The Dawn Treader by Bernie

Yesterday morning, Bernie (age 15) asked if she could use some leftover paint from the girls' room for a painting. I consented. I didn't really understand what she wanted it for, nor why she painted the top portion of the canvas black and the bottom portion "room" color to start with. This morning she and Kate hung the finished canvas above the bunk bed and called me in to see it. I feel pretty confident that C.S. Lewis would approve. ;)

Homeschool Talks I'm Working On...

(Subject to change)

For the Memphis Conference...

The conference organizers were particularly looking for talks of a spiritual and practical nature that encourage families who are burnt out and perhaps help in keeping things in perspective and developing good attitudes about life, love and learning. 

1. Christian Fearlessness: Putting on an Attitude of Hope

Somewhat based on my article on hope from mater et magistra magazine but a little more personal.

2. Sanity-Savers (haven't found the right name for this one yet)

Somewhat based on this blog post, but with a more general age-range emphasis plus a related academic component.

3. An Environment of Love and Learning (not sure if this is the final title)

I'll be drawing from some of my work here on Studeo, the Educational Theory section at Love2learn and my Love2learn Moments, but on the whole it's a new project.

For the Kentucky Conference...

1. Choosing Worthwhile Materials

This is basically the one I did a webinar on for Homeschool Connections.

2. An Environment of Love and Learning

This one will be a repeat from the Memphis Conference.

A Little of What I'm Up To....

(and partly why the blog suffers these days)

An interview I did (with my sister!) on homeschooling, published in an Italian Catholic newspaper:

Il Sussidiario.net | HOMESCHOOLING/ Educating Across the Generations

An upcoming homeschool conference I'll speaking at in March, 2010:

Blessed Sacrament Homeschool Conference, Memphis, Tennessee

Besides that we're managing to do most of our Advent traditions that I wrote about a few years ago, though I haven't begun to do anything about Christmas cards yet. Last year, I managed to flop on the Christmas Cards right in the middle of the stack and I may just pick up where I left off then.

Last week was one of those weeks where everything converged all on top of each other - First Reconciliation for Kate, an amazing Vivaldi Concert with some families from our homeschool group, SAT IIs for Ria, the National Geographic Bee, Catechism discussion, a language workshop for the kids, dance, and several choir and Shakespeare practices. Now suddenly, with the all the snow and activities tapering off before Christmas, we're having a rather peaceful lull.

A Blessed Advent to you all!

My Webinar at Homeschool Connections

I was pleased to have the opportunity to host a webinar on Wednesday evening through Homeschool Connections on the topic of Choosing Worthwhile Homeschool materials. I think it went pretty well and I really enjoyed the whole thing. Walter and Maureen, who run the organization, are just awesome and make you feel right at home. I was particularly pleased to have a lovely and supportive bunch of parents participating in the webinar, and it was really interesting to chat with them throughout the presentation. If you're interested in listening to the recorded webinar, you can find it here.

They have lots of other interesting webinars coming up, including some interesting high school summer enrichment classes that you might like to check out on their main site: Homeschool Connections.

Kitchen Bookshelf and other projects...

My parents were here over Easter and my dad loves to have projects to work on with the family when he's here. Holy Thursday was particularly busy as John took a half day off from work and we had multiple projects going.

I love this kitchen bookshelf they built. It even makes the folding chairs underneath look good.

This used to be a doorway to a room that had two entrances. Not particularly helpful for us! My husband closed it off early last year and we finally get to make use of the space on the kitchen side.

The shelving has enough room for all of our cookbooks, our big recipe box (a 5x7 index card box that easily holds recipes printed from the Internet or torn out of magazines and folded in half), plus our liturgical year books and books on gardening and home improvement/repair.

By the way, the picture is taken from a funny angle, it's not *really* crooked! :)

Happy Feast of the Annunciation!

Here are a few related tidbits...

My friend the Bookworm has started a new group blog on catechizing young children called First Heralds. I'm honored to be included as a contributing member, but at the moment can't think of a single thing to say. There's plenty to keep you busy in the meantime, though. :)

I tried starting the Impossible Novena on March 25th thinking a jump start wouldn't be a bad idea.

It didn't work.

I kept forgetting the intentions I had come up with, falling asleep without getting the prayers said, etc. I guess today was really meant to be the day because a new set of three intentions made themselves entirely clear.

Funny How You Start a Project...

and then ignore it for awhile and it just may grow into something really neat.

A summer or two ago, I started a flickr pool for Well-Loved Children's Stories on Location. I haven't even peeked at it in many months, so I was delighted to find many additions, including some sites from some of the Swallows and Amazons books. What fun!

UPDATE: They allowed me to pick a cleaner link:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/childrensstories/

Summer Plans for Reading and Other Stuff

reading...

-keep plugging away at the list in my sidebar
-read the new Harry Potter book when it comes out
-start working my way through The Idea of a University by Cardinal Newman (possible online discussion in the works)

school planning...

-put together the lit/history/religion reading lists for our teen discussion group.
-figure out what we're doing next year for Latin with Gus and Terri's groups in co-op.
-I also have a ton of stuff to review for love2learn - including quite a large stack of books I've finished but haven't reviewed yet (or only reviewed for Heart and Mind so far).

Sometimes it's gratifying to know...

that my kids enjoy some of the projects I work on.

My kids have been all over the Architecture for Kids blog (and the dining room table shows it - especially that stained glass window project). :)

Some of What I've Been Working on Today...

Architecture for Kids

A companion website to the Architecture Unit Study I wrote for the Spring 2007 issue of Heart and Mind Magazine. So maybe I got a little carried away. :)

Announcing: Love2learn Moments on Catholic Radio

After many months of uncertainty, I've been told by people-who-should know that my "Love2learn Moments" - one minute spots on Relevant Radio on topics relating to family life and education (especially for homeschoolers, though many topics would apply more broadly) - will begin airing tomorrow. I don't know a lot about how these things work, but I believe this is starting out just in the Milwaukee area market. Each "moment" will air four times a day for a week before switching to a new one. I think that if you have Relevant Radio in your area, you can contact them to request this piece. Prayers are appreciated as we fully embrace this new endeavour. You can visit the Love2learn Moments blog here.

Thankfulness Thursday

Sometimes we need these more in March than November. Yes, the snow and the cold are getting just a little old. These pictures were taken yesterday along the path from the back door to the driveway. The railing is on the deck - it's hard to believe there are three steps down at that spot. We kind of gave up clearing the back path for awhile and focused on keeping the driveway clear. John still uses this path every morning - those footprints have gotten a lot of use!

So, here's what I'm thankful for this week...

Sore throat "lollipops". These are easy for little guys to handle (with much less risk of choking than a cough drop!).

Kleenex with Aloe

Thumbnails! I cut my thumb this week and just had to have it taped, but it was clearly my thumbnail that saved me from a much more severe cut.

My mother-in-law's sweet little car I got to use part of the time while she went away for a good chunk of the winter. Parking lots are suddenly a breeze!

Cheap cellphones. Got mine at Target for $20 (+ pay by the minute).

Snowplows.

Sunny days that help clear sidewalk, windshield and roof even when it's bitterly cold.

DVD players - especially when the kids are sick.

Ignatius Press Lenten Sale.

Getting a fun project to work on to beat the late-winter blahs. The kids and I are currently doing an architecture unit study in order to write one up for the summer issue of Heart-and-Mind. (and for a local library that had plenty of material to supplement!)

Almost Final List of Library Tree Additions

I'm trying to come up with a list of books that were added to our local library through our Library Tree project last year in order to keep track of things for future years. This is list is presently in progress...

Beyond the Heather Hills by Melissa Wiley
Down to the Bonny Glen by Melissa Wiley
The Far Side of the Loch by Melissa Wiley
Little House in the Highlands by Melissa Wiley
Journey into Amazing Caves (IMAX DVD)
This is America Charlie Brown
NOVA: To the Moon
Animals in Winter
Baby Whales Drink Milk
The Mystery of the Periodic Table by Benjamin Wiker
The Man Who Made Time Travel
D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths
The Snowflake: Winter's Secret Beauty
Leonardo da Vinci for Kids
World War II for Kids
Backyard Ballistics
Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots
William Shakespeare and the Globe by Aliki
The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics by Norton Juster
Caves and Caverns by Gail Gibbons
The Librarian Who Measured the Earth by Kathryn Lasky
Mistakes that Worked
Riddle of the Rosetta Stone by James Cross Gilbin
The Great Art Scandal
DK Space Encyclopedia
Eats, Shoots and Leaves: Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference by Lynne Truss
Why Do Leaves Change Color
How Do Birds Find Their Way
The Moon Seems to Change
How Do Apples Grow
What Makes Day and Night
Flash, Crash, Rumble and Roll
Who Eats What?
Merry Go Round: A Book About Nouns
Many Luscious Lollipops
The Art of Construction by Mario Salvadori
Lost City: the Discovery of Machu Picchu
Steam, Smoke and Steel: Back in Time with Trains
Marguerite Makes a Book
The Man Who Counted
Touching the Sky: The Flying Adventures of Wilbur and Orville Wright
Shakespeare for Kids
Fly High! The Story of Bessie Coleman
The Handmade Alphabet
Afghanistan to Zimbabwe: Country Facts that helped me win the National Geographic Bee

It was exciting to see how many of the books were currently checked out while searching the library database; I think almost half of them were!

Milwaukee Homeschool Conference

We're really looking forward to the Celebrate the Faith Homeschool Conference in Milwaukee coming up at the end of April. All the details are now available at the GMCHE website. Great job on the website M.E. (not to be confused with "me" LOL)!

We're also thrilled that a certain mom and baby will be coming to stay with us for the conference. (The kids are particularly excited about meeting little Maria - we haven't had an infant around in too long. Kate keeps asking when they'll be coming - it's a long time to wait for a 5 year old!)

Geography Bee and Library Tree

Yesterday our homeschool group held the National Geographic Bee. The feast of the Epiphany seemed a rather appropriate day to consider places near and far away. There were seven contestants from 4th through 8th grade. They zipped through the first seven rounds and we narrowed the field to 5 contestants for the final round. It only took five or six questions before the field was narrowed down to two for the championship round. The two who went "head-to-head" were Gus and his new 8th grade friend who loves geography and will be joining The Map Guys geography blog (by the way, if you drop by soon, Gus has an "Independence Quiz" which he put together himself). Anyway, the other fellow came out on top after three questions, so Gus very graciously accepted 2nd place. I was delighted to see happy faces and good attitudes all around. The most delightful part, to me, was seeing the look of surprise on contestants' faces when they got an answer right that they didn't expect!

I took down the Library Tree on Friday. There were only five ornaments left at the end, so I think we sold about 50 books (I'll have to dig out my lists to get an exact number)! How exciting! The librarians all seem very pleased with the whole thing. By the way, I know I "technically" took it down a little early, but I had sickness, travel and too many weekend plans looming before me (and I thought it was pretty good to keep the tree up until the 5th at a public library!). We keep our own tree up for a very long time at home - through all three January birthdays at the very least and we keep our Nativity Set out even longer. So I felt just a little bit sheepish when one of the library patrons scolded me for not keeping it up until the Epiphany!

When I took down the (artificial) tree at the Library, I noticed that the base of the tree was cracked - though not yet completely broken - so I ran by Target on the way home from yesterday's Geography Bee to see if I could find a new one on after-Christmas clearance. 90% off is about as good as it gets! A nice 7 foot tree with a metal base was only $10! Hurray!

Why I Haven't Been Posting Much Lately

Besides Christmas preparations and such...

I'm working through another web-draft of Reading Your Way Through History.

The new version of Blogger is allowing for many more of the features I'd like than the previous Wordpress version. I doubt this will be the final version, though.

A work very much in progress. As always, suggestions are welcome.

I love organizing things. I find this project very relaxing in the midst of the Christmas bustle.

"We're All Homeschoolers"

I was very touched by this post. The blog author also sent us our very first paypal donation! :)

A Library Story

Our first apartment, a teeny third-floor studio in an old, old building in the downtown of our beloved small town, was in sight of the library and the park. I think we saw every movie the library owned on a discarded old VCR and a computer monitor (which we still have) in those days of zero money for entertainment (as well as enjoyed many books of course!) and Ria, who was just a little tyke, made fast friends with many of the librarians. One of our very first dinners there was to the light of a fireworks display in the park - perfectly visible from the windows of our itty-bitty kitchen (that's a picture of the kitchen all decked out for our first Christmas). Those were John's school days - he got his engineering degree 2 1/2 years after we were married (after alternating semesters of work and school).

He got his first "real" engineering job in San Diego and we lived near my family for about 2 1/2 years. These were wonderful years in many ways, but they don't pertain to this particular story. A better job offer and the prospect of buying a first house (which wasn't even remotely possible in San Diego at the time) brought us back to Wisconsin and we managed to buy an old fixer-upper just on the other side of that park and that library that we loved so well (this house hadn't been painted in 30 years!).

By this time Ria and Gus were 4 and 2 and I was expecting Terri. We dove right into kid-type activities in the library and Ria fell in love with story-time. We went there once or twice a week - particularly when we only had one car, but the double-stroller got us all safe and sound across the busy street to the library. Our favorite section in the children's area was the non-fiction. Ria made her way through all sorts of books, but we ate up these picture books and even little Gus had his favorite shelf of football books that he'd always wander over to and start browsing through. One day the head librarian (no longer there) decided to make more room in the children's area by intermixing all of the junior non-fiction with the adult non-fiction. It was still there, but incredibly inaccessible. We cried.

We still kept visiting and enjoying the library, but I made a special effort to start collecting beautiful children's science and history and religion and other good books. This was partly why love2learn started. I didn't know any homeschoolers nearby, I didn't have a car to get around and I loved to share information about great books. We got more involved in the library over time. A few years later the kids and I started helping with the set-up of the library book sale. I was astonished at how well they handled this project. (They weren't always this well-behaved!) We set up in the children's area and they helped me line up books, or at least sat down nearby to look at interesting ones or cooed from the stroller. In the midst of this, we discovered that the Friends of the Library was about to fold because the only person willing to be president didn't think she could manage to do the work on a computer necessary to pull together a newsletter. Well I could do THAT. That was easy!

I helped put together the simple little newsletter - just two or three pages printed out - for two presidents over the next three or four years (and made some great friends in the meantime). The president came to our house during our school day just two or three times a year, very nicely dealt with our chaos and the Friends Board survived. It was such a little thing, so easy for us, but one of those connections that can become very meaningful over time.

The next president didn't need a newsletter editor and we were moving (and busy with getting the house ready to sell) to the outskirts of town anyway, so our trips to the library become more infrequent. The librarians still knew all of us, though, and at the library book sale last year, the Friends board was again in need. These guys do important work (like fund the summer reading program), but they only meet for an hour or two, two or three times a year and they needed a secretary. Easy!

So I came on board as their secretary and dutifully attended the meetings. They were actually rather pleasant and I had some nice little opportunities to mention some worthwhile books, put my two cents in here or there, etc. I even had an opportunity to mention the interest in non-fiction books (especially since I've noticed that some children - especially boys? - are more drawn to non-fiction than fiction). When the need came up about the library tree, it immediately sounded like a good project for our family. They'd like to have it put up during the day and our schedule was flexible. The president wasn't available - she's a public school teacher and it's a busy time of year.

Last year we found some nice unbreakable ornaments and put together the book ornaments as well - everyone loved the book cover pictures on the ornaments! What was really exciting was to develop a repoire with the library staff and board - especially as a homeschooler. Every homeschooler is a "representative" of homeschooling - like it or not, and I tend to feel a particular obligation since I'm also a homeschool grad. This has been a good thing! There is definitely a need out there to "engage the world" and I've been surprised at how many people are open to these ideas, our enthusiasm for learning, and our desire to serve our children's needs to the best of our ability.

I guess you know the rest of the story with the library tree. Not only are we getting some great non-fiction picture books into the library, but the patrons are proving that they ARE interested in these books also, and not just the popular fiction and movies that the library tends to emphasize. To me that's a very happy ending (so far) to the story and, though the library tree is quite a bit of work (unlike the other library tasks I've been involved in), I couldn't be happier with the outcome.

Book List for the Library Tree

Kind of a "short order" list, but I'm pretty happy with it (we need to get the tree up before Thanksgiving):

Animals in Winter by Henrietta Bancroft

Baby Whales Drink Milk by Barbara Esbensen

Who Eats What? by Patricia Lauber

What's In a Shell? by Kathleen Zoehfeld

Why Do Leaves Change Color? by Betsy Maestro

How Do Birds Find Their Way? by Roma Gans

The Moon Seems to Change by Frankly Branley

How Do Apples Grow? by Betsy Maestro

What Makes Day and Night? by Franklyn Branley

Flash, Crash, Rumble and Roll by Franklyn Branley

Librarian Who Measured the Earth by Kathryn Lasky

The Mystery of the Periodic Table by Benjamin Wiker

The Man Who Made Time Travel by Kathryn Lasky

The Snowflake by Kenneth Libbrecht

William Shakespeare and the Globe by Aliki

The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics by Norton Juster

Caves and Caverns by Gail Gibbons

Journey into Amazing Caves (IMAX DVD)

This is America Charlie Brown (DVD)

NOVA: To the Moon (DVD)

Find the Constellations by H.A. Rey

D'Aulaire's Greek Myths

Mistakes that Worked by Charlotte Jones

Leonardo da Vinci for Kids by Janis Herbert

World War II for Kids by Richard Panchyk

Backyard Ballistics by William Gurstelle

Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots by Sharon Lovejoy

Merry Go Round: A Book About Nouns by Ruth Heller

Many Luscious Lollipops: A Book About Adjectives by Ruth Heller

Hokusai: The Man Who Painted a Mountain by Deborah Ray

Lost City: The Discovery of Machu Picchu by Ted Levin

The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone by James Cross Giblin

The Great Art Scandal: Solve the Crime, Save the Show! by Anna Nilsen

DK Space Encyclopedia by Nigel Henbest

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference! by Lynne Truss

Montessori Play And Learn: A Parent's Guide to Purposeful Play from Two to Six

The Art of Construction: Projects and Principles for Beginning Engineers and Architects by Mario Salvadori

Guess What?

I get to pick the books (and some DVDs) for our public Library's "Holiday Tree" (where people pick a book "ornament" to buy for the library in someone's name, as a gift). Last year was the first year we put together the tree (as a family project), but getting to pick the books was a big surprise! :) The theme is junior non-fiction (yippee!) and the head librarian liked all my choices so far. What fun!!!

I've been the secretary for our Library Friends board for awhile and that's how the project came up.

Here are a few of the titles slated for the project:

The Librarian Who Measured the Earth by Kathryn Lasky
Archimedes and the Door of Science by Jeanne Bendick
The Mystery of the Periodic Table by Benjamin Wiker
This is America Charlie Brown (DVDs - thanks Lissa!)
A bunch of the "Let's Read-and-Find-Out Science" Series

I still have to come up with some others, make sure the library doesn't already have them and make sure they're still in print.