So, does modernization help us or handicap us?

As I was pre-reading The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder, I found the following discussion between Ma and Pa. They have just been through a myriad of blizzards and supplies are running low.

....Then the dark came back again. The wild screaming of the storm seemed louder and nearer in the dark.

"If only I had some grease I could fix some kind of a light," Ma considered. "We didn't lack for light when I was a girl, before this newfangled kerosene was ever heard of."

"That's so," said Pa. "These times are too progressive. Everything has changed too fast. Railroads and telegraph and kerosene and coal stoves -- they're good things to have, but the trouble is, folks get to depend on them." (pg 192-193)

So, are we too dependent on faster, bigger, better and forgetting how "we used to do it"? When we come up against a problem, do we stop because it's insurmountable -- Internet is out, electricity is off, we feel moved to boycott a convenient store? Do we just give up?

I need to teach my children (and myself) that few problems -- particularly those connected with things that have made our life easier -- are truly a "show stopper". Internet is down? Go outside or read a book. Electricity is off? Cuddle together and read by candlelight. Boycotting a convenient store? Shop elsewhere or buy less to make the budget work.

So the answer to my title? Modernization WILL handicap us if we allow it to handicap us. If we become too dependent on things of the modern age, we will end up stopping, end up giving up.

It's Still the Last Straw -- But I stand corrected!

Thanks to a heads-up from a friends at 4Real Learning -- I was in error in my post yesterday. Wal-mart is not offering RU-486 in their pharmacies. They are offering a drug called "Plan B" which "helps prevent fertilization"; it's not a medicated abortion as RU-486 is.

Here's a link to PP's information about the difference. Here's the American Life League's link to the same information but without somuch of the doublespeak.

As a Catholic, I still contend that this is an abortifacient drug that does not need "easier access". PP is lobbying for emergency contraception to be available as an "over the counter" medication! This is the so-called "morning after pill".

For those who are interested, this is how PP defines RU-486 (and any medicated abortions): By helping women terminate unwanted pregnancies up to 56 days after their last menstruation, medication abortion is a safe and effective option. -- Oh, really??????

I'm still boycotting Wal-mart!

Now here's a creative idea

Alice over at Cottage Blessings has a wonderful idea for a Lenten Tea -- here's a link if you haven't read the article.

This should satisfy the whole crew. I'm planning to surprise the kids for the Monday of Holy Week! Alice mentioned a second tea -- maybe she'll post that in time for Tuesday or Spy Wednesday!

Apologetics for Homeschoolers

If you haven't seen Here in the Bonny Glen's post about home education -- please read it! It is a fabulous, funny and extremely on-target look at refuting what naysayers spout about homeschooling. Here's a link to the full text -- it's long but worth every minute of reading!

Melissa needs to write a "Guerilla Apologetics for Home Schoolers"!

This is the type of writer I should be ?????

Thanks to Cay's Cajun Cottage , I now know the type of writer I should be:

You Should Be a Film Writer

You don't just create compelling stories, you see them as clearly as a movie in your mind. You have a knack for details and dialogue. You can really make a character come to life. Chances are, you enjoy creating all types of stories. The joy is in the storytelling. And nothing would please you more than millions of people seeing your story on the big screen!

What Type of Writer Should You Be?

I didn't know that!

Google and Gmail

So in order to get us set up with web-based email accounts so that we can get email no matter where in the world we may be (and we do tend to move ALOT!), I have been working for the past two weeks to get all shifted to gmail.

Gmail is a cool new email to compete with Yahoo and Hotmail. I like it because it's Google-based. I also like it because it's newness allows for all kinds of bells and whistles you get from the get-go! But, then also it comes with bugs -- but as Bam-Bam often says (usually when he's in trouble) "that's o-tay!"

Google seems to be coming on strong in order to compete with the biggies -- Yahoo and AOL. Google bought "Blogger" from a small partnership and now it's one of the cutting-edge free blog sites out there. Google has teamed with Mozilla's Firefox and other small developers to create all kinds of applications to make pc'ing just a bit easier. If you're interested, check out Google's list of tools and services. There's just about something for everyone.

I love all this tech-head stuff!

Vernal Equinox Today -- But where's spring?

Today, March 20th, is the Vernal Equinox. And as we have found out through our Journey North Mystery Class -- this means that all over the globe we should have equal photoperiods -- 12 hours of daylight, 12 hours of night, except at the extremes (North Pole/South Pole). And, checking Greenville's sunrise-sunset times, we actually will have 12:08 of sun -- last Monday, we only had 11:53 of sun, so we did add 15 minutes!

But, in the final analysis, and regardless of all the computations and formulas -- we are NOT having a Spring Day! It's 43 degrees (at noon), overcast and blustery. We're supposed to get sleety rain all day and evening. And this is the coldest it's been in weeks.

So, although the Vernal Equinox is a measure of the start of longer days in the Northern Hemisphere, it is certainly not proof of Spring!

The trees are starting to bloom, azaleas are beginning to bud and the kids are starting to get frustrated with "having to do school" -- now, those are signs of Spring!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

March 17th -- the Catholic Church commemorates the life of St. Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland. This is the man who was supposed to have driven the snakes out of Ireland, converted the pagan island country and generally helped the Irish become a civilized people. He has come down to us through the last 17 centuries as a symbol of all that's good in Ireland.

ERIN GO BRAGH!

For our cooking math, we made some specialties for dinner tonight. First we made Leprechaun Pie -- a recipe from the Prepared Pantry. Our coconut topping came out so green that Brikhead thought it was spinach and didn't want any (hee hee hee)!

We then made the Irish Soda Bread from Martha Stewart's website -- it sounded so good (although we omitted the caraway seeds) with the buttermilk. The littles had never tried buttermilk and I don't think they'll be big buttermilk drinkers until they're older!

We'll make Salmon tonight as this is still a Friday during lent -- although some bishops have granted a dispensation for the feast. (To be honest, I don't care much for the traditional corned beef and cabbage anyway!).

So we'll feast on Irish-ish foods tonight and watch The Hallmark movie, the Magical Legend of the Leprechauns. We've never seen it before but it sounded so good!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Little House on the Prairie -- Model for the Modern Woman?

I hadn't read Little House on the Prairie in a long time -- maybe 30+ years!

I had forgotten just how harsh a portrayal it is of pioneeer life. Here this small family -- with a dad, a mom , two little girls (under 10) and a baby -- work for a year -- ONE WHOLE YEAR -- to protect their home from prairie fires, Indians, malaria and just about anything else you can think of. They work so hard and then they are turned away from the land because the US goverment decided that they were in "Indian Territory".

As a mom, I just can't imagine what Caroline Ignallls went through: taken far from her family, out in the middle of Inidian Territory (she was deathly afraid of Indians) to an unknown land. She has to do things that today seem absolutely impossible. And she never balks -- she never questions Charles or says "I told you so" when things don't work.

And why did she do this?

Caroline Ingalls left everything behind to go live on the Prairies with her family for a year, and then moved on because:

that's what her husband thought was best for the family.

It's as simple as that. In any group of people, one person must be in charge of the big decisions -- whether it's a corporation, a Parish, or a family. Some ONE must be in charge. In the Ingalls family, Pa was in charge -- he had the best interests of the family at heart and worked to make a better living for them. But his word was the final word on most of the big decisions.

Sometimes, it seems that American society is in the shape it's in because we have gone away from this ideal. When you try to have more than one head of things -- again, whether it's a corporation, a Parish or a family -- things don't work. Chaos reigns. Anarchy rules.

Maybe this classic story of pioneer life is just as appropriate a model for today as it was back in the 1930s when Mrs. Wilder first published her books!

This is my goal for St. Athanasius Academy

Lissa, over at the Bonny Glen, has an absolutely awe-inspiring entry about her daughter and butterflies. What makes it so impressive to me is that it's such a perfect example of how unschooling can work.

Here's the first part of the excerpt:
Butterflies, or: The Benefits of Strewing

My sweet friend Chari forwarded these incredible pictures of a clearwing butterfly because she knew that my resident lepidopterist and I would enjoy them. And how.

Butterflies are one of Jane's passions. I discovered this quite by accident about three years ago, when she was not quite eight years old. If I'd had a blog at the time, I would certainly have written a post about it, but lacking one (and very likely never even having heard of weblogs at that point), I wrote an email to a dear friend instead—part of which, thanks to the miracle of hard drives, I shall now hijack for this post.

For more of this lovely story, head to Here in the Bonny Glen and find the link -- it's just perfect!

Thanks Lissa for allowing me to post this here!

Happy PI Day!

Thanks to Dawn on the 4Real Learning forum we found out that today is Naitonal Pi Day. Get it? 3.14!

Anyway, we had so much fun with math this morning (and how many "traditional" school children can say that?) as we read Cindy Neuschwander's series of picture books:

• Sir Cumference and the First Round Table
• Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi
• Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland

What a GREAT way to teach kids about geometry. The books are humorous and insightful. I finally "get" Pi! Who'd a thunk it? The other two make shapes understandable and angles and using a protractor makes real sense. These need to be in any (even "traditional") math class!

Oh, and we're making Shepherd's Pie for dinner so the littles can explain to Daddy what Pi is!

Why Study the Saints?

One of the things we do every week throughout the school is read about a saint. We read from books like Ethel Pochocki's Once Upon a Time Saints or her More Once Upon a Time Saints . We read picture books about some of our favorites saints -- books like Tomie dePaola's Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland or the book he illustrated about St. Benedict and St. Scholastica, The Holy Twins . We love to celebrate and learn about the saints. We spend at least three mornings a week reading about these holy souls for 15-30 minutes.

Why?

Here's why:

The saints must be honored as friends of Christ and children and heirs of God. Let us emulate their faith, charity, hope, zeal, life, patience under suffering, and perseverance unto death, so that we may also share their crowns of glory.
– St. John Damascene

Seems pretty straightforward doesn't it? I'd love to see my children wearing "crowns of glory" and what better way to show them the way but by learning from those who have trod the path. Those who have persevered in bad times. Those who didn't let others tell them "no" or "you must do it this way". Those who knew the "Good" and followed the "Way".

That's why -- that's why we're spending our Lent reading the story of Padre Pio's life and then on to St. Faustina's.

Wild about Wilde

Last night over a sumptuous Italian dinner, two friends and I gathered for our semi-monthly "literature night". Before one of the ladies left for a trip to Germany, we had decided to read a few things by Oscar Wilde.

Last night we had the joy of discussing:

• The Devoted Friend (a short "fairy tale" or "children's story")
• A Woman of No Importance (a "drawing room comedy" play that is Wilde at his best)
• A Few Maxims for the instruction of the Over-Educated as well as Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young (one-liners that had us laughing so hard many of the fellow patrons kept looking at us and the open bottle of wine)

No doubt about it, Wilde had a tough life but he got it right at the end -- on his deathbed he converted to Catholicism!

If you've never read Wilde -- try him. The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde has everything he wrote for publication. His plays are witty and erudite with much deeper meaning than the superficial humor. His short stories -- many written for his children -- are full of meaning and beautiful, memorable characters. His essays cover many different themes that strike at the heart of Victorian England and are as insightful today as they were over 100 years ago.

More Little House

As an update to yesterday's post --

The Hasty Pudding was a big hit -- even with String Bean who is politely called a "picky eater". Brikhead thought it tasted like grits, but better (I think that was just because of the syrup) and Lego Maniac asked for a heaping second helping.

Today, they insisted on listening to two chapters -- and would have asked for more but Bam-Bam was being belligerent and Bam-Bam belligerent is not a pretty sight! Today we got to Lake Pepin and the girls going to town for the first time. Mine really just couldn't picture never having seen anything like that. We talked about the fact that the girls really never were out of the Big Woods and had never seen the open sky. Lego Maniac's and String Bean's eyes got real big as this dawned on them.

How simple life used to be!

Little House is Big Fun!

I've mentioned in passing that we're reading a chapter-a-day from Little House in the Big Woods. When I say "we", in this case anyway, I just mean my littles and I are reading it.

I had forgotten just how rich, fun and exciting these books are! I can't wait to finish this one and move on to all of them in the series. They are just what CM would have described as "living books" -- lots of fun details and information about life back in the pioneer days. Laura Ingalls Wilder explains what they ate, how they worked, what they did all day. It's a perfect living history lesson in a compelling story setting!

Yesterday and today we read the two chapters about the "sugar snow" and making of maple sugar syrup and candy. WOW -- would that be fun! In today's chapter, the family had gone to the grandparents for a "sugaring" dance party and the evening meal (before the dance) Grandma makes "hasty pudding with maple syrup" -- now the kids want that for dinner!

So off to make "Hasty Pudding" -- you can find the recipe in a jewel of a book called The Little House Cookbook!

It's All in the Reading

There are days in our homeschool where we just read -- yep, that's all we do for the whole morning. We might eat popcorn or just snuggle on the couch. But, what it all comes down to is: reading.

Today, we finished Starlight Barking -- a bit of a let-down with the ending, but it was such a good overall read that it was worth it.

Tomorrow, we'll start reading The Phantom Tollbooth as our reading during lunch -- this way all the kids (even the big ones) can enjoy it. The littles and I are still working our way through Little House in the Big Woods and we're also reading Claire Mohan's A Way of the Cross: A Story of Padre Pio.

Reading .... reading .... reading -- it's what we do all the day and into the night. I had never realized just how wonderful reading was until I started teaching my littles (the older two learned at "real" school). But my littles are learning from ME -- I'm (through the grace of God) opening the doors for them that will make them free for the rest of their lives. No matter where they go, what they do, or who they become -- they'll always be able to read and learn and relax!

33rd Running of the Iditarod Starts Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the ceremonial start of the 2006 Iditarod. The actual race will start on Sunday.

We're going to "track" musher Lynda Plettner (56). This will be Ms. Plettner 12th race and this year she has two other mushers running her kennel's dogs. She says her unofficial title is, "the grandmother who has run The Last Great Race the most times".

We even have almost memorized the words to Hobo Jim's Iditarod Trail song (to hear the song, click on "Iditarod 2006" and then "Iditarod song"):

Hobo Jim’s: I did, I did, I did the Iditarod Trail

Away up in Alaska
The state that stands alone
There’s a dog race run from Anchorage into Nome
And it’s a grueling race with a lightning pace
Where chilly winds do wail.
Beneath the northern lights, across snow and ice
It’s called the Iditarod Trail.

Chorus:
Well, give me a team and a good lead dog and a sled that’s built so fine,
And let me race those miles to Nome, one thousand forty-nine
Then when I get back to my home
Hey I can tell my tale
I did, I did I did the Iditarod Trail.

Well the race it won’t be easy
For the masters of the trail
And some of them will make it and some of them will fail
But just to run that race takes a tough and hardy breed,
And a lot of work done by the dogs
that run across snow with whistling speed.

repeat chorus

I just pulled out of Safety
And I'm on the trail alone
I'm doin' fine and I'm pickin' up time
And headin' on in to Nome.
There's no sled tracks in front of me
And no one's on my tail
I did, I did, I did the Iditarod Trail!

repeat chorus

Ignatius was a Tough 'un

Reflections from the Saints (from mycatholic.com)

Let each one remember that he will make progress in all spiritual things only insofar as he rids himself of self-love, self-will, and self-interest.
– St. Ignatius of Loyola

ASH WEDNESDAY -- The Start of Lent

On Sunday, a visiting priest gave a sermon on Lent; the thesis of his sermon was that the opposite of "Joy" is not sorrow, but rather "SIN". During the 40 days of Lent, Catholics are given the chance to turn from sin, repent and make reparation through sacrifice and service. We are given 40 days to work away from sin and toward Joy. We are given 40 days of focused time to get one step closer to Heaven.

In today's Wednesday audience, Pope Benedict said:

The Lenten journey, by bringing us closer to God, enables us to look upon our brothers and sisters and their needs with new eyes. For this reason, Lent is a favorable moment to convert to love; a love capable of adopting the Lord's attitude of compassion and mercy .... to proclaim the merciful love of Christ, Who continues to turn His compassionate gaze on the men and peoples of all times .... the period of Lent represents a good opportunity to conform ourselves to that "gaze".

As the Deacon placed the ashes on my forehead this morning his words really struck me: "repent and believe in the Gospel". So simple and yet so hard to truly do. My prayer for this Lenten season is that I bring myself (and help to bring all in my family) a little further up the path to Joy, to Heaven.

Prayers to all of you for a fruitful Lenten journey!