Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis by Lauren F. Winner

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Amy

Lauren F. Winner’s new book Still:  Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis is one of those books I feel inadequate to review.  However, I find her writing extraordinarily compelling, to the point that I read this book like I might read a suspense novel–always with an eye to the last page, eyeballing how far I’ve read and far I have yet to go, always wanting to get back to it.   I like this book a lot, mostly because I can identify with a mid-faith crisis; sometimes I feel like most of my adult life has been a mid-faith crisis.  (Not to be overly dramatic, but I’ve had that feeling like something’s not quite right through much of my adult life, like I haven’t quite cornered the market on how to actually live a life of faith and walk in the Spirit.)  What I’ve concluded is that perhaps I’ve been looking at it wrong all along, and I sort of think that’s the conclusion that Winner reaches, too.  Anyway, rather than give my opinion of the book, I think I’ll just share some passages I like a lot. 

I went to church by habit.  I went prompted by some deep-buried intuition.  Most days I went brittle, like a dry cake of gingerbread.  Like the hinges of an old book.  (9)

I am one of those overeducated library types who might be expected to look down her nose at self-helf books–but the whole bookstore is a self-help section to me.  When something needs to be fixed, my first and abiding instinct is to read.  I think I can read my way to a solution.  Or at least an evasion.  (23)

My friend S. often talks about his wife–that she feels God is there for her in a way that he does not.  Unmediated.  Present.  There.  When I ask if he envies her God’s thereness, S. says it’s not necessarily a good thing to be so naturally receptive to God’s presence.  It can be good, he says.  But then:  “to be naturally anything can make one not have to undergo the training necessary to make that which is immediate a habit.”  His wife, S. tells me, has undergone the training, has made the immediate also habitual.  But as for himself, and as for me, S. says, “one of God’s gifts to some of us is just not to be immediate, so that we have to undergo the kind of discipline necessary to have what others seem to have so effortlessly.” 

This is something of a comfort. (102)

 I think the bottom line for me is that I like Lauren Winner because she writes about books and reading and literature and thinking and faith, all jumbled up together.  This is a lot like the way I see the world.  She and I come from vastly different backgrounds (though we’re more similar than we seem, as I realized when I read Girl Meets God ), but I think we reach some of the same conclusions about faith and life.  Honestly, what prompted this period of spiritual stillness in her life, a divorce from her husband for no apparent good reason (just her own unhappiness, which she readily admits) is off-putting for me.  However, she doesn’t dwell on the divorce too much; instead, she moves on to think through God’s hiddenness (as opposed to his absence).  The point of (momentary?) resolution that she reaches here is one that I identify with:

On any given morning, I might not be able to list for you the facts I know about God.  But I can tell you what I wish to commit myself to, what I want for the foundation of my life, how I want to see.  When I stand with the faithful at Holy Comforter and declare that we believe in one God. . .I am saying, Let this be my scaffolding.  Let this be the place I work, struggle, play, rest.  I commit myself to this. (169) 

I think what I like best about this book probably is its title.  I love how the word still means different things:  still, as in unmoving or at rest–be still; still, as in “I’m still here,” or rather, “God’s still here with me.” That’s really nice.  (Oh, and I was quite tickled to figure that out myself at the beginning of the book, but then I was a little deflated that she actually discusses it in the Q & A section at the end of the book.  I like to feel like I’m “in the know” without having it pointed out to me.  So much for my literary analysis skills!)

Bottom line?  Read it if you like meandering, thoughtful prose about a life of faith.  (HarperOne, 2012)

Thanks to the folks at HarperOne for sending this book my way.  The book was free to me; the opinions are my own. 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Adult Nonfiction, Books, In Step with the Spirit | 6 Comments

Collage Friday–Wrapping It Up

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Amy

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1.  With the completion of lesson 82 in RS C, Lulu has come through the geometry section of the program, at least for now.  It has been fun and stretching for both of us, but I think we’ll both be glad to get back to numbers for a while.  On her review sheet she had to identify parallelograms, rhombuses, and rectangles, and it was really neat for see her figure out the attributes of each and how the categories work.  Of course, she has also been practicing subtraction and mulitiplication daily, too.  Subtraction seems to be harder for her right now than multiplication.  We practiced subtracting nines with a card game on Thursday, and we were both challenged by it.  (Homeschooling is good for this old mama’s brain, too!) 

2.  Although this is only tangentially related to homeschooling, it definitely affected our week:  I went with Steady Eddie on a business trip on Wednesday, so all three children stayed with my parents for the day.  While they enjoyed spending time with their grandparents (and the girls got to watch Bonanza with my mom, which is her favorite and theirs), I enjoyed shopping at the mall.  I even took my book along and enjoyed it (and a bit of chocolate).  It’s hard for me to take these little breaks away from school, but as Steady Eddie has pointed out numerous times, this is one of the reasons that we homeschool–so that we can set our own schedules.  {On a side note, on this shopping trip I found a fantastic bargain–a beautiful wool sweater with a ruffled neckline that cost $100 originally that was marked down to about $17.  I bought it, and then sometime in my other shopping–plopping my packages up on counters, trying on shoes, etc.–I lost it.  :-(   I realized it after Steady Eddie picked me up, and we went back in and inquired about it everywhere I could think I might’ve lost it, but alas, it was already gone. :-( }

3.  My mom brought the girls a couple of Disney Princess puzzles this week, and they have enjoyed putting them together.  They’ve spent a good bit of time on this.  They’ve also learned They’re also learning forbearance with their little brother thanks to the same puzzles.  :-)

4.  We’ve done a lot of bird watching this week, and it does my heart good to see my girls get as excited as I do about the visitors at our feeders.  I’ve even been able to identify a couple of our visitors, and this always makes me inordinately happy when I can do this.  I’m planning to participate in next week’s Great Backyard Bird Count.  I count my awareness of and interest in nature a direct result of our homeschooling, and I’m thankful for it.

5.  Lulu finished the first level of All About Spelling this week!  She really zoomed through this level (this is our second shot at a spelling curriculum, so this was catch-up for her), and I’m looking forward to started level two with her.  She doesn’t love spelling with the tiles, but I can see the value in it, so we press on.  Over all, though, I think she enjoys the curriculum.

6.  Thursday night science with Steady Eddie involved lots of discussion about the various states of matter and about water in particular.  The girls made predictions as to how long it would take the two wet paper towels, one exposed to the air and the other enclosed in a zip-top bag, to dry.  I also read them a really good picture book that I hope to share for a future Nonfiction Monday.  :-)

7.  Louise is making great progress with her reading!  She finished through lesson 124 in OPGTTR early this week, and we stopped there because lesson 125 begins a new section.  Now if we could just keep up with our shared reading books!  She was supposed to finish Aunt Eater Loves a Mystery this week, but we can’t find it (again).  We substituted Maybelle Goes to Tea instead, which is more of a text-heavy short chapter book than a picture-heavy short chapter book.  Go, Louise!  :-)   (She’s writing /oi/ words on foil up there in the picture.)

8.  This is more or less what passed for history at our house this week.  We did finish Adam of the Road, which is a fabulous chapter book read-aloud for the Middle Ages (this one will definitely be a future RAT post!)  The girls have been checking out these Graphic Library nonfiction graphic novels/comic books from the library about various historical figures.  I suspect that they might not be exactly what I consider quality literature, but I think just getting the factual information in their heads counts for something, too.  I’m waffling on history a bit right now, but I hope to get it figured out this coming week.

9.  For Fun Friday today we finished up two read-alouds (Adam of the Road and Bach), worked on a little art project using oil pastels and watercolors, and then in the afternoon we had a Valentine’s Day party with some homeschool buddies.  We all look forward to Fun Fridays!

In addition to all of this, we also plodded on in Lulu’s writing and language studies.  She has made a leap in Writing with Ease to giving her summary narrations without any leading questions.  She does quite well with this, though sometimes she wants to include all the details.  She is now tackling prepositions in FLL, so it’s time for us to really work the memory songs and chants to get those down!  We also more or less came to a good stopping place with our memory work, though we’ll continue to review it as we move on to other things.

We wrapped up quite a few things this week, which makes it a perfect time for a six weeks break.  This is the first time this year that our pre-planned break has fallen at a time when we don’t have something else planned.  The first time our break took us to Walt Disney World, and then the next time we had a break it was Christmas.  I hope to do some cleaning and decluttering next week, plus some planning, etc.  Of course, we’ll keep on reading and playing together.  It will be interesting to me to switch hats for a while and sit back and watch just how much informal learning the girls do.

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Posted in Education, Weekly Wrap-Up | 6 Comments

This Week in Books

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Amy

 

I am not making any promises that this stack actually constitutes everything we read this week, nor that everything in it we actually did read.  (It has been one of those weeks around here, folks.)  In fact, I know that an un-read Boxcar Children mystery is in that stack by accident, and I know that the stack is missing quite a few titles we did read.  Most notably missing is Aunt Eater Loves a Mystery, mine and Louise’s shared reading title that we carried over from last week and is currently missing.  (If anyone has any idea where it might be, please, do tell.  I’m at my wit’s end with lost books around here! :-)   )  Also missing is The House at Pooh Corner, Lulu’s assigned (self-selected, really) reading for the week which was also lost and then found exactly where we put it so she wouldn’t lose it.  Sigh.  I’ve been reading through Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider on my Kindle (and no, the irony isn’t lost on me), and I’m in the home stretch of Breadcrumbs for the Armchair Cybils challenge which ends next week.  We finally finished Castle as a read-aloud, and I hope to finish Bach and Adam of the Road today.

Posted in Books | Tagged | 2 Comments

Read Aloud Thursday–”The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Amy

Somehow Louise brought not one but two illustrated versions of O. Henry’s short story “The Gift of the Magi” home from the library a few weeks ago.  I’ll admit I put her off for several days about reading one of them; it takes me quite a while after Christmas to even think about reading yet another Christmas story (like usually the next Christmas!)  Plus, I knew it to be a somewhat lengthy story, and our read-aloud time is precious so I guard it carefully.  I finally gave in to her one day last week, and I was surprised by quite a few things.

First, this is no “dumbed down” version of the story.  We encountered words like parsimony and mendicancy and imputation in the first paragraph.  I was pleased to be able to hear the narrator’s voice in this story, instead of some milk-toast adaptation of it.  Second, it’s not as long as I thought–I bet I read it, start to finish, in ten minutes or less.  Third, my girls were spellbound.  Mesmerized.  Yes, that’s usually their reaction to most stories, honestly.  But this one was oh so easy to read with feeling and fervor, despite the twenty-five dollar words hiding here and there in the sentences.  I have to admit that I grew a little pedantic after reading this story, pointing out to the girls how important sacrificial giving is, that like David we shouldn’t give to God that which costs us nothing.  They got the message, and what a poignant and beautiful vehicle through which to deliver it.  Why did I wait so long to read this one?

If all of that isn’t enough, this version itself is gorgeous.  Lisbeth Zwerger‘s illustrations, one facing each page of text, are dramatic and evocative of the strong emotion in the story.  Della’s beautiful hair swirls and floats about her.  Jim is blonde and young-looking in this story, which upset my preconceived ideas about him, but his demeanor is spot-on. Add this one to your TBR list for Christmas 2012, or better yet, read it now and then, too.   I give this version of O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi” a Highly Recommended.

Have you ever put off reading a certain book to your children?  Why?

(Oh, and if you’re looking for inspiration for the holiday that’s actually coming up next week, check out this post.)



Posted in Adult Fiction, Books, Holiday, Picture Books, Read Aloud Thursday | 11 Comments

The Shadow of Ghadames by Joelle Stolz

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Amy

The Shadow of Ghadames by Joëlle Stolz is the fictional story of twelve year old Malika and her life in late nineteenth century Ghadames, a city that still exists in Libya today.  Malika is on the cusp of womanhood, at least by the customs and standards of her culture and day.  Malika also longs for her life to be different:  she longs to travel, to learn to read, to have the freedom that her half-brother, Jasim, is growing into.  Of course, just as she longs for these things, her life is about to grow much, much smaller.  As an adult woman, her sphere will mostly consist of her home.  In Ghadames, women view their world and participate in it, even, from their rooftops, leaving their homes only at specified times and for specific reasons.  However, a dangerous and accidental visitor threatens to upset Malika’s household and even her life, while at the same time holding out hope to Malika that she might be at least free in her own mind.

I really enjoyed this story of life in Libya over a hundred years ago.  At fewer than 120 pages, this story offers a brief but powerful glimpse at a repressive society and the mechanisms the women put in place to make their lives more bearable.  Honestly, had I not read in the author note that this story takes place in the late nineteenth century, I would’ve thought it is a modern tale because it fit the expectation that I have of the women’s lives in a modern Islamic state thanks to the media.  (Right or wrong, this is just my impression.)  In some ways this is a classic coming-of-age story because Malika feels like many young people feel–closed off from the world by her surroundings and family, and longing for change and self-realization.  However, her experience is compounded a hundred-fold by her society and its traditions.   Stolz captures Malika’s feelings beautifully and paints a picture of Malika’s circumscribed but fortunate life. This description encapsulates Stolz‘s style and the sort of word pictures she paints of Malika’s dusty and restrained existence:

I’ll only be allowed to taste a tiny bit.  Coffee is a luxury for us; it comes from very far away, from the mountains of Yemen and Arabia.  Part of our pleasure in drinking it derives from the long journey the caravans must make to bring it here.  They cross landscapes so different from ours, and bivouac for weeks under the stars, the men sleeping on top of the sand-covered embers of the campfire to protect themselves against the cold desert nights.  All these aspects of the journey are contained in those few black drops.  (72)

Do you hear the longing in Malika’s voice?  Reading this story helped me to really picture just what life was like not just emotionally and relationally but physically, as well:

I accompany my father down the stairs to the narrow entryway that gives out into the street.  Jasim, glowing with pride, helps my father with his two large saddlebags.  My mother and Bilkisu [her father's second wife] stand side by side.  They have taken off their jewelry.  Their bare faces, one lightly tanned, the other dark, blend with the design of red palm trees and flowers–the magnificent garden taht all the women of Ghadames paint in red, on the walls of their houses, to protect them against misfortune. (9)

Although I usually have a hard time visualizing things, Stolz‘s descriptions of the homes, streets, and alleyways of Ghadames are precise enough that even I have an inkling of the physical surroundings of Malika’s life.  Of course, pictures help, too.  After reading this book, I have a real feel for the landscape and culture of Ghadames.

The Shadows of Ghadames provides an interesting, beautifully written, and ultimately hopeful look at the life of a young girl in Libya.  This would make an excellent and accessible selection for upper elementary and young teen readers who are interested in what life is like for just such a young person.  My only quibble with it is that I was never clear about why Malika’s mother seemed to have so much less freedom than Malika’s father’s other wife (who is admittedly much more daring and even rebellious), unless it is by choice.  Of course, such are the disparaties of real life, right?  I give this little story a Highly Recommended.  (Delacorte Press, copyright 1999 and translated in 2004)

This book won the Batchelder Award , the award “given [by the ALA] to the most outstanding children’s book originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States, and subsequently translated into English for publication in the United States,” in 2005.  I’m entering this review in this month’s database for the Award Winning Books Reading Challenge at Gathering Books . I’ll also be linking it up later this month for the North Africa Reading Challenge at Semicolon.

 

 

Posted in Award Book, Books, Juvenile Fiction, Young Adult Fiction | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Valentine’s Day Books Round-Up

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Amy

(Photo Credit)

I’ve got a book or two to share with the girls for Valentine’s Day, but I thought I’d go ahead and make a list of all the Valentine’s Day book reviews I’ve shared here so there’s time for library runs and book orders before the big day.

Sherry of Semicolon has a list of 100 ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day , in case you’re in need of some inspiration.

List your favorite Valentine’s Day books in the comment, or if you have reviews, link them up!

I’m linking up today with Homegrown Learners and The Tuckers Take Tennessee for their Love-ly Ideas for Valentine’s Day roundup, which is another great place to go for inspiration.

Posted in Books, Holiday, Picture Books | Tagged | 6 Comments

Memory Monday

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Amy

I’ve been meaning to write up what we’ve been working on for memory work since Christmas, and now that we’re in the sixth week of our six weeks term, I’m finally getting around to it.  :-)

Hymn:  “Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart” by Edward Plumptre; music by Arthur H. Messiter

We’ve committed four of the verses listed in the link above (mostly) to memory, with a fifth one in the works for this week.  I’ve really
enjoyed the pomp and exultation in this hymn, which was new to me.  I’ve just been taking our selections from Hymns for a Kid’s Heart volume 1.  We often work on the hymn during morning snack time, listening and singing as we can.  When the DLM hears the music, he has to get down out of his high chair so he can march around.  It’s that kind of song.  :-)

Bible:  I’ve sort of slacked off on this this six weeks.  Louise needed to really commit the Lord’s Prayer to heart for her Wednesday night class at church, so we worked on the Matthew 6:9-13 KJV version.  When that was more or less done, we began reviewing Psalm 24 NIV, which we learned last school year  but needed to review.  Rather than doing this memory work by intense drilling, I’m trying to be a little more laid back and casual with it by just reading it over a couple of times with feeling and having the girls jump in when they can.

Poetry:  We chose “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost just because we like it.  I let the girls choose from among several poems, usually, and sometimes they choose something different from each other.  It has been nice to be learning the same poem this time, though.  Of course, we pulled the illustrated version of the poem off the shelf and enjoyed it, too.  I also have the girls go back over a poem or two they’ve learned in the past a couple of times a week, just so they don’t forget them.

We’re mostly doing our memory work in snatches of time here and there nowadays.  Gone are the days that we sit together on the sofa, reciting our verses over and over.  I’d like to do more–I’d like to pull out all the things Lulu has learned in First Language Lessons and add them to our rotation.  I’d like to work to get all the grammar chants/songs in an easily accessible playlist on the iPod so we can add them in painlessly.  In fact, I think I’ll add that to my to-do list for next week during our six weeks break from formal schooling.

What are you memorizing in your homeschool these days?  What are your favorite memory work resources?

Posted in Education, Philosophy and Methods | Tagged | 4 Comments

Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Amy
The Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading ChallengeFor quite a while here at the House of Hope, we were all about the Ingalls family.  Right now we’re more about the Boxcar Children and the Borrowers than the Ingalls, but I’m sure we’ll come back around to Ma, Pa, Laura, Mary, and the brindle bulldog named Jack sometime in the future.  However, I can’t resist participating in Barbara’s challenge this month at Stay Thoughts.  Instead of reading one of Laura’s books, I’m taking the challenge on a tangent and reading one by Rose Wilder Lane, Laura and Almanzo’s daughter, as well as an “inspired by” title, The Wilder Life.  However, here are a few pioneer-inspired posts from the archives of Hope Is the Word, just in case anyone needs a little more encouragement to participate in this fun challenge:
Posted in Bookish Thoughts, Books | Tagged | 2 Comments

A day in our life (homeschooling a 7 1/2 & a 6 year old with a 20 month old in tow)

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Amy

In lieu of my normal weekly wrap-up this week, I’m sharing a snapshot of our life here at the House of Hope.  When I was planning my blogging at the beginning of the week, I thought a Thursday would be a good day to share because it’s the one day we don’t have to get up in the morning planning to be somewhere in the afternoon or evening. (Am the only one that feels so rushed, even in the morning, when there’s an afternoon appointment?)  Then we had an unusual week, with Lulu being sickly on Monday when I had planned a nature study outing.  I still wanted to do the nature study and take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather, so I changed my nature study plan to Thursday instead.  (Rain was forecasted for the intervening days.)  Yesterday was atypical for another reason:  we had to be at church in the late afternoon to have our family picture taken for a pictorial directory.  I said all that to say that we actually stay home most mornings, but I’m trying to embrace the flexibility that homeschooling small children allows (all the while not losing my cool too much because getting out of the house in a timely way with little kids is very stressful).  I suppose this day is as typical as any.  :-)

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5:50 a.m.–My alarm clock rang. I snoozed and finally shut it off.

6:30 a.m.–I get up and make my necessary preparations to hit the treadmill.  (Don’t let this impress you too much–this was the only time so far this week, I think.)

6:40-6:55 a.m.–Treadmill, Bible, prayer, and reading Organized Simplicity on my Kindle.

6:55-7:15  a.m.–Eat breakfast (oatmeal with almond butter, raisins, and honey, with orange juice to drink) and chat with Steady Eddie a bit.

7:15-8:05 a.m.–I showered, stripped the sheets off our bed, and unloaded the dishwasher.  Lulu, our early riser, was up before I showered, so she read while I performed my morning ablutions.  She also helped with the dishes. (This is usually a chore the girls help with, but this morning I decided to head it up since we had a lot to do.)  The DLM started making noise in his room at about 7:50, and I went in and awakened Louise at about 8:00 to ask her what she wanted for breakfast.  She wanted a bagel with peanut butter and honey, while Lulu requested her usual dry Cheerios (or the Aldi equivalent). 

8:05-9:20 a.m.–I dried my hair and then nursed the DLM and read him two books (yesterday’s choices:  Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel and Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs).  The girls finished eating (with a time limit, otherwise they’d sit and read/look at books all morning while “eating”), did their kitchen chores (wipe off table/chairs/sweep), and brushed their teeth.  I instructed them to get dressed in presentable play clothes since we’d be going out later, and this resulted in a fashion show and multiple changes of clothing.  (See that pile of clothes up there?  They can’t hang their clothes back up yet, so I had to pile them up to be put away later.  This drives me crazy!)  While I stripped the sheets off their bunk beds, Lulu began practicing the piano.  This resulted in a mini-meltdown for both of us (which was not a proud mommy moment for me, for sure), and after some prayer and hugs and talking, things got off to a little better start.

 

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9:30-10:05 a.m.–Lulu and I work on her math lesson (RS C lesson 79) together.  Louise helped me by feeding the DLM his granola.  When the DLM tired of eating, he and Louise played together for a bit.  Lulu did great with her math yesterday, even volunteering to do a timed multiplication sheet.  She wrote her twos facts (maybe 20-25 problems?) in just over a minute!  While she worked on what she could independently, I worked on getting our lunch together for our picnic.  (Bless him, Steady Eddie made our PB&Js when he made his!)

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11:00 a.m. -12:45 p.m.–We visited a park in a neighboring county because it has a great walking trail that affords some up-close-and-personal with nature opportunities.  It was very, very wet and muddy, but everyone enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine, even if it was cooler and windier than I expected it to be.  Steady Eddie even met us there for a picnic lunch!  After I finished eating I read about half a chapter from our current chapter book, Adam of the Road.

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12:45-1:45 p.m.–We picked back up with our lessons back at home. Here’s how it went:

  • 12:45–Louise and I did her reading lesson (OPGTTR lesson 122) while Lulu caught up on her booklist and read Winnie-the-Pooh (her assigned reading for the week). 
  • 1:00–Lulu and I did FLL 58 during which she was introduced to prepositions for the first time.  Louise worked on adding her latest book to her booklist.
  • 1:17–Lulu did her WWE lesson; today’s was a dictation from Five Children and It.  She had to write a direct quotation and punctuate it correctly.
  • 1:26–Lulu’s spelling lesson–AAS level 1 lesson 21.  We’re still catching up in spelling!
  • 1:38–Louise and I read a chapter together from Aunt Eater Loves a Mystery.
  • 1:45–rest time!

1:45-2:10 p.m.–I rocked/nursed the DLM and caught up on Read Aloud Thursday posts on the iPad!

2:10-3:00 p.m.–I ate a snack (a dark chocolate/coconut muffin and some water) and worked on this post.  The girls listened to audiobooks and played/made messes in the bedrooms. 

3:10-3:40 a.m.–Teatime!  We went over our memory work:  our hymn, “Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart”; Psalm 24; and ”Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” I finished reading the book Castle by David Macauley to the girls, and I had them do an oral narration and called that good for history.  Oh, and I also read a surprisingly good picture book, Ready to Dream by Donna Jo Napoli.

3:40-4:35 a.m.–Lots of busy-ness–awaken and bathe the DLM; iron clothes; get everyone ready for our picture.  Whew!

4:35-6:30 a.m.–Church and Aldi.

6:30-8:00 a.m.–Supper prep and clean up; piano practice (Lulu practiced about fifteen more minutes; Louise still has to have supervision for her practice); girls’ baths; laundry; room tidying.

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8:00-8:30ish–Science lesson led by Steady Eddie! Food as fuel/energy. Fire=fun! :-)   (I LOVE science, but I have to admit that it is great to have someone else step in and take responsibility for a great science lesson each week!)  The DLM tried really, really hard to blow out the flame from across the table each time Steady Eddie would light the piece of food, which was so cute and funny.  After Steady Eddie’s fabulous demonstration and discussion, I read a Let’s Read and Find Out Science Book aloud, Energy Makes Things Happen.  By then, the DLM was D.O.N.E., so we headed off to “night night” land. 

The pecan produced the biggest flame of all!

That’s a long school day, huh?  We’re really working the learning lifestyle thing right now, but it’s as it must be with a toddler in tow.  I’m mostly okay with that; it’s great to have Steady Eddie be involved with the learning, and I really appreciate his science expertise.  Plus, our lessons are mostly short, so while it’s a long day, it’s not too strenuous at any time.   While there are many, many things about our days I’d change (if I could only manage my time better!), I mostly feel good about what we’re doing.  What’s not seen here is just how much reading/ picture studying the girls do individually:  their noses are stuck in books at every opportunity.  (Check out This Week in Books for a picture of what we read each week.)  Although each day is different, most days are overall fairly similar in how much we accomplish.  I feel blessed to have this life with my family. 

Previous day-in-the-life posts at Hope Is the Word:

I’m linking up with Simple Homeschool, Collage Friday, and Weekly Wrap-Up.

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Posted in Education, Weekly Wrap-Up | Tagged , | 10 Comments

This Week in Books

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Amy

I’m in the middle of Still by Lauren F. Winner and Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider (Kindle book; not pictured).  I actually finished one this week:  The Shadow of Ghadames by Joëlle Stolz (review forthcoming next week). 

Lulu read Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne and intends to continue with The House at Pooh Corner, the second book in our big blue anthology.  (This was her assigned reading, although she actually picked it off the shelf herself.)  In addition to this and a boatload of Boxcar Children books (including the original, for which she smiled rapturously when I brought it to her from the library last weekend), Lulu has also been reading about Native Americans again.  :-)

Louise’s reading is picking up dramatically.  This week we found and finished Young Cam Jansen and the Library Mystery, The Collectors (a Cork and Fuzz book), and started reading Aunt Eater Loves a Mystery. (All of these were shared reading titles–I read a page, and then she reads one.) 

We are still in the middle of three read-alouds:  Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray, Around the World in a Hundred Years by Jean Fritz, and Sebastian Bach:  The Boy from Thuringia by Opal Wheeler and Sybil Deucher.   

 This doesn’t account for Steady Eddie’s or the DLM’s reading this week.   Also missing is a book we read for our science lesson:  Energy Makes Things Happen.

Have you had a bookish week?

Posted in Books, Education, Weekly Wrap-Up | Tagged | 7 Comments