What I am most grateful for in 2015

I was thinking over all that happened in 2015 and I realized that the thing I am most grateful for is work!

Dh was rather worried about things at the office because they had slowed down so, but then they got a new client, so now he's busy and happy (though stressed!).

My oldest dd completed her masters in education and got a full time job as a middle school social studies teacher.  She loves what she does.

My son in law completed his paralegal certification program at night while working various jobs during the day, and has been steadily looking for permanent work.  I do hope he finds something soon.  Temp jobs are discouraging.

My oldest son graduated from Berklee College of Music with honors.  That takes a lot of work!  He's working at a deli part-time and now at Potbelly's playing music.  He also has been hosting a radio show at MIT since the spring.  He is always hard at work at something!

My middle son got hired as a full time permanent employee at the marina where he's been a seasonal worker.  And he's starting community college classes this coming January.

My youngest son got his first job working at a park over the Christmas season.  It has been a great experience for him.

My youngest dd works once a week at Aquinas Learning, being the nursery care-taker in the afternoon.  She occasionally gets babysitting jobs for her voice teacher.  She likes working.

And even I have been working at Aquinas Learning mentoring the Latin 1 and 2 classes.  I don't get paid much but I do get an itty bitty paycheck!

So that's what I am most grateful for in 2015.  That all of us have been hard at work, not only at home or school learning and training, but bona fide income earning!  There's something to be said for that!

My Top 10 Advice-To-Homeschoolers Posts of 2015

In the 2014-2015 year I was moderating a facebook group for Catholic Relaxed Homeschoolers.  I stopped at the beginning of September because I thought I was about to start a master's degree (which I have postposed until this coming summer) and because it was simply becoming too distracting and time consuming.  But I was talking to a lot of newer homeschoolers, especially people who were attracted to the word 'relaxed' but didn't quite know what it meant.  We had a hard time defining it because it really is a slippery term.  Anyway, that circumstance generated a lot of posts for me, so I went back and looked through them all and came up with ten, that are truly my take on what works.

1) Catholic Homeschooling for Free (or at very little cost)

I wrote a three part series of posts on how my parenting philosophy developed over the years:

2)  Why Parents Should Be Friends with their Children

3)  Parenting with St. John Bosco

4)  50 Things To Do Instead of Punishing

I loved this little 'interview' with Elizabeth Belske

5)  Interview with a Catholic Relaxed Homeschooler

The best thing about homeschooling is the books, books, books!

6)  Literature-based Studies

When you are as scatter-brained as I am, you've got to simplify!

7)  How To Be a Planning Minimalist

Don't Waste Your Money!

8)  How To Be a Curriculum Minimalist

Strewing is every homeschooler's friend!

9)  Ways to Strew

I actually have gotten into the good habit of making up this weekly planner every Sunday! Woot!

10)  Minimalist Monday - Weekly Planner

Minds More Awake - Book 56

Minds More Awake; The Vision of Charlotte Mason by Anne E. White is a short but thoughtful exploration of Charlotte Mason's philosophy of education.  White has been on the board of Ambleside Online almost since its inception.  She is the author of the study guides on Plutarch there.  I found this book to be a great pick me up over the Christmas holidays and in preparation for starting up 'school' again after the Christmas break.

White writes in an personable, down to earth style.  She uses many references from Mason herself, and also from literature and writers such as Jean Vanier, Northrop Frye and Josef Pieper.  She sees the big picture and she ties everything together in a warm and inspiring way.

She's also gently humorous and homey.  I liked seeing things from a Canadian perspective.  This past summer, I read Consider This by Karen Glass, also about Charlotte Mason, but that book is bit more academic in tone.  This book really is about White's personal reflections on her life using Charlotte Mason as her guide in homeschooling and how rewarding and true she found it to be.

Really this book is just the ticket to help you remember why you are homeschooling and what the important things are in life with children.

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

King William's College Quiz - 2015

UPDATE 12/30/15!  They have answered most of the questions over at Pemberley (I don't know if they have answered them correctly, but they have answers at least!), so instead of typing it all over here, I will just direct everyone over there!  Click the general discussion button and you'll find the KWCQ posts.

Merry Christmas!
(updated 12/28/15 - updates stolen from the Pemberley board!)

I'm working on the King William's College Quiz

Wanna join in?

Here's the link.  It is very, very intimidating and I have never come close to completing it but it is a fun distraction.

*I am getting help from the good people at the Well Trained Mind board.

Here's what I have so far:

Section 1 During 1915
#2 Frank Sinatra
#4 Janssen and Roos
#5 Edith Cavill
#6 The Lusitania (I think)
#7 The Battle of Loos
#8 The Thirty-nine Steps by John Buchan
#10 The Lusitania - hmm.  Maybe that isn't the answer for #6?

Section 2 -  Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries.
*The following is from Alice of the Well Trained Mind board with some conflicting answers from  Pemberley.  Alice sounds like she knows of what she speaks!  But I thought the ladies at Pemberley were infallible.  LOL. Anyway, since I can't remember these books except for #9, I will keep both answers up until we get the final exam answers whenever they come out.
#1 Sir Impey Biggs (Strong Poison)
#2 Noakes (Busman's Honeymoon)
#3 Dr. Penberthy (Unpleasantness of the Bellona Club)
#4 Mary Whittaker (Unnatural Death)
#5 Crimplesham (Alice)  Freke (Pemberley)  (Whose Body)
#6 Endicott (Alice) Weldon (Pemberley)  (Have His Carcase)
#7 Grant (Alice)  Lord Peter Wimsey (Pemberley) (Clouds of Witness)
#8General Fentiman (The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club)
#9  Yeah!  This one I really got!  In Dorothy Sayers' The Nine Tailors, Deacon, the suspect is killed by being tied up in the bell tower while they ring them all night long for New Years.
#10 Harriet Vane (Alice) (Gaudy Night) Halleluja Dawson (Pemberley) (Unnatural Death)
(Sorry my cross out thingy isn't working correctly.  Harriet will not be uncrossed!)



Section 3 - Themes is elections (Thanks Kathryn!)
#7 John Wilkes

Section 4 - County of Kent
#4 Margate
#3 White cliffs of Dover (King Lear)* from Laura Corin at WTM
#5 William Harvey hospital in Kent *
#6 From Room with a View - Tunbridge Wells*
#7 Hadlow Tower?
#10 Bishop's Finger beer made in Faversham (or could be pub of same name in London* (Laura Corin)

Section 5 - seems to be about British architecture built in the round
#1 Church of the Holy Sepluchre, Cambridge (The Round Church)
#2 Church of the Holy Sepluchre, Northhampton (also built in the round)
#3 The Roundhouse in North London* ( Laura Corin)
#5 Ickworth House, Suffolk
#6  Could this be Bodleian Library at Oxford?
#9 Mereworth Castle in Kent
#10 Royal Albert Hall (Pemberley)

Section 6 - Trains in Art, Music, Literature (thanks Kathryn!)
#1 Spanish-Brötli-Bahn - a kind of bun named after the station? (Pemberley)
#2 Adlestrop* (Laura Corin)
#4 Funiculi, Funicula
#5 The Railway Station, from Upways - poem by Thomas Hardy (Pemberley)
#7 La Gare Perpignan - station named by Salvidor Dali (I thought he might be the surrealist they were going for!) (Pemberley)
#8 The film Brief Encounter -station is Camforth* (Laura Corin)
#9 Gare St. Lazare by Monet (Kathryn)
#10 Copenhagen (Pemberley)

Section 7 - The theme is wolves!
#3 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
#6 Shere Khan* (AusMomof3 from WTM) Ruksha and Father Wolf

Section 8 - Theme might be novels? Famous Davids (thank you Laura Corin!)
#1 David Copperfield (Laura Corin also thinks this is right!)
#3 Camp David* (Laura Corin)
#4 Davy Crockett (though this doesn't seem to go with the novel theme)
#5 David Livingstone
#6 David Hackston - murder of Church of Scotland bishop James Sharp* (Laura Corin)
#7 David Crawfurd from John Buchan's book Prester John
#8  Could this be Camus' The Stranger?
#9 David Lloyd George*(Laura Corin)
#10 Dracula?

Section 9 - Theme is beverages
#1Black coffee
#2 Gunpowder tea (Kathryn) or Civit Coffee (Pemberley)
#3 red wine (me) or red raspberry tea (Pemberley)
#6 tea and toast (Wind in the Willows)* (Laura Corin)
#7 Camomile tea
#8 Rooibus tea*
#9 Orange Julius (me) or Earl Grey (Pemberley)
#10 Cafe au lait*

Section 10 - Theme may be reptiles?
#3 alligator - from the play The Rivals by Sheridan
#4 Tick tock crocodile
#6 Rene LaCoste
#7 Terry Pratchett's Discworld?  (Kathryn)
#8 Amun* (Calvin Corin) or Sobek? (AusMumof3)
#10 Galapogos?  (means tortoise in Spanish) or Cayman Islands (Pemberley)

Section 11 - Feathers  (Kathryn)
#4 Ostrich feathers
#5 Featherbed frame for motorcycles
#7 Pigeon Feathers by John Updike
#8 The Four Feathers by A.E.W. Mason

Section 12 - Code Names Given to Agents

Section 13 - Events in Africa could be the theme Eygpt
#5 Suez, Around the World in 80 Days
#6 The Rosetta Stone
#9 The Battle of El Alamein

Section 14 - Etymology of Country's names
#2 Costa Rica
#3 Holy See (or maybe Christmas Island - Kathryn)
#4 Russia
#5 Spain
#7 Cote d'Ivoire*
#9 Bahamas*

Section 15 - Theme looks to be dances
#2 Supervisor Dance (from Treasure Island)
#3 Cachucha from Gilbert and Sullivan (Pemberley)
#4 Lobster quadrille
#5 Danse Macabre (Calvin Corin agrees!)
#6 Dance of the Hours from La Gioconda
#7 Willoughby?
#8 Last Tango in Halifax*
#9 Swan Lake - Whooper Swans* (Laura Corin) or Whooping Crane (Pemberley)
#10 Waltzing Matilda*

Section 16 - Desserts
#1 Barm brack - traditional fruit cake served on St. Brigit's Day in Ireland
#2 Tiramisu from book Turtle Soup and Tiramisu by A. E. Ramsay
#5  to be rolled up in dough and eaten by rats (Tom Kitten) *(Laura Corin and Pemberley)
#6A raised pie - from Captain Aubrey (JFSinIL) or treacle pudding (Pemberley)
#7 Zabaglione
#10 Pumpkin pie from poem "Pumpkin" by John Greenleaf Whittier (Pemberley)

Section 17 - no clue
#6 Sandgate in The Keel Row (Pemberley)
#9 a peerage* (Laura Corin)

Section 18 During 2015
#1 Cecil the lion
#2 Richard III
#3 Liverpool - launch of ferry named Snowdrop painted in many colors. (Pemberley)
#5 Inspector Wexforth (Pemberley)
#6 Anthem from Borat (Pemberley)
#8 Women bishops (Kathryn)

If anybody out there in internet land wants to join in, please comment!  As I answer more of the questions, I will update.  I don't think I'll ever get all the questions.  For one thing there are too obscurely British, but it is really fun to try.

Christmas nesting

Christmas break is here and I have been deep cleaning the house. . . and getting a lot of satisfaction out of it.  I've got much more to do of course - it's like shoveling in a snowstorm, but I am enjoying making my house cozy and tidy.  So far:

• Cleaned out the pantry
• washed all my wood floors on the main level
• brushed and cleaned the carpet on our stairs
• decluttered the kitchen island and counters
• signed up with a composting company.  I put the stuff in their special bin and they collect it once a week.
• Forced offspring to clean their rooms

Today I need to further declutter paper, etc from the dining room.  And I also plan to vacuum the upstairs.

Tuesday is Sean's birthday.  So I am not sure what I'll get to then, but I hope to vacuum and tidy the basement.  And certainly, we'll get our tree and decorate for Christmas.

I want to keep this cleaning mood up!  I plan to really deep clean my bedroom and master bathroom after Christmas because. . . we are renovating the bathroom starting in January!

I have been very busy looking at houzz and getting ideas for our new bathroom.

Have a blessed last week of Advent!

I wrote a poem! (It's sad).

I haven't written poetry in decades!  I don't know where this came from.  I was sitting in my car waiting for S to get out from his tutoring session and suddenly this memory flashed through my head.  Years and years ago I remember seeing seagulls flying over a building.  I remember thinking, wow, why are seagulls here?  There's no water nearby!  And then I looked down and realized the building was an abortion clinic.

(Don't scoff at my writing abilities!  This might be a really bad poem!)

Seagulls circle above the abortuary.

They are miles and miles from the sea.

The woman entering the building is miles and miles from anything lovely.

She sits in a plastic chair, waiting.

Desolation makes her queasy.

She bites her lips in defense against the violence and humiliation.

Seagulls can look like doves 

As they swoop and soar above the surf,

But here they are dirty gray, and rat-like, they scatter litter from the rusty dumpster.

The woman walks slowly from the building.

She is a little hunched.

She leans on the man out of weakness, not love.

He has cost her this.

The man opens the passenger side door and helps her in.

He rounds the front of the car and stands there fiddling with his keys for a moment.  

His eyes are full of doom.

The woman's face is pale and drawn.

She looks up at the seagulls wheeling in the sky.

The engine starts.

The car passes out of the parking lot.  

It waddles over a speed bump and then turns into the street.

The seagulls shriek.

Green Ribbon for Unity

A friend of mine, among others, is trying to show solidarity with the Muslims in our country in the face of the backlash against them due to the recent terrorist tragedies and Trump's ignorant ravings.  We went to a tour tonight of a local mosque (actually, not a mosque, but a Muslim community center) and she was giving out ribbons to any of the visitors.  I am wearing mine proudly.

She and her friends are hoping it goes viral.  I quit facebook, but apparently it is gaining strength there.  So if you are so inclined, please don a green ribbon and wear it so the world can see that you do not lump all Muslims into the same extremist group.  Let us support our good, law-abiding Muslim neighbors and show them that we do believe in the the right to religious freedom and we will stand by them.  They need our love and support.  They have a terrible demon amidst them that is driving some into the arms of ISIS and other brutal extremists.  They need our friendship, not our fear or rejection.

I know that persecution against Christians is at an all time high around the globe and most of the time this means Islamic groups terrorizing, torturing, raping and beheading Christians.

I know that there has been a more radical, fundamentalist interpretation of Islam gaining ground for the last 40 years or so and influencing our own Muslim citizens.

I know that some of these radicalized Muslims could slip in with refugees.

But honestly, I think we don't have to throw the baby out with the bathwater.  We can tighten up our immigration and refugee procedures without shutting down altogether.

We can try to help those Christians in lands that are experiencing genocide.

We can encourage and support our Muslim citizens in their struggle against factions of fundamentalist jihadism.

For hundreds and hundreds of years Christian communities lived in Iraq and Syria and other predominantly Muslim countries and they are just now being forced from those Muslim societies.  The fact that the Christian societies lived there for so long is a beacon of hope.  Classical Islam is not fundamentalist, extremist Islam.  We can't declare war on 1.6 billion people who follow Islam.  We must be good brothers to the Muslims who believe in American values and who reject extremism and violence.  We must not alienate them.  We need open communication and dialogue.

That is why the Catholic Church calls for genocide to be called genocide but also refuses to reject Syrian refugees.  As a Catholic, I take the words of Matthew 5: 43-48 to heart.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Earlier in Matthew 5, Jesus gives us the Beatitudes where he says:  "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. " That's me!  My greatest ambition is to be a true child of God and that's why I will wear this green ribbon.  One little way to be a peacemaker.

The Great Divorce - Book 55

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis was our teen book club read for December.  This was a re-read for me.  It might be my second favorite C. S. Lewis book after Til We Have Faces.  What was really great about this book club selection is that S. read the book in three days.  This is amazing for him as he doesn't enjoy fiction and reads very slowly, so he does most of his 'reading' via audio books.  But this time he really read it and enjoyed it very much.

The book is a thought provoking fantasy.  The main character  (I don't think we ever know his name - it is probably Lewis himself.) finds himself wandering in a strange town and then waiting in a queue for a bus.  It's all very dreamlike.  The story is all about the people he encounters; slowly you realize that they all must be dead and this is happening in the after life.  As the narrator wanders through this strange world, he encounters George MacDonald, who serves as his Vergil, to explain and guide him.

Lots of exploration of sin, human nature, the nature of good and evil.  The characterizations of the people he meets are almost satirical and reminded me a bit of Jane Austen in her depiction of nasty, petty people.

The kids had a great discussion about based on this study guide.  They were in turns hysterically funny and at other times very insightful during the discussion.  Unlike Lord of the World, which was really over the kids' heads, this one was a perfect teen book club pick.

This book is a short novel written in Lewis' inimitable style, packed with theological insight.  Two thumbs up!

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

Friday Recap - 12/11/15

I can't recap this week systematically.  The approaching holidays, stupid migraines and the news have got me off my game here.

I do know that we didn't do enough math, Latin or science.  We did no science!  How did that happen???

Instead we did history and read The Great Divorce for book club.  S worked Sunday, Tuesday and then got called in to work for someone who was sick last night at the last minute.

J has actually begun the process of enrolling at the community college.  Hooray!  He was dual enrolled before which didn't count because now he's 20 and a high school graduate, so he had to do a different process.  He took the math placement exam yesterday.  He will take the English placement exam next Wednesday and then he goes to an orientation the following Friday I believe.  He's trying to enroll in an Intro to Business class (a particular one with a particular teacher who gets rave reviews and who teaches at the satellite campus only ten minutes from our house) and Principles of Accounting course which probably will have to be at the campus nearest his job.

I did not get S enrolled yet.  He is changing his mind.  He's thinking now he really doesn't want to go for animation but music recording and producing.  So he now thinks he'd rather take a music theory course.  Hopefully, he'll get enrolled next Monday.

Had a good RE class on Tuesday.  Working with 2nd graders makes my heart ache for little kids.  I love my kids, of course, but I miss the adorableness of little kids.  There really is an emptiness in life when you don't have little kids in it.

I did lots of Latin prep.  I had a weird ocular migraine on Wednesday night and I couldn't correct any of the online quizzes for my Latin 1 class.  So that's on my to do list.

Biggest thing is getting the house ready for the in laws again.  We are celebrating Chanukah tomorrow.  I am looking forward to seeing Hannah and Peter!  We won't see them at Christmas.  Boo hoo.

Happy St. Nick's Day! And links too.

And Hannukah starts tonight too!    In honor of the holiday season and because I've been watching too much CNN and fighting migraines (and therefore am feeling a wee bit gloomy) here are some links that have lifted my spirit.  I thought I would just collect them in one spot.

Gorgeous Japanese-American Catholic artwork.  And check out his website for coloring pages!

Woman rescues ferry:  God bless this woman and her quick thinking.  I like the remark the firefighter made in the article.

Brave Muslims trying to speak the truth.  God bless these people.  One thing that I think the press needs to do is focus more on Muslims who are peaceful because they are out there.  I've met them, yet it seems to be they don't get any media coverage at all.

Military action frees 900 captives from Boko Haram.  Thank God!

Since my NaNoWriMo novel had a lot about bluegrass in it, I was happy to stumble on this video.

I caught most of the first movie in this trilogy (on TCM) and was captivated by its poetic beauty telling a very simple story of a boy growing up in India.  It's in black and white and made back in the 1950s.  Here's a link to a trailer.  It's been restored after a fire.  Now I want all three movies for Christmas.

Wonderful and beautiful blog by Father Dwight Longnecker:  The Suburban Hermit

Can't You Hear Me Callin'? - Book 54

Can't You Hear Me Callin'? by Richard Smith is a biography of Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass music.  I read it as part of my research for my NaNoWriMo novel which involved the Bluegrass revival of the 1970s in this area.

Smith wrote a pretty good biography.   It's a little clunky in parts, but Smith did his research.  The book is chock full of footnotes, not just to articles and past interviews but interviews the author conducted himself for this book.  Smith was very thorough and conscientious, so I trust him as an author.

Monroe was a character.  He was a musical genius and a hard, hard working man, but he was also a compulsive womanizer and a poor business man.  These latter two things often undermined the former two.  In spite of his difficult nature, he truly inspired loyalty, his ex wives and lovers would come back to help him out, people he spurned for years because of some imagined slight, would forgive and forget simply so they could work with him again.  Smith gets rather Freudian about it all and blames Monroe's quirks on his childhood.

If you are interested in Americana music in the 20th century, this is a good resource.  Here's a link to the song the book is named after.

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