I have been reading this collection of Father Brown stories off and on for the past couple of weeks. Father Brown is a humble, quick, perceptive and wry little priest who is also a detective. And he always figures out who done it. G.K.Chesterton wrote many stories all published in various magazines at the time. This is a collection of stories edited by John Peterson and put out by Ignatius Press. I haven't read many Father Brown stories. I have read The Blue Cross a couple of times; this I believe is his most well known and is the story in which he introduced the character of Father Brown as well as the French jewel thief turned crime fighter, Flambeau, and the French Inspector Valentin.
I got this book several years ago but I only read the first two stories and then it sat on the shelf for a long while until I finally picked it up again. The stories are very witty and always have a surprise twist. Chesterton writes some lovely, lively descriptions of people and places. He gets a lot of meaning and innuendo in very efficiently. He is quite sly in his humor. I did find though, that I just couldn't read these stories at night in bed. For some reason I'd just fall right to sleep over them. And they all began to blur into one story where I could not keep the characters straight. However, if I read it during the day, I was alert enough to really enjoy these clever little gems. My favorite one was The Resurrection of Father Brown. My favorite quote from that one: "You silly people. You silly, silly people." You have to read it to know how funny that scene is.
I really appreciated John Peterson's helpful footnotes. Chesterton makes a lot of references to things that were popular knowledge in his day but which we might not catch the significance of. And I love all the allusions Chesterton makes to Shakespeare, to history and to Catholicism. He was one learned guy!
I have a hankering now to see Alec Guinness's portrayal of Father Brown. Here's a little clip I found on youtube.
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Friday, October 25, 2013
Unschooling Revisited
There has been a really refreshing conversation going on on the Catholic Unschoolers facebook page. I hadn't really been thinking in unschooling terms lately because we are so caught up in more schooly things. But even so I see unschooling swirling just beneath the surface a lot of times. For instance, Sean and Rick have been really into building this arcade, though I do think the ardor died down a little bit this week, just because other things took over. But they both have been learning a ton of stuff while doing this project. And then another incident: Rick and Sean read the book Of Mice and Men, assigned to Sean in his English class. Well, they both loved it. So Sean in his unschooling fashion, started researching about it on the internet. He found out 4 movies were made of the book. He watched two of them on line to compare the scene where (spoilers!) George shoots Lenny. Then he went into a detailed critique about how they filmed it and how the actors played the characters and whether he agreed with their interpretation. Next, he is going to read the play, which was adapted from the book in the 1940s. Rabbit trail!
For Becky even though we are mostly doing Aquinas Learning, she's off doing her own thing too. She's gotten back to making videos. She also has requested she take the National Mythology Exam just to see how much she knows (she's a walking encyclopedia on the subject). And she now has this great idea where she wants to start a student newspaper at Aquinas.
You just can't keep unschooling down! And that is because if given freedom, children enjoy learning. I am glad I was so relaxed when the kids were younger. It keeps them fresh and intellectually curious.
For Becky even though we are mostly doing Aquinas Learning, she's off doing her own thing too. She's gotten back to making videos. She also has requested she take the National Mythology Exam just to see how much she knows (she's a walking encyclopedia on the subject). And she now has this great idea where she wants to start a student newspaper at Aquinas.
You just can't keep unschooling down! And that is because if given freedom, children enjoy learning. I am glad I was so relaxed when the kids were younger. It keeps them fresh and intellectually curious.
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Bible Basics for Catholics - Book 46
The whole title of this book is Bible Basics for Catholics; A New Picture of Salvation History. It's by John Bergsma who teaches at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. I wish it had a catchier title because it is a highly readable and very clever way of presenting the seven covenants found in the Bible that God makes with us, his children. Bergsma uses the the device of cleverly drawn simple cartoons to help students remember the details of each covenant. It really is a rather delightful way of teaching this.
I wish I had found this book a couple of weeks ago. Sean's text in high school this year is the Didache Series' Understanding the Scriptures. That book talks about these covenants too, but in such a confusing way that we were really puzzled by it and Sean got a C on his quiz about it. This book, though, is written so clearly that Bergsma makes something that is profound and complex really easy to understand. And the pictures are great triggers for helping the student recall the meaning and context of each covenant.
I am planning on reading this out loud to Becky. Bergmsa handles some potentially tricky stuff very deftly, like the little incident of Noah's nakedness/drunkenness. So I think it would be appropriate for 7th or 8th grade students (with maybe some very slight censoring) and a wonderful way to introduce them to these concepts.
I am cheating a little bit here with this review. I haven't quite finished the book. I still have 40 pages to go (what a biblical number!). But for an adult it is a quick read.
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
I wish I had found this book a couple of weeks ago. Sean's text in high school this year is the Didache Series' Understanding the Scriptures. That book talks about these covenants too, but in such a confusing way that we were really puzzled by it and Sean got a C on his quiz about it. This book, though, is written so clearly that Bergsma makes something that is profound and complex really easy to understand. And the pictures are great triggers for helping the student recall the meaning and context of each covenant.
I am planning on reading this out loud to Becky. Bergmsa handles some potentially tricky stuff very deftly, like the little incident of Noah's nakedness/drunkenness. So I think it would be appropriate for 7th or 8th grade students (with maybe some very slight censoring) and a wonderful way to introduce them to these concepts.
I am cheating a little bit here with this review. I haven't quite finished the book. I still have 40 pages to go (what a biblical number!). But for an adult it is a quick read.
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Lunches for Sean
Sean's getting tired of the food in the school cafeteria. I thought it would get old quickly. At first he was so thrilled. Also, his physical trainer has been talking to him about eating better. Too many sodas, french fries and chips. So Sean and I brainstormed a bit and came up with a plan. It is a little extravagant I think, because he wants a different soup every day. I can't do that homemade, so I'm looking at soups I can get at the store that relatively healthy.
Here's our plan:
Monday - homemade pizza pockets, chicken noodle soup.
I plan to buy the whole wheat pizza dough at Trader Joe's. Grate up some mozzarella cheese and some pizza sauce. Ta da! I am going to make a bunch. Becky will get the same lunch at home here. I'll freeze a bunch of them so I can make enough for a few Mondays.
Tuesday - turkey or ham and cheese, French onion soup.
Trader Joe's has those nice pretzel rolls I can put the sandwich on. I don't know about that soup! TJ's used to have frozen French Onion but I haven't gotten for a long time because it had MSG in it. Do they still have it? If not, I'll see if I can come up with a suitable substitute. I might just give him a cup of homemade chicken broth. I need to make some more.
Wednesday - Sausage roll, potato soup
I think I'm going to get some pastry dough and some sausages and make a bunch of these and freeze them too. Potato soup??? I never get the canned stuff. I make really good potato soup but I am not sure how to make lunch size portions. I might have to find a substitute for this one too. Maybe tomato.
Thursday - grilled cheese croutons and chili
Grilled cheese croutons are the new thing around here. You just make a grilled cheese sandwich and then cut it up into crouton chunks and mix them with your soup. In this case I'm just going to open up a can of chili.
Friday - tuna or egg salad, crackers, lentil soup.
The hard thing about this is saving crackers because they are usually all eaten up by Friday. TJ's has a really nice organic lentil veggie soup that Sean really likes.
Tomorrow a.m. I am going to go shopping before Mass. Then after Mass and breakfast, I'll have to run somewhere (Target?) to get thermoses, lunch bag, etc. Then I'll come home and make the pizza pockets and the sausage rolls.
Then we made a list of 'sides'.
Fruits/veggies:
apple
banana
raisins
grapes
pear
orange/clementine
dried mango
cucumber slices
carrot sticks
something crunchy:
almonds
pretzels
those dried green beans TJ's has
tortilla chips
popcorn
Trail mix
Here's our plan:
Monday - homemade pizza pockets, chicken noodle soup.
I plan to buy the whole wheat pizza dough at Trader Joe's. Grate up some mozzarella cheese and some pizza sauce. Ta da! I am going to make a bunch. Becky will get the same lunch at home here. I'll freeze a bunch of them so I can make enough for a few Mondays.
Tuesday - turkey or ham and cheese, French onion soup.
Trader Joe's has those nice pretzel rolls I can put the sandwich on. I don't know about that soup! TJ's used to have frozen French Onion but I haven't gotten for a long time because it had MSG in it. Do they still have it? If not, I'll see if I can come up with a suitable substitute. I might just give him a cup of homemade chicken broth. I need to make some more.
Wednesday - Sausage roll, potato soup
I think I'm going to get some pastry dough and some sausages and make a bunch of these and freeze them too. Potato soup??? I never get the canned stuff. I make really good potato soup but I am not sure how to make lunch size portions. I might have to find a substitute for this one too. Maybe tomato.
Thursday - grilled cheese croutons and chili
Grilled cheese croutons are the new thing around here. You just make a grilled cheese sandwich and then cut it up into crouton chunks and mix them with your soup. In this case I'm just going to open up a can of chili.
Friday - tuna or egg salad, crackers, lentil soup.
The hard thing about this is saving crackers because they are usually all eaten up by Friday. TJ's has a really nice organic lentil veggie soup that Sean really likes.
Tomorrow a.m. I am going to go shopping before Mass. Then after Mass and breakfast, I'll have to run somewhere (Target?) to get thermoses, lunch bag, etc. Then I'll come home and make the pizza pockets and the sausage rolls.
Then we made a list of 'sides'.
Fruits/veggies:
apple
banana
raisins
grapes
pear
orange/clementine
dried mango
cucumber slices
carrot sticks
something crunchy:
almonds
pretzels
those dried green beans TJ's has
tortilla chips
popcorn
Trail mix
Friday, October 18, 2013
Thinking about our Family Traditions
I didn't feel like journaling today!
So instead I started thinking about this article at the Art of Manliness (which is such a wonderful blog for anybody; not just men).
What are our family traditions? I have never felt very good at creating these, but some have happened sort of from their own volition:
1. Prayers - we do say prayers together every night. It is just the Our Father, a listing of all our family and special intentions we ash God to bless, and then the prayer of St. Michael the Archangel. With the kids getting older though some nights we aren't all together. A couple of times we've forgotten but I'd say 98% of the time we say prayers together at night.
2. Saturday morning bagels. I've been getting bagels for Saturday mornings breakfast for at least a decade. "Is it bagel day?" Is a question that gets asked around here.
3. Going out to breakfast on Sundays. This has been happening in some way shape or form for a good part of our marriage.
4. Rick grilling on Sunday evenings. I'd say 70% of the time, Rick grills us something for dinner on Sunday nights.
5. At least one night of the week is pizza night. The actual night moves around because of our schedule but it is always there.
I just realized that a lot of this happened because I am not such a great cook. LOL!
6. First hug! The kids would always race to hug daddy first when he came home. They'd call first hug as they ran toward him. Now they are older and don't do this so much, but sometimes they will make reference to it.
7. We pretty much celebrate the holidays the same way every year. I won't go into all that detail right now but it is there in our lives.
8. Birthdays - the birthday person gets to choose what kind of cake they want and the dinner menu.
9. Nightly read alouds. This is waning too with the kids getting older, but right now Rick is reading Becky the latest Percy Jackson and he is also reading Of Mice and Men to Sean. So I might not be reading to them, but they are still getting read alouds!
10. Mass on Sundays. We make it every Sunday. Right now we are trying for the 10:00 a.m. consistently. For a few years it was the 8:15 when Hannah was in the choir. For a few years after that it was the 11:45 before everyone decided they really didn't care for the guitar music. Sometimes we go through periods where we tend to go to evening Masses at other parishes. But we always go! Sunday wouldn't be Sunday without Mass!
I think I'll ask the kids what traditions they can think of. I am sure there are little ones that I am forgetting.
So instead I started thinking about this article at the Art of Manliness (which is such a wonderful blog for anybody; not just men).
What are our family traditions? I have never felt very good at creating these, but some have happened sort of from their own volition:
1. Prayers - we do say prayers together every night. It is just the Our Father, a listing of all our family and special intentions we ash God to bless, and then the prayer of St. Michael the Archangel. With the kids getting older though some nights we aren't all together. A couple of times we've forgotten but I'd say 98% of the time we say prayers together at night.
2. Saturday morning bagels. I've been getting bagels for Saturday mornings breakfast for at least a decade. "Is it bagel day?" Is a question that gets asked around here.
3. Going out to breakfast on Sundays. This has been happening in some way shape or form for a good part of our marriage.
4. Rick grilling on Sunday evenings. I'd say 70% of the time, Rick grills us something for dinner on Sunday nights.
5. At least one night of the week is pizza night. The actual night moves around because of our schedule but it is always there.
I just realized that a lot of this happened because I am not such a great cook. LOL!
6. First hug! The kids would always race to hug daddy first when he came home. They'd call first hug as they ran toward him. Now they are older and don't do this so much, but sometimes they will make reference to it.
7. We pretty much celebrate the holidays the same way every year. I won't go into all that detail right now but it is there in our lives.
8. Birthdays - the birthday person gets to choose what kind of cake they want and the dinner menu.
9. Nightly read alouds. This is waning too with the kids getting older, but right now Rick is reading Becky the latest Percy Jackson and he is also reading Of Mice and Men to Sean. So I might not be reading to them, but they are still getting read alouds!
10. Mass on Sundays. We make it every Sunday. Right now we are trying for the 10:00 a.m. consistently. For a few years it was the 8:15 when Hannah was in the choir. For a few years after that it was the 11:45 before everyone decided they really didn't care for the guitar music. Sometimes we go through periods where we tend to go to evening Masses at other parishes. But we always go! Sunday wouldn't be Sunday without Mass!
I think I'll ask the kids what traditions they can think of. I am sure there are little ones that I am forgetting.
Journal of day - 10/17/13
Alarm went off at 5:30 but couldn't get out of bed until 5:45
Packed up everything for Aquinas Learning; made copies of worksheets, etc.
Got S up
Made him a pb&j again for breakfast
Carpool picked up S and dropped off C
Woke B up
I took shower and got dressed
Packed up lunch for B
Took B and C to Aquinas.
Prepped more for class
Taught class (Ros helped with sorting lesson in LTW)
After class hung out with ladies and read through 5 Topics worksheets
Walked to get lunch
Came back and worked on Latin translations
Got too busy talking and misremembered when class started! Students came to find me! Oops!
Had good Latin class though. These are some sharp students. I am struggling to keep up!
Drove home with B and C, dropped C off.
Came home. Talked to H who was substitute teacher today in school niece is in.
Talked to S who was very upset because more kids had teased him about his speech impediment. Very sad.
H took him out for hot cocoa to cheer him up.
Called R to talk about S's issue. Sent email to psych.
Basically collapsed, putzed around and did nothing productive for a couple of hours.
Made not very good fried rice with leftovers for dinner.
P came over.
Helped S with Latin
R came home
R read to B
R read to S
I collapsed. Don't even remember going to bed!
Packed up everything for Aquinas Learning; made copies of worksheets, etc.
Got S up
Made him a pb&j again for breakfast
Carpool picked up S and dropped off C
Woke B up
I took shower and got dressed
Packed up lunch for B
Took B and C to Aquinas.
Prepped more for class
Taught class (Ros helped with sorting lesson in LTW)
After class hung out with ladies and read through 5 Topics worksheets
Walked to get lunch
Came back and worked on Latin translations
Got too busy talking and misremembered when class started! Students came to find me! Oops!
Had good Latin class though. These are some sharp students. I am struggling to keep up!
Drove home with B and C, dropped C off.
Came home. Talked to H who was substitute teacher today in school niece is in.
Talked to S who was very upset because more kids had teased him about his speech impediment. Very sad.
H took him out for hot cocoa to cheer him up.
Called R to talk about S's issue. Sent email to psych.
Basically collapsed, putzed around and did nothing productive for a couple of hours.
Made not very good fried rice with leftovers for dinner.
P came over.
Helped S with Latin
R came home
R read to B
R read to S
I collapsed. Don't even remember going to bed!
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Journal of Day - Wednesday 10/16/13
Alarm went off at 5:30
Got out of bed at 5:40
Fed pets
listened to beautiful hymn music while sipping coffee
Got S up
moved laundry
made him a pb&j for breakfast
took him and N to school
Came home
answered email
got B up
made her scrambled eggs and eng. muffin
B worked on math test
unloaded dishwasher
during math tutor answered more email
cleaned kitchen more. Sadly, no matter how much I clean it never looks that much better!
Went into panic mode about missing books. I have mislaid the Latin books for the course I am teaching.
I have also mislaid all the books I need for handling the religious awards for our AHG troop. And I'm the religious award person.
I tore through the house looking for both sets of books. Rick helped a bit but we couldn't find either. the AHG stuff has been missing for weeks. The Latin stuff I just notice missing last Wednesday. I have no idea where they are; no memory whatsoever. I hate being ADD.
Becky worked more on her ANI chart
Becky and I worked on her logic together. This is heavy duty stuff for a 7th grader.
I read history out loud to B but then started to fall asleep.
S called. He was released at 1:30 not 2.
Made cup of coffee because I was too sleepy to drive.
Picked up S - he complained about how long it took me :(
B was supposed to read a biography of famous men from Middle Ages and write essay.
She may or may not have read it.
I gave her and Sean a break before we start up studies again.
Sent more emails to students
Did outline of lesson plan for tomorrow but need to do more substantial planning for it.
Becky wrote her essay.
S did his Latin homework
Trainer came. Doesn't usually come on Wednesdays. B goes with them for fun!
I wasted time on internet.
Got carry out from 5 guys for dinner.
B did her 5 Topics outline
S did his biology vocab.
R read to both kids
Didn't get to bed until 11:00 p.m.
Got out of bed at 5:40
Fed pets
listened to beautiful hymn music while sipping coffee
Got S up
moved laundry
made him a pb&j for breakfast
took him and N to school
Came home
answered email
got B up
made her scrambled eggs and eng. muffin
B worked on math test
unloaded dishwasher
during math tutor answered more email
cleaned kitchen more. Sadly, no matter how much I clean it never looks that much better!
Went into panic mode about missing books. I have mislaid the Latin books for the course I am teaching.
I have also mislaid all the books I need for handling the religious awards for our AHG troop. And I'm the religious award person.
I tore through the house looking for both sets of books. Rick helped a bit but we couldn't find either. the AHG stuff has been missing for weeks. The Latin stuff I just notice missing last Wednesday. I have no idea where they are; no memory whatsoever. I hate being ADD.
Becky worked more on her ANI chart
Becky and I worked on her logic together. This is heavy duty stuff for a 7th grader.
I read history out loud to B but then started to fall asleep.
S called. He was released at 1:30 not 2.
Made cup of coffee because I was too sleepy to drive.
Picked up S - he complained about how long it took me :(
B was supposed to read a biography of famous men from Middle Ages and write essay.
She may or may not have read it.
I gave her and Sean a break before we start up studies again.
Sent more emails to students
Did outline of lesson plan for tomorrow but need to do more substantial planning for it.
Becky wrote her essay.
S did his Latin homework
Trainer came. Doesn't usually come on Wednesdays. B goes with them for fun!
I wasted time on internet.
Got carry out from 5 guys for dinner.
B did her 5 Topics outline
S did his biology vocab.
R read to both kids
Didn't get to bed until 11:00 p.m.
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