We didn't do any copy work
Rick helped B with one problem in Geometry. I think she only got one done.
S did math homework
S did Driver's Ed class
B and I went to Aquinas - she didn't get any babysitting this time but she did:
watch some history videos the kids are supposed to watch this week
She studied more Latin vocabulary and read next Latin story in stage 14
Teaching Latin was fun
Took B to her playmakers rehearsal
Friday:
Took S to math - math tutor says he's doing really well! Hooray!
Rick worked with B on another problem in Geometry but that was it.
B studied more Latin vocabulary
We watched the rest of a lecture on Natural Law and had a brief review and discussion about the concepts - person, privileged class, what is nature, what is law, what is ethics, etc.
Went to Mass
Lunch at Chipotle (my favorite meal of the week)
Came home and read some Lord of the World
Then B finished up the Phys. Science unit on Velocity and Acceleration
S watched next Teaching Co video lecture and read next chapter of Cartoon Guide to Chemistry
S went over to friend's house.
B goes to rehearsal again tonight
I desperately need to clean out the fridge
Gotta stay up for Will's radio show!
This weekend. I tried to arrange the AHG Troop to walk in local Columbus Day parade but no one could do it except B and another girl. B still wants to go to the fest afterwards because the playmakers will have a both and activities going on. On Sunday in laws are coming over for brunch.
Saturday I want to: get car inspected, meal plan and grocery shop, clean house
Monday maybe Rick will stay home? Sometimes he does and sometimes he can't.
I am leading the AHG girls on a service project at nearby park in the p.m.
Saint: St. Faustina Kowalska
Element: silicon
Copy work - still working on Oberon's Speech
S worked on big programming homework
B and I watched all of 1.4 on Angles and she did 1st 5 problems
Since it was Rick's birthday - I went shopping for special birthday dinner foods.
Come home, checked up on the kids - then out to run another errand.
Still need to get car inspected though - I am driving around on an expired sticker.
S worked on math homework
B worked on reviewing old vocabulary in Latin and learning new
B baked Rick's birthday cake - did a great job and decorated it very well
S had Physical Training
I cleaned house a bit
I planned RE class
I did my Latin homework
Started cooking Rick's b-day dinner: crabcakes, broiled steaks, mashed potatoes, caesar salad (all his favorite foods).
The crabcakes were the most delicious I have ever tasted! I had never made crabcakes before!
Had a nice birthday party/anniversary party (H and p have been married one year).
After H & P left - S, B and I did some history but we didn't finish it.
Tuesday:
Saint: St. Bruno
Element: phosphorus
Copy work - finished up Oberon
S worked on programming and math. I think we have to rethink his schedule. The teacher expects the programming homework in by Saturday for some reason. S is always late with it. He needs to allocate more time during the week. S is not happy with the class and keeps saying he wants to drop it.
B worked on some math
We finished up history homework
Took kids to history class, then ran some errands. Bought delicious pizza bread from bakery.
Kids had quiz in history class we totally forgot about. Both got only 50%. How? We had just finished the homework that morning?
Ran another errand. Sent out some AHG emails.
B got to hang out because I wasn't ready with her Latin
S worked more on programming
I taught RE
Had no plans for dinner so I wound up bringing Subway sandwiches home. So much for whole foods eating!
After dinner - kids worked on Speech and Communications homework. They had to write a paragraph from an imaginary speech they were giving using at least one rhetorical device. S wrote a clever one about his tuna sandwich. B wrote a sincere one about changing fashion standards.
Read a bit of Lord of the World.
I feel 'behind.' We didn't do any science and B didn't do any Latin and both instances are because I did not plan. I have got to making planning an ironclad time during the weekend. I didn't even get to my own Latin homework. And I never made it to the store for regular grocery shopping this past weekend.
Wednesday:
Wow time is flying.
Saint - Our Lady of the Rosary (but did we even say a rosary today? No. Boo hoo.)
Element - Phosphorus
Copy work - another quote from Midsummer Night's Dream (about the not smooth course of true love)
B worked on more angles. What trips us up is the algebra solving for x thing. LOL.
S did math homework
B and I worked a bit on Latin but didn't do much.
B and S did the online Speech class. I heard lots of laughter coming from the study. Funny thing was it was about fire and brimstone speeches and we had just looked at a video on brimstone at breakfast. While they did that I prepped for Latin classes.
Took S to math tutor
Took B to voice
P/u S from math tutor
Came home and cleaned a bathroom!
Took S to bass lessons- while I waited walked to store and bought stop gap dinner.
Came home and immediately had to take B to her playmakers rehearsal.
Prepped more for Latin
J is picking up B for me @ 9:45.
Thursday:
Saint: St. John Leonardi
Element: Chlorine
We didn't do any copy work
Rick helped B with one problem in Geometry. I think she only got one done.
S did math homework
S did Driver's Ed class
B and I went to Aquinas - she didn't get any babysitting this time but she did:
watch some history videos the kids are supposed to watch this week
She studied more Latin vocabulary and read next Latin story in stage 14
Teaching Latin was fun
Took B to her playmakers rehearsal
Friday:
Took S to math - math tutor says he's doing really well! Hooray!
Rick worked with B on another problem in Geometry but that was it.
B studied more Latin vocabulary
We watched the rest of a lecture on Natural Law and had a brief review and discussion about the concepts - person, privileged class, what is nature, what is law, what is ethics, etc.
Went to Mass
Lunch at Chipotle (my favorite meal of the week)
Came home and read some Lord of the World
Then B finished up the Phys. Science unit on Velocity and Acceleration
S watched next Teaching Co video lecture and read next chapter of Cartoon Guide to Chemistry
S went over to friend's house.
B goes to rehearsal again tonight
I desperately need to clean out the fridge
Gotta stay up for Will's radio show!
This weekend. I tried to arrange the AHG Troop to walk in local Columbus Day parade but no one could do it except B and another girl. B still wants to go to the fest afterwards because the playmakers will have a both and activities going on. On Sunday in laws are coming over for brunch.
Saturday I want to: get car inspected, meal plan and grocery shop, clean house
Monday maybe Rick will stay home? Sometimes he does and sometimes he can't.
I am leading the AHG girls on a service project at nearby park in the p.m.
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Silly political musings and an inspiration piece to clear the palate
I have really been avoiding the news. Somehow I managed to find out about the Oregon shooter. But mostly I have been hiding my head in the sand and it feels good! It turns out you can lead a full and busy life without learning of every tragedy that goes on in the world or knowing what the latest scandal or soundbite or meme is. All that stuff is like rock music played to make Noriega come out of hiding. It is basically the Evil One trying to break us down using the same noisy tactics.
Going through the candidates so far:
Democrats:
I don't think I'll ever be able to vote for anyone in the party of death again, unless there is a sea change.
Hillary - no clans. If you have a relative who was president recently then you aren't allowed to run (that's my rule). Smacks too much of oligarchy which is what our two party system is becoming anyway. All the celebrities and the politicians are cut from the same clothe. They want to rule. They hang out together.
Bernie - too old. If John McCain was too old then Bernie is even older. Too lefty extreme. Planned Parenthood, that bastion of ethics, just loves him.
Martin O' Malley - this guy doesn't have a chance anyway. I went to law school with him. He is an empty shirt. If he becomes president, I'm leaving the country.
Republicans:
Donald Trump is a carnival sideshow and one of the reasons I stopped watching the news. He is nauseating. What a joke he makes of the already ludicrous process.
Ben Carson - I think Ben Carson brings class and intelligence to the process. I really like him personally and I agree with a lot of what he says politically. But here's my question. Why not run for Mayor or Governor first? Why right to the presidency? If one is really interested in good governing, start small and build your experience and your political base. I just am suspicious of people who want to start right at the top. I think learning how to govern a huge complicated country while on the job is too steep a learning curve and I think there is a lot of ego at work here.
Carly Fiorina - same issues as with Ben. She makes things interesting. I think she adds class, I don't understand why she wants to start at the top, except for ego.
Jeb Bush - no clans. Sorry Jeb.
Chris Christie - my husband has a client in New Jersey and he has to work with Christie's way of running government. Dh does not like Christie, so I guess I don't either.
Jim Gilmore - this guy was governor of my state not that long ago and yet I have no memory of him! All I know is he after his term the Democrats came in.for the next 8 years.
Rick Santorum - I know I am supposed to like him as a homeschooling Catholic parent. My daughter went to school with his daughter. I know people who support him warmly. But in my mind he is too aligned with Bush's policies on the Iraq war and waterboarding. I just can't support him.
John Kasich - my husband finds this guy interesting. I think I need to know more about him.
Rand Paul - too libertarian
Bobby Jindal - I kind of am intrigued by this guy. First off he's got executive branch experience as governor of Louisiana. He's ethnic which is kinda cool and he's Catholic which is very cool. I don't know if he stands a chance though.
George Pataki - I don't trust politicians from New York but I should learn more about him. He seems like a RINO to me (not that I care that much but he might be a RINO on the issues I do care about).
Mike Huckabee - there is something likable about Huckabee but I think he's better as a radio host and sort of cultural leader rather than president.
Lindsey Graham - I know I've heard his name over the years. I don't know enough about him.
Marco Rubio - this guy might have it. I like a lot of what I've heard about him. Again I like ethnicity (no more waspy presidents!) He's good looking enough in this day of celebrity shallowness. Must find out more.
Ted Cruz - this guy fits all my criteria I think. For some reason though I have zero attraction to him. Why is that?
I am sad that Scott Walker left. I found him really interesting. Even as I felt guilty about that being the daughter of labor folks.
There ya go. My smack down on the political candidates. To get that bad taste out of our mouths, here is something really inspiring.
Going through the candidates so far:
Democrats:
I don't think I'll ever be able to vote for anyone in the party of death again, unless there is a sea change.
Hillary - no clans. If you have a relative who was president recently then you aren't allowed to run (that's my rule). Smacks too much of oligarchy which is what our two party system is becoming anyway. All the celebrities and the politicians are cut from the same clothe. They want to rule. They hang out together.
Bernie - too old. If John McCain was too old then Bernie is even older. Too lefty extreme. Planned Parenthood, that bastion of ethics, just loves him.
Martin O' Malley - this guy doesn't have a chance anyway. I went to law school with him. He is an empty shirt. If he becomes president, I'm leaving the country.
Republicans:
Donald Trump is a carnival sideshow and one of the reasons I stopped watching the news. He is nauseating. What a joke he makes of the already ludicrous process.
Ben Carson - I think Ben Carson brings class and intelligence to the process. I really like him personally and I agree with a lot of what he says politically. But here's my question. Why not run for Mayor or Governor first? Why right to the presidency? If one is really interested in good governing, start small and build your experience and your political base. I just am suspicious of people who want to start right at the top. I think learning how to govern a huge complicated country while on the job is too steep a learning curve and I think there is a lot of ego at work here.
Carly Fiorina - same issues as with Ben. She makes things interesting. I think she adds class, I don't understand why she wants to start at the top, except for ego.
Jeb Bush - no clans. Sorry Jeb.
Chris Christie - my husband has a client in New Jersey and he has to work with Christie's way of running government. Dh does not like Christie, so I guess I don't either.
Jim Gilmore - this guy was governor of my state not that long ago and yet I have no memory of him! All I know is he after his term the Democrats came in.for the next 8 years.
Rick Santorum - I know I am supposed to like him as a homeschooling Catholic parent. My daughter went to school with his daughter. I know people who support him warmly. But in my mind he is too aligned with Bush's policies on the Iraq war and waterboarding. I just can't support him.
John Kasich - my husband finds this guy interesting. I think I need to know more about him.
Rand Paul - too libertarian
Bobby Jindal - I kind of am intrigued by this guy. First off he's got executive branch experience as governor of Louisiana. He's ethnic which is kinda cool and he's Catholic which is very cool. I don't know if he stands a chance though.
George Pataki - I don't trust politicians from New York but I should learn more about him. He seems like a RINO to me (not that I care that much but he might be a RINO on the issues I do care about).
Mike Huckabee - there is something likable about Huckabee but I think he's better as a radio host and sort of cultural leader rather than president.
Lindsey Graham - I know I've heard his name over the years. I don't know enough about him.
Marco Rubio - this guy might have it. I like a lot of what I've heard about him. Again I like ethnicity (no more waspy presidents!) He's good looking enough in this day of celebrity shallowness. Must find out more.
Ted Cruz - this guy fits all my criteria I think. For some reason though I have zero attraction to him. Why is that?
I am sad that Scott Walker left. I found him really interesting. Even as I felt guilty about that being the daughter of labor folks.
There ya go. My smack down on the political candidates. To get that bad taste out of our mouths, here is something really inspiring.
Sunday, October 4, 2015
The Blithedale Romance - Book 46
The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the story of Miles Coverdale, a young bachelor who has made a minor name for himself as a poet, and who has decided to join a commune or Community that will live a simple agrarian life for the betterment of the world. Coverdale while attracted to this idea, also has his skeptical doubts. He goes to Blithedale during a freakish April snowstorm and once there he meets the three other characters that come to have a great influence on him: Zenobia, a beautiful, headstrong, great-hearted, proud and rather erratic woman. Hollingsworth, also kindhearted but with a single minded crusading cause that nothing will get in the way of, and Priscilla, a mysterious waif who adores Zenobia and Hollingsworth.
I don't know how satisfactory I found this novel. Hawthorne writes in his usual perceptive, elegant, ironic and wordy manner. Miles somehow reminded me of my son Sean, in that he was always of two minds and able to wittily skewer anyone's ideals or thoughts simply because he sees the world in a slightly melancholy, off-center way, with great insight. No one really takes to Coverdale at Blithedale. He feels left out often, because both girls obviously adore Hollingsworth. Miles too, initially finds a deep friendship with Hollingsworth and wants to be friends, but Hollingsworth turns everything into his philanthropic passion, to reform criminals. And his friends must be equally passionate or they can not be his friend. Tension builds and Miles decides he needs a break from Blithedale so he goes back to Boston, but there is an odd twist of fate and Miles finds himself getting more and more invested in finding out all there is to discover about some mysteries that surround Zenobia, Priscilla and another man. Mystery after mystery is uncovered and finally all the tense emotions bubble to a head with tragic consequences.
The thing I didn't find satisfactory is the the thing revealed at the very end. The whole time in the novel I kept thinking how Coverdale and Zenobia really should get together. They both thought outside the box so to speak and didn't really care what others thought. But in the end maybe Miles Coverdale was more like Priscilla, who didn't have any real purpose except by doing for others.
I thought this was a very interesting read. I had no idea what it was about before I began it, so I was really absorbed by the unfolding plot. One thing I love about Hawthorne is how homey he is in describing life in the early 1800s, it is surprisingly modern in outlook and yet quaint in all the details at the same time.
Somehow, without me choosing it, all my reading lately has coalesced around ideas of community. This book was about some idealistic people who try to start something to model a new and better way, but their tangled relationships prove too much for them. I just finished The Giver which actually also called where they lived the Community. And in that book the powers that be countered all the messy problems of relationship and idealism by rendering everyone colorless and flat - safety and freedom from pain are the only important things. And I am reading Lord of the World as well which has the Communists taking over the world in the name of world peace. And also trying to rid people of their individuality and also using euthanasia as the way to keep society tidy.
Pretty thought-provoking stuff! For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
The Giver - Book 45
I thought I had read this book. Or at least read parts of it or read a study guide or something. i think I have commented on it in various places over the years. All my kids have read it. I got it out of the library on audio because I drive around a lot in the car and I get bored so I am trying to get in the habit of having something to listen to. I go in and out with this habit. Right now I'm in. Anyway, I was surprised to find that I did not know the story. I was filled with foreboding as I listened to the first part. The world of The Giver is in a future utopia - or at least trying to be utopian. They (the powers that be) have decided safety and sameness (differences cause discomfort) are the supreme values of society. The government runs everything, seemingly in a very controlling but benign way. Everything has been reduced to colorless niceness. People apply to get a spouse and then the relationship is not a romantic one. After three years the couple can apply to adopt a child. Certain people get assigned the role of birth mother. No one knows their real father or real mother. It doesn't matter in this world (it is starting to not matter in our world either). Everyone takes pills so that pesky 'stirrings' won't disrupt the bland pleasantness of everything.
The story is told from the point of view of Jonas, an 11 year old boy about to turn 12. When you are a 12 you say goodbye to childhood (which is full of school and 'volunteer' hours. It made me think of how kids are required to do service hours nowadays) - and sharing feelings which is ritually done every evening in every 'dwelling' (as opposed to 'home'). Little kids get 'comfort objects' instead of lovie stuffed bears or blankets. Everything is expressed in pyscho-abstract ways. When 12, a child receives his assignment which means what he will do for his job in the Community. Jonas discovers he has been assigned to be the new Receiver. There is only one Receiver and his job is to receive all the memories of the people so that they might never suffer. But as Jonas begins to receive the memories as he trains with the Receiver to take over his job, he begins to realize there is another world out there, a world of color, of horrible pain and soaring happiness, and love. After Jonas realizes that the culture of the whole Community is built on euthanasia, he and the Receiver hatch a plan, but things don't go right.
The ending of the book is deliberately (and maybe annoyingly) ambiguous. It reminded me a bit of the ending of The Life of Pi in a way.
I found this book really complex and surprisingly pro-life. And it is obliquely Christian or it could perhaps be read that way. It is funny that I am also reading Lord of the World which deals with euthanasia and this book does too (among many other issues). For a young adult novel it is really deep and complicated but told in a simple way.
If you want to read a provocative, harrowing and beautifully crafted novel, here ya go. I don't know if I cared for the narrator of the audio version. But as usual I soon just focused on the story and not the reading voice.
A worthwhile read, but not a happy book! For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Friday Recap -
I have been asked not to discuss my daughter (by my daughter) on this blog. So I am not going to discourse at all but simply record nuts and bolts of what we achieved this week:
Sunday:
Mass and breakfast
B went on afternoon hike with teen group - PE
S did online driver's ed course and watched recording of programming class he missed last week.
Read more Lord of the World
Read and took notes on history Ch. 6
Tried to watch some of the lunar eclipse but it was very cloudy out so hard to see.
Monday:
Saint of the day: St. Wenceslaus
Element of the day: Sodium
Poem/Copy work of the week: Oberon's Speech
Geometry: B worked through problems in 1.3
Alg II: S did homework
S worked on Programming homework
Watched part of Bishop Barron's keynote to World Meeting of Families
Read Speeches from Scripture for S&Com class (Nathan to David; Paul to Agrippa, Paul to Athenians; Steven to Sanhedrin).
S - Physical Trainer - PE
B - AHG meeting - speaker on choreography/dance careers - this could count as PE - lots of movement.
B - tiny bit of Latin vocabulary review
S&B - finished history reading and notetaking.
Tuesday:
Saint of the day - Archangels
Element of the day - Magnesium - did you know magnesium is needed for photosynthesis?
Poem/Copy work - Oberon's Speech
I am very excited! I thought the kids had seen A Midsummer's Night's Dream but it turns out, as it does so often, that the older kids saw it repeatedly but the younger kids never have. So I got an idea. I looked around to see if it was playing anywhere near and it is! Well, two hours away in Virginia. I had already been planning to have an outing to the state arboretum and also to see some caverns in the Shenandoah mountains one weekend in the fall. So now I am busy planning and combining these things. The weekend that looks best is also our anniversary weekend anyway, so time for a little overnight trip! But we'll be bringing the two youngest along. We'll leave Saturday morning, drive to the Arboretum (an hour away) - take a nice stroll there, then onto the Skyine Caverns for a visit. Then we'll drive to Staunton. If we can stand it maybe we'll see the sights there for a bit. Then that night we will see A Midsummer at the Blackfriars theater. Sunday morning we'll get up and go to church, eat breakfast and drive home, hopefully in time for Rick to see the football at 1:00 p.m.
Chemistry - S watched next video and read next Ch. in Cartoon Guide
Physical Science - didn't get to today
Watched ten more minutes of Father Barron's Keynote
S & B went to history class. Were very animated by debate they'd had in class. S was a member of the British Parliament and B was Patriot.
Read rest of Speech and Communications readings out loud - all examples from Scripture (Jesus' teachings). Kids took online quiz.
Taught RE at parish
Sean @programming online class 6-7:30
Completely forgot I was supposed to make chicken for homeless until 10:00 p.m. Argh! Didn't get to bed until midnight. Boo hoo.
Wednesday:
Took chicken in only to find I am supposed to bring it on Thursday morning.
Saint of the Day: St. Jerome
Element of the Day: Aluminium (not supposed to be pronounced Aluminum!)
Copied out more of Oberon's Speech
B and I watched video on Ch. 1.4 Angles
S did Alg II homework
Kids had Speech online class at noon
I worked on Latin at the same time
B did some Latin mostly vocabulary and working verbs
Took S to Math tutor
Took B to Voice
Took S to bass
Planned more Latin
Thursday:
Got up early and went to 40 Days for Life
Home at 9:30 - we wound up doing no academics before leaving for Aquinas
S did Driver's Ed
S worked out with Physical Trainer
B babysat
I taught Latin
Home again - chilled for a bit
S worked on math homework in the evening
B did a bit of Latin in the evening
Completely forgot to read Lord of the World
Friday:
S to math tutor - things still going well
B and I watched beginning of 1.4 again plus a bit further into angles
Watched Natural Law lecture - I think next week we'll pause and discuss all this - deep stuff!
Went to Mass
Lunch at Chipotle
I went to Adoration at 2 but the kids opted out - made me sad.
B went to crew meeting - she's now working on 2 playmaker productions.
Sunday:
Mass and breakfast
B went on afternoon hike with teen group - PE
S did online driver's ed course and watched recording of programming class he missed last week.
Read more Lord of the World
Read and took notes on history Ch. 6
Tried to watch some of the lunar eclipse but it was very cloudy out so hard to see.
Monday:
Saint of the day: St. Wenceslaus
Element of the day: Sodium
Poem/Copy work of the week: Oberon's Speech
Geometry: B worked through problems in 1.3
Alg II: S did homework
S worked on Programming homework
Watched part of Bishop Barron's keynote to World Meeting of Families
Read Speeches from Scripture for S&Com class (Nathan to David; Paul to Agrippa, Paul to Athenians; Steven to Sanhedrin).
S - Physical Trainer - PE
B - AHG meeting - speaker on choreography/dance careers - this could count as PE - lots of movement.
B - tiny bit of Latin vocabulary review
S&B - finished history reading and notetaking.
Tuesday:
Saint of the day - Archangels
Element of the day - Magnesium - did you know magnesium is needed for photosynthesis?
Poem/Copy work - Oberon's Speech
I am very excited! I thought the kids had seen A Midsummer's Night's Dream but it turns out, as it does so often, that the older kids saw it repeatedly but the younger kids never have. So I got an idea. I looked around to see if it was playing anywhere near and it is! Well, two hours away in Virginia. I had already been planning to have an outing to the state arboretum and also to see some caverns in the Shenandoah mountains one weekend in the fall. So now I am busy planning and combining these things. The weekend that looks best is also our anniversary weekend anyway, so time for a little overnight trip! But we'll be bringing the two youngest along. We'll leave Saturday morning, drive to the Arboretum (an hour away) - take a nice stroll there, then onto the Skyine Caverns for a visit. Then we'll drive to Staunton. If we can stand it maybe we'll see the sights there for a bit. Then that night we will see A Midsummer at the Blackfriars theater. Sunday morning we'll get up and go to church, eat breakfast and drive home, hopefully in time for Rick to see the football at 1:00 p.m.
Chemistry - S watched next video and read next Ch. in Cartoon Guide
Physical Science - didn't get to today
Watched ten more minutes of Father Barron's Keynote
S & B went to history class. Were very animated by debate they'd had in class. S was a member of the British Parliament and B was Patriot.
Read rest of Speech and Communications readings out loud - all examples from Scripture (Jesus' teachings). Kids took online quiz.
Taught RE at parish
Sean @programming online class 6-7:30
Completely forgot I was supposed to make chicken for homeless until 10:00 p.m. Argh! Didn't get to bed until midnight. Boo hoo.
Wednesday:
Took chicken in only to find I am supposed to bring it on Thursday morning.
Saint of the Day: St. Jerome
Element of the Day: Aluminium (not supposed to be pronounced Aluminum!)
Copied out more of Oberon's Speech
B and I watched video on Ch. 1.4 Angles
S did Alg II homework
Kids had Speech online class at noon
I worked on Latin at the same time
B did some Latin mostly vocabulary and working verbs
Took S to Math tutor
Took B to Voice
Took S to bass
Planned more Latin
Thursday:
Got up early and went to 40 Days for Life
Home at 9:30 - we wound up doing no academics before leaving for Aquinas
S did Driver's Ed
S worked out with Physical Trainer
B babysat
I taught Latin
Home again - chilled for a bit
S worked on math homework in the evening
B did a bit of Latin in the evening
Completely forgot to read Lord of the World
Friday:
S to math tutor - things still going well
B and I watched beginning of 1.4 again plus a bit further into angles
Watched Natural Law lecture - I think next week we'll pause and discuss all this - deep stuff!
Went to Mass
Lunch at Chipotle
I went to Adoration at 2 but the kids opted out - made me sad.
B went to crew meeting - she's now working on 2 playmaker productions.
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