Seven Habits Revisited

I forgot one, very important habit when I was doing my list --

Never overdo and say more than you should!

As Maureen mentions in her comments to my posting below, I have 10 habits, not just seven. That's what I would definitely call overkill.....And, just not paying attention. I wrote "seven" a dozen times this morning and still READ "ten"!

Apologies to one and all!

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Homeschool Bloggers

Thanks to Maureen over at Trinity Prep School, I thought I'd too do a list of "Seven Habits of Highly Effective Homeschool Bloggers". Some of these are similar to Maureen's, but I thought I'd reiterate them, using my own words -- sometimes the more ways you hear the same thing, the more you're likely to remember and DO it!

1. Have fun -- don't worry about being pithy, or philosophical, or "deep", just write down what has moved you today.
2. Write daily -- the more you write, the more folks will read what you have to say. It's also a great way to get things "off your chest", thus avoiding ulcers! But, don't give yourself ulcers worrying about writing something daily; just make that the goal.
   
3. Write about what you know -- write about your kids, your school day, or a particularly great resource you've found. Anything should be "fodder for the mill". But don't try to tackle something you haven't quite mastered. I made the error of erroneously posting about boycotting Wal-mart due to a misunderstanding of what they were doing.
   
4. Use links and trackbacks -- when you mention someone else's post or blog, it's common courtesy to link to their blog and trackback (if they have it). This keeps the community going and active; just what blogs do best. Remember footnotes in school papers? Think of trackbacks and links as giving credit where credit is due.
   
5. Make comments on other blogs and answer comments on your own -- sometimes it's hard to answer every comment; but I've found that a great sense of community is built when you respond to someone's comments about your own posts. The give and take of the "blogosphere" is enriched by honest, constructive open dialogue.
6. Be honest but not vitriolic -- don't let your passions get away from you in your postings or your comments; if you feel strongly about something, write up the post after you've cooled down. It's your blog and you can write what you want -- but you don't want to turn off any readers by being overly emotional or melodramatic.
7. Vary your posts -- talk about different homeschool matters; I use our day or a current unit study to pin posts to. Homeschool blogs are an excellent way to let other homeschoolers know what works, what doesn't and what should NEVER be attempted. Your homeschool is not the same everyday, why should your posts be?
   
8. Create an environment on your blog which reflects YOU -- don't worry about imitating anyone else's blog. I remember how I set up our homeschool -- it's set up to work to each child's strengths. It's, as Elizabeth Foss says, NOT schooling at home, but "real learning in the heart of the home". My blog should reflect this uniqueness too!
9. Read other homeschooling blogs -- bearing in mind habit #8, read other blogs and see what other homeschoolers are saying and doing. Write up posts that argue or agree with what someone else has done. Build on their posts -- like I'm doing now with Maureen's. But, always keep your posts in light of what YOU do!
10. Have fun -- Blogs are basically easily edited web-pages. Blogs allow me to vent, argue, applaud or meditate on something going on. Blogs allow me to journal "what we did today". And it's fun! I enjoy writing and blogs help me keep up my writing -- like JohnBoy on the Walton's always writing in his RedChief Tablet. This is not a job, nor is it to take the place of home-educating my children. When it becomes a chore or a burden, I will stop writing my blogs.

Well, those are my 10 habits -- not in any particular order, but meant to help readers (and myself) encapsulate blog-writing.

So, what are your 10 habits?

Math CAN be fun

There's a really cool blog out there, run by a math teacher, called appropriately enough, Homeschool Math Blog! She has great tips for teaching math at all grammar school levels -- tips about where to find worksheets online, or how to teach a certain concept, or just fun games.

Today she has a link to a site (and a specific page) that is wonderful. The site is called A Home for Homeschoolers, and seems to be a "clearing house" of homeschool blogs and interesting posts from homeschoolers everywhere. There is a plethora of information here -- stuff that would keep me online and fascinated for hours, but I'll have to pace myself!

But, back to the point of this post. A particular post on the AHFH, called The Game that is Worth a Thousand Math Sheets, really sounds like a fabulous idea. It's one of those that's kind of a "duh" moment, but this would really work. Basically, you give each player a pack of regular cards, after removing all face cards and jokers, and the kids play War.

But here's the kicker:

• the kids can play standard war (which is bigger)
• the kids can play addition war (flip 2 cards and which set has the higher sum)
• the kids can play subtraction war (flip 2 cards and which set has the greatest difference)
• the kids can play multiplication war (flip 2 cards and multiply)

and the list could go on and on.

This is a great way to practice math facts without using worksheets, workbooks, or artificial means. My kids love War and will love these variations!

Summer Reading Challenge

With a hat tip to my friend, Cajun Cay, I have committed myself to Amanda's Summer Reading Challenge. Amanda is doing 2 books a week for a total of 28 books. I've committed to read 14 books (I have the excuse of little kids and a move....) starting June 1st.

As I read, I will keep you all posted on the progress of my challenge.

It's a fun idea -- why don't you sign up too!

Why do Nature Study?

Sometimes I really wonder if nature studies and nature journals are really worthwhile. It seems that there are times when it's more a hassle than a benefit to research and then head out into a hot sulty day and try and find something the kids will find interesting!

But, as I was reading the Catechism last night, I realized just how important it is to get my kids out into nature, to see/feel/smell God's wondrous deeds. This particular section, paragraph 341, synthesizes what I'm trying to express:

The order and harmony of the created world results from the diversity of beings and from the relationships which exist among them. Man discovers them progressively as the laws of nature. They call forth the admiration of scholars. The beauty of creation reflects the infinite beauty of the Creator and ought to inspire the respect and submission of man's intellect and will.

excerpted from CCC online version from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary

Anything that can "call forth the admiration of scholars" MUST be worth doing.

Update on Niece Helen

Thanks to those who prayed for my niece Helen's surgery yesterday.

I just heard from her mom who described yesterday as "the most harrowing day of my life" -- and she has 10 kids!

Helen went into surgery at 0845 and was sent to the recovery room at 1345 -- a 5 hour operation. At 1600, her parents were able to go in and visit. My brother spent the night and SIL was going over this morning.

Pain will be the word of the day as Helen's morphine in her spinal column wears off and she starts therapy. She has a self-dosed morphine drip but Helen is the stoic in the family and was told my her mom to "use it"!

I don't yet know how long she'll be in or how long the recuperation takes -- sounds like it will be a while....

Please continue the prayers if you have a minute.

Blessings to you all.....

Memorial Day -- more than the reason for a barbeque

I don't know how you are, but Memorial Day has always meant:

• end of school year
• beginning of summer
• time to hit the stores for summer sales
  
• a reason to have a barbeque

But, Memorial Day really SHOULD be much more than this. It's supposed to be the day to remember those who have fought for our country -- something that is even more important today as we wage war against terrorism.

Whether or not you agree with war, or our country's part in various wars throughout history, I believe you should still honor those who died in the service of their country. These men and women were sons and daughters, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers ... these men and women fought in our stead ... these men and women died for us.

A lovely way to remember the courage and sacrifice of these folks was articulated quite well. A woman named Brenda Hyde runs a beautiful site called Old Fashioned Living: Bringing Together the Generations. You can sign up for a free, daily eletter. Today's had the wonderful ideas for celebrating Memorial Day.

I particularly liked the following suggestion:

I also have another activity/discussion that you can have this
weekend with your children or grandchildren. Discuss the
concept of courage. What is it? Who can be courageous? Is
it just the people we read about that do grand lifesaving acts?
Or is it the soldier who does their duty to their country despite
doubts and fears? Is it that we work through fears to keep on
going even in difficult times? Each member of the family can
name of person they think of as courageous and why.

These quotes should give you some ideas:

Courage is simply the willingness to be afraid and act
anyway. ~Robert Anthony

Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when
scared half to death. ~General Omar Bradley

One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born
with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any
other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true,
merciful, generous, or honest. ~Maya Angelou

I feel Memorial Day is a day to set aside our political differences.
It's a day to remember the men and women throughout history
that have had the courage to face circumstances most of us
cannot imagine

MORE: The words to "In Flanders Fields" for more discussion:
http://www.oldfashionedliving.com/holidays/flandersfield.html

Pretty cool, huh?

If you have a minute to say a prayer ...

please pray for my 14-yo niece Helen. Seems she has curvature of the spine -- not scoliosis (which is side to side) but back to front causing a slight hump. If left untreated, the spine will continue to curve.

She goes in for a 4-5 hour surgery on WEDNESDAY, MAY 24th. The surgeon told my SIL yesterday that the "hope" is that the operation will stop the curving; the surgery MAY ALSO straighten what's already curved.

If you have a moment, please say a quick prayer for my niece. If you'd like to join me an emergency novena -- saying the following prayer every hour for nine hours on the day of her surgery -- that would be wonderful!

Here's the prayer for JohnPaul 2's intercession:

O Holy Trinity, we thank you for having given to the Church Pope John Paul II, and for having made him shine with your fatherly tenderness, the glory of the Cross of Christ and the splendor of the Spirit of love. He, trusting completely in your infinite mercy and in the maternal intercession of Mary,
has shown himself in the likeness of Jesus the Good Shepherd and has pointed out to us holiness as the path to reach eternal communion with You. Grant us, through his intercession, and according to your will,
the grace that we implore --
safe surgery for Helen and impprovement in straightening her back -- in the hope that he will soon be numbered among your saints.
Amen.

DaVinci Code revisited

I was reading Insight Scoop this morning and came across this quote from Carl Olson's post about the DVC:

The movie, like the novel, takes its message very, very seriously. This is blatantly obvious in the final 15 minutes, when Langdon (Tom Hanks) yammers endlessly about how the most important thing is what you believe -- not whether or not it is true, good, or right. While deviating in exact language from the novel, this is essentially Brown's message (as he as expressed in interviews): we must be able to create our own truth and not have truth shoved down our throats by nasty old men who are selling us the lie called Christianity. This is a misleading and false choice, of course, but one that plays very well in today's culture.

This hits the nail right on the proverbial head! We have a culture that doesn't want rules or one truth -- we have a culture that wants to make its own truth based on what it wants to do right now. The Catholic Church has spent the past 2000 years explaining and defending that there is one Truth.

But, if I can convince myself and others that I have my truth, you have yours and he has his, then we can do what we want. Religion is between me and God -- there is no one else and no one can tell me what to do. This is subjective ethics -- there is no one truth and therefore there are no rules. This is the "Me Generation" on steroids.

Which always brings me back to the quote:

Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice."

Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" [John 18:37-38]

The DaVinci Code -- alot of hype over nothing

With the impending release of the DaVinci Code movie today, I was really getting worried about my Church and the blasphemes shrieked at the Church because of the book's popularity and then Sony's no-holds-barred hype for the movie. Sony really pulled out all the stops to publicize this movie -- even chartering a special European train to bring the stars to Cannes for the world premiere (and garnering a Guiness World Record, to boot!)

But I have done a couple of small things to combat this hype:

1. I've blogged about the Other-cott and will plan on seeing Over the Hedge on Sunday.
2. I've head Brikhead working on a paper to refute the DVC's message and arm my 17 yos with arguments for the debates to which he'll be privy.
3. I've been praying and chatting online with many like-minded individuals (particularly at 4Real forums) in order to quell our worries.
   

Well, last night as I was reading the Catechism for the year-long project, I read this paragraph:

274 "Nothing is more apt to confirm our faith and hope than holding it fixed in our minds that nothing is impossible with God. Once our reason has grasped the idea of God's almighty power, it will easily and without any hesitation admit everything that [the Creed] will afterwards propose for us to believe - even if they be great and marvelous things, far above the ordinary laws of nature."

(excerpt from St. Charles Borromeo's online copy of the text of the Catechism)

This text has eased my fears -- remember, NOTHING is impossible with God. The Hollywood Hype, the publisher's platitudes, the author's arguments -- nothing can beat God or His Church.

In fact, often good things come from really bad:

• there have been numbers of positive inquiries to Opus Dei for joining this lay movement (that is so slammed in the DVC)
• Christians around the world are coming together, working together to fight the spread of the DVC's poison
  

So, I will continue to do my small part of fighting the DVC, but I will no longer fear; in the words of JP the Great,

BE NOT AFRAID!

Happy 84 + 2 in heaven JPthe Great!

As Alice at Cottage Blessings so eloquently mentioned, JP the Great would have turned 86 today.

We have claimed this day as our own JP's (alias Bam-Bam) feast day -- until the Church proclaims JP2 a saint and then we'll use that date as Bam-Bam's patronal feast.

JP the Great meant much to so many people; many people claim his pontificate as the turning point to bring them back to, or to bring them to, the Catholic Church. I wonder just how many conversions/reversions can be traced to this man's 26-1/2 years as the Leader of the Catholic Church?

I'm sure they're having a wonderful birthday party in Heaven!

Monet and the Orangerie

String Bean's love affair with Monet began last year with the purchase by Kotch of a 3-d fold out garden set depicting Monet's famous house and garden. The set came with a book of Monet's paintings. We decided at the time to do a unit on Monet -- of course using Linnea in Monet's Garden -- as well as lots of other books about this Impressionist!

We did another study of Monet this year in March as one of our monthly artists -- following that study with a month of Mary Cassat (another Impressionist).

The point that I'd like to mention here (a fancy way of saying "long story short") is an article in today's NYTimes -- Paris's Jewel-like Orangerie, Home to Monet's Waterlilies, Reopens, Polished and Renovated. This is a neat article about the renovation of the building that houses Monet's most famous opus -- his waterlilies. The building is also home to many other works of art, but String Bean has only eyes for Monet!

Here's hoping we'll be able to see this in real life while we're in Europe the next few years....

Science Accuracy in Kids' Books

Thanks to Tasha at Kids Lit, I now have a great site to check for accuracy in kids' science books. It seems Marianne Dyson, a former NASA flight controller and children's author, has created a site that "grades" science books (both fiction and non-fiction) for accuracy in scientific knowledge:

help young people (and educators) choose nonfiction books that are accurate, and science fiction books that will not fill their heads with misconceptions such as that a lack of air produces weightlessness. The reviews focus on books dealing with space, physics, astronomy, technology, and space history because these are my areas of expertise. If a book also contains science in other areas such as biology, geology, or computers, its accuracy in those areas was not assessed and was not a factor in my rating.

She only has a dozen non-fiction and a dozen fiction books reviewed now, but at least it's a start!

Paddington -- a classic found!

This week, we're slowly winding down the official school year. (I'm a firm believer in learning all year, but formal "school time" ceases around here and I just "sneak" learning in during the glorious summer months.) We're doing this and that, finishing up and honing our skills learned through the year -- including awesome building of log cabins with Lincoln Logs (the original all-wood which, unless my dh vetoes, WILL BE going with us to Austria) which remind us of our wonderful reading of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books (we got through five of the nine this year!).

But we've also started a new book this week. One of those books I picked up at a library book sale for a pittance and on a whim. One of those books that has the library-rebinding and the heavy creamy pages that are the hallmarks of a well-loved book. One of those books that is fast becoming a classic and a "don't stop reading; read another story" kind of book.

The book? More About Paddington by Michael Bond. Our copy has the line drawings reminiscent of Ernest Shepard's Pooh-Bear drawings. And Paddington is a bear like Pooh-bear -- one the kids can really relate to.

Paddington gets into the most marvelous scrapes and always comes out fine. His family, the Browns, love him for all the things he is -- mischievous, loving, carefree, cuddly, boisterous, independent, and just plain wonderful. Paddington is a joy to be around -- he's not sassy or disrespectful. He's always trying to help, and often succeeds (but sometimes doesn't succeed in actually "helping").

I see my children in this little bear. I think they love this book because they see themselves in Paddington, too!

Mother's Day -- who's it for anyway?

I wanted to write this post on Saturday, but life (in the guise of trying to translate the appropriate Austrian form for our visas) got in the way. Yesterday, the actual Mother's Day, I gave my family a gift of staying off the computer all day to spend time with them! It was lovely. So now, a couple of days late, you'll get my take on Mother's Day!

I was at the store, buying cards for upcoming birthdays and graduation. As I passed the all-pink section of Mother's Day cards, I decided to pick one up for the kids to give their Nana. There are cards for grandmas, first-moms, moms-to-be, "mothers", mommies, mothers-in-law, godmothers, daughters, daughters-in-law ... every imaginable motherhood is covered.

Now, I've never been a strong proponent of other-than-kids giving women Mother's Day cards. I think it's a lot of Hallmark-hype. How many ways can you claim motherhood and have a card made?

But, as I was standing in front of all that pink, it dawned on me that I should be sending cards to every mother I know. I should be showing them that I'm thrilled and proud that they chose to be mothers. That I embrace them as part of the procreative force which the late, great John Paul II wrote so lovingly and beautifully about.

We should support those who took the path of motherhood. We should commend those who cheer for their children's successes, weep for their children's failures and pray for their children's everlasting souls. These are the true heroes of American life today.

God Bless all Mothers on this and all Mother's Days!

First Reconciliation -- Here's a Quote!

On the 4Real forum we've been talking alot about First Holy Communion and First Reconciliation -- creating notebooks, how best to prepare our children for the sacraments, etc.

Today (May 15th) is the feast day of St. Isidore the Farmer. This is what he had to say about the Sacrament of Reconciliation (as quoted at mycatholic.com under "Reflections from the Saints":

Confession heals, confession justifies, confession grants pardon of sin. All hope consists in confession. In confession there is a chance for mercy. Believe it firmly. Do not doubt, do not hesitate, never despair of the mercy of God. Hope and have confidence in confession.

– St. Isidore of Seville

This would be a wonderful quote to use for the notebook, don't you think?

Baseball Read-alouds with a Bit of Black History

On our weekly trip to the library, StringBean decided that she LOVES baseball and wanted to get some baseball books. Here are the pretty near perfect picture books we found:

• Here's one for every almost-Tom boy on the list. The Babe Ruth Ballet School by Tim Shortt is about a little girl who pitches for the Yankees and is best friends with Babe Ruth. She throws an awesome spitball, but what she really dreams of doing is ballet. The conclusion is VERY cute.
• Peter Mandel's Say Hey! A song of Willie Mays is a bit of biography about the amazing black ball player who played in New York and San Francisco (he was playing for the SF Giants when I was little). It's in verse with the repeating line, "Say hey, Willie. Say hey," which my littles REALLY enjoyed shouting out.
  
• For a wonderful story about the start of MLB's desegregation, look no further than Peter Golenbock's book Teammates about Jackie Robinson and PeeWee Reese. Jackie braved the bigots to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers and PeeWee Reese makes a stand in defense of this first black Major League ball player. This is a wonderful read with lots of rabbit trails.
• This next book is one I picked out especially for String Bean. She has been hounding me about learning the violin -- I keep telling her, "when we're in Austria, we'll get a teacher for you." This story, The Bat Boy and His Violin by Gavin Curtis is a wonderful book that describes life in the Negro League (before MLB desegregation) as well as the message that following your dream may be the better solution to following the dream your parents have for you.
  

So take these out to the ballgame this weekend and read!

Other-cott -- How to Fight the DaVinci Code movie release

What will you be doing next weekend, May 19-21st?

Next week Sony pictures, using Ron Howard as director and Tom Hanks as the main star, will release (after MUCH hoopla) a scurrilous attack against Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. This movie, which Sony's film leader suggests shows "the truth", actually emulates Pilate's question "what is truth". This movie is nothing more than an attempt to slam Christianity and the truths of the Catholic Church. Many go so far as to say that this movie (and the book it comes from) is the working of the devil, trying yet again to crush Christianity and the Catholic Church.

Rather than simply boycotting the movie -- which is strongly encouraged by the Vatican -- let's cooperate with the idea of an Other-cott. Basically, instead of going to the opening of DaVinci Code, go see "Over the Hedge" -- another major release slated for May 19th. Done by Dreamworks, Over the Hedge is supposed to be a family movie and certainly a better alternative to DaVinci Code. Vote with your movie ticket by making "Over the Hedge" a greater box office success to combat The DaVinciCode's release.

For more details, check out this website: Other-cott. This is a Christian-wide attempt to take back our faith and fight Hollywood.

Cooking with Kids

Dawn at 4Real asked about teaching kids to cook.

Here's how I do it: tell the littles we're doing cooking math, don our aprons and have at it. Yes, it's as simple as that. Yes, there's a big mess. Yes, the recipe probably won't come out as nicely as when you don't have "help". Yes, they do rapidly learn how to work in the kitchen and, how to clean up after themselves!

We call it cooking math because the whole time we're working we're figuring "what if we doubled the recipe", "what's half of a half cup", "what shape is this", "can you get out the big rectangular pan", "how much will it take to fill the pan", and other practical math lessons.

This goes way beyond water tables and measuring sand. This gives the children a concrete lesson in how math affects us everyday. They are so proud when Dad comes home and oohs and aahs over whatever we've created.

In addition, we link the cooking/baking lesson to something we've been studying or reading. Many children's picture books have recipes included -- Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco, Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende Devlin, A Song for Lena by Hilary Horder Hippely are just some of the books with a recipe that ties to the story.

But you can go beyond this. Last year, when we studied pioneers, we made "Haymakers Switchel" -- a beverage with ginger and molasses that quenched the thirst of the haymakers in the fields. When studying the middle ages we found reference to marzipan as being a treat during the feasting -- so we made marzipan for the family as a surprise. When we did a Paul Bunyan unit, we made popcorn blizzards and HUGE pancakes -- with little stick figures skating on the butter. Studying the Little House books has reaped many dinner suggestions (and even more dessert treats).

Cooking with children is one of the ways to get the everyday things into a homeschooled child's curriculum. Let's see them try that in a "traditional" school!

Fun Picture Books We've Read

Our homeschool is very focused on reading -- reading picture books, chapter books and any other kind of books we can get our hands on. I love to snuggle with the littles and read to them -- and they're beginning to help with the reading (which does a mother's heart good!).

Yesterday we spent the morning reading half of our "haul" from our new library. Living out here in the "country", our library system isn't as good as it was in the "big city", but the kids and I still managed to find some real "keepers".

• Eloise Takes a Bawth by Kay Thompson is a classic about what happens to the Plaza when Eloise takes her bath. The kids love the silly words, the silly drawings and the silly plot line.
• Lego-maniac was asking about woolly mammoths the other day and we chanced upon Wild and Woolly Mammoths by Aliki. This is a wonderfully illustrated book about the mammoths with lots of interesting facts and details (although it does end with a politically correct mention of how they MAY have died out because they were hunted and how there are animals today in danger .... ya-da, ya-da, ya-da).
• For a wonderfully clever look at the world from a worm's eye view, Doreen Cronin has written Diary of a Worm. Starting on March 20 and ending on August 1, this is a diary (with very silly pictures) of life on earth for a worm. Scenes like trying to teach a spider to dig in a hole in the ground or playing hopscotch with giant birds are just some of the journal entries. The funniest is the scene of the school dance and all the worms doing the "hokey pokey". This is a great introduction to insects!
• I love books about books and libraries and the fun of reading. I especially like children's books that show a fascination with books and reading. Sarah Stewart wrote a story, using verse and dedicated to the real Elizabeth Brown, called The Library. This is about a woman who from the moment she could hold a book, would read and read and read. She collected books rather than dolls; she took books to college rather than clothes; she read books and used them as furnishings in her home. This is beautiful book about the beauty of reading -- illustrated in pastels by Ms. Stewart's husband, David Small.

Bam-Bam, not to be outdone and not to be ignored during school time, had his own set of read alouds:

• Franklin Helps Out -- it's a bit p-c, but he enjoys reading about Franklin and his animal friends.
• Lois Ehlert's Fish Eyes: A book you can count on -- where Bam-Bam's mother finds out that her 3-year-old knows how to count (correctly) to ten and knows all his colors. I guess he's gotten it through osmosis! Yet another reason homeschooling is such a great idea!

So, pull your children into your lap, or snuggle on the couch or bed, and READ!

Our Lady of LaSalette

In the Jubilee Year of 2000, we were fortunate to be able to take the children on pilgrimage to shrines and Catholic sites all over France and Italy (culminating in seeing John Paul the Great in audience). My husband and I have a special devotion to Our Lady, and incorporated many Marian shrines in our planning of this momentous trip.

Of all the shrines and places we went -- including Lourdes and Lisieux -- no place had more impact on me then the small French Alpine village of LaSalette near Grenoble. The place is hard country -- mountainous and rocky, perfect for sheep, goats and shepherds. And, a Marian shrine that will live in my memory.

The story of this not-so famous Marian apparition, begins on September 19, 1846. Two young shepherds, Maximin Giraud (11) and Melanie Mathieu (15), had fallen asleep on that drowsy day and awoke to see a woman sitting on a rock, head in our hands, weeping.
She stood and said

Come near, my children, do not be afraid. I am here to tell you great news.

The beautiful Lady was tall. She was all light. She was dressed like the women of that region: a long dress, long apron tied at the waist, a shawl crossed and knotted in the back. On her head she wore a peasant bonnet. There were roses in a crown around her head, around her shawl and her shoes. Light shimmered like a fiery diadem on her forehead. A chain seemed to weigh heavily on her shoulders. A finer link-chain held a brilliant crucifix on her breast, with a hammer on one side and tongs on the other. (as described at the official site of the Missionaries and Sisters of Our Lady of LaSalette

Imagine, the Blessed Mother WEEPING! She, who held back her tears when Jesus was left in Jerusalem. She, who held back her tears when Jesus met her on his way to Golgotha. She, who held back her tears when her Son died on the Cross. This is the woman who was seen WEEPING in front of two children.

Her message was one of Divine Mercy and a plea for a change of heart by the French. They were no longer attending Mass on Sundays. They were no longer keeping the Lord's Day special. They were no longer venerating the Lord's name, but instead were blaspheming whenever anything bad happened -- crop failures or just plain bad luck.

Here are the words she spoke:

If my people do not obey, I shall be compelled to loose the arm of my Son. It is so heavy that I can no longer restrain it.

How long have I suffered for you!

Here was her simple, yet serious request of the children:

If my people are converted, the stones will become mounds of wheat and it will be found that the potatoes have been self-sown. Do you say your prayers well, my children?

The children answered with one voice: "Not too well, Madame, hardly at all".

Ah! my children, it is very important to do so, at night and in the morning. When you don't have time, at least say an "Our Father" and a "Hail Mary"; and when you can, say more.

Only a few rather elderly women go to Mass in the summer. Everyone else works every Sunday all summer long. And in winter, when they don't know what else to do, they go to Mass only to scoff at religion. During Lent, they go to the butcher shop like dogs.

In 1851 the Bishop of Grenoble, France, after a lengthy investigation, proclaimed the apparition of La Salette "bears within itself all the characteristics of truth."

This site had such an impression on me -- the lovely, graceful image of Our Blessed Mother weeping into her hands with her elbows resting on her knees. How sad she must have been! How racked with grief for the mistakes of the French. How little she asked of the French people -- attend Mass, keep the Lord's day holy, venerate her Son, and pray.

How little she asks of all of us.

Consecration to Our Lady of La Salette

Most holy Mother, Our Lady of La Salette, who for love of me shed such bitter tears in your merciful apparition, look down with kindness upon me, as I consecrate myself to you without reserve. From this day, my glory shall be to know that I am your child. May I so live as to dry your tears and console your afflicted heart. Beloved Mother, to you and to your blessed charge and sacred keeping and into the bosom of your mercy, for this day and for every day, and for the hour of my death I commend myself, body and soul, every hope and every joy, every trouble and every sorrow, my life and my life's end. O dearest Mother, enlighten by understanding, direct my steps, console me by your maternal protection, so that exempt from all error, sheltered from every danger of sin, I may, with ardor and invincible courage, walk in the paths traced out for me by you and your Son.
Amen.

What Color Is Your Blog?

Thanks to Cay at Cajun Cottage, by way of Dawn at By Sun and Candlelight , I found out my blog SHOULD be green -- which is one of my favorite colors!

Your Blog Should Be Green

Your blog is smart and thoughtful - not a lot of fluff. You enjoy a good discussion, especially if it involves picking apart ideas. However, you tend to get easily annoyed by any thoughtless comments in your blog.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

So, should I change my template?

Words, Words, Words

I love words. My mother was an English major and read voraciously. My dad was a philosophy major and read voraciously. We grew up believing that books were more important than food -- better to spend $20 on a good book and $5 for an ok dinner than $20 for dinner and $5 for an ok book!

We devoured everything -- from classics to crud, from fiction to non-fiction. We all read books. The result of all this reading is a very educated family who tend to be a bit verbose and even loquacious. Another result of all this reading is a love of words -- foreign or English, words are a delight.

One of my favorite blogs is called Wordsmith's Word-a-Day. You may have seen a few postings scattered throughout this blog about words. Well today's was so cool a word, one that I'd never heard before, that I just had to "wax poetic" for a few minutes about the beauty of words.

Today's word is PLASHY. Doesn't that sound luscious? What do you think it means? Guess and then click the link above and see if you were right. Isn't that just a lovely word?

Aren't words just lovely?

It's Almost Summer Reading Time

When I was little, I loved this time of year. School was almost over. We were registered for Red Cross swimming lessons at our neighborhood pool. But best of all, our local public library was prepping for the "Summer Reading Program".

The Parkside Branch of the San Francisco Public Library was our library. It was literally two blocks away from our house and we haunted it's shelves at least a couple of times a week during the school year. When school was out, we were at the library almost daily!

Parkside had one of those children librarians who go down in memory as truly a librarian for the children. She knew us all by name and what books we liked and didn't like. She steered us to broaden our horizons into non-fiction, poetry or drama. Miss K. was THE children's librarian to whom I compare all others -- probably unfairly as none can measure up to my memories of Miss K.

When the Summer Reading program started, she would gather all the children around and explain the program. We had to read ten, reading level-appropriate books and write a short report on each. If we liked, we could do a project related to the book and if it was good enough, she would display the project in the Library through September. A chart with all our names neatly written was posted in a prominent area of the Children's Section -- a gold star placed as she approved our book and the subsequent report.

She had to "vet" every book before we could apply it to our goal of ten books. She would gently ask someone "didn't you already read this one?" She would lovingly remark, "don't you want to try a book from this older section. You're reading so well now." She would guide us to the non-fiction section and point out Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" or Heyerdahl's "Kon-Tiki" in lieu of the latest paperback or mystery story. She worked hard to expand our horizons -- both reading level and genre.

Miss K. must have read EVERY book in that Children's Library. When you brought her your report or project, she would quiz you a bit on the book. If she thought you might not have read the whole thing carefully, she'd send you back and you wouldn't get a gold star that day. This was a crushing, humiliating event, but only happened once to most of us. She was too sharp to let us skimp on reading.

Our final reward for a summer of reading? We received a certificate at a special awards party that Miss K. sponsored the last day before school. We had cake and cookies and other treats; but nothing was as special as getting that certificate from Miss K. with a warm handshake and a pat on the back for reading so well.

Today, I don't find children's librarians like Miss K. Libraries are too busy, all librarians are generalists and there is no longer a person set aside just for the children. The summer reading programs have suffered greatly because of this. Now, all the reading programs I see are filled with games, movies and prizes that have gotten away from the point of the programs -- READING! Any kind of reading qualifies (including audio books) but all you have to do is write down the name and author and you get a check for that book. There is no vetting of titles, reading level or even proof of having read the book. Instead of encouraging reading, libraries feel the need to bribe the children to come and "hang out" at the libary during the summer.

So what do I do? I devise my own summer reading program for my kids. Last year, we had just finished a pioneer unit, ending with the California Gold Rush. Using the Gold Rush as our theme, I made posters with a pot of gold in each and hung them prominently in our dining room. Each time String Bean or Lego-Maniac read a book and completed a project, we pasted a gold star in their pot with the name of the book.

I encouraged them to get books from different parts of the Children's area. Art books, poetry, science stories and geography books all had their stars in my children's pots along with series books and just fun reads. At the end of the summer, we had a pot full of gold stars, binders full of reports and projects and a memory of reading our way through the summer.

Now I need to go devise this year's summer reading program to get my kids reading!

What happened to Spring?

Yesterday was NOT a typical day here in South Carolina, particularly for the month of May. We started out at about 60 degrees, but as the day progressed, rather than getting warmer and humid, the temp actually dropped throughout the day.

When Bam-Bam went out after Mass to "swim" in the wading pool -- it was 60 degrees with a light drizzle.

When Bam-Bam came in 10 minutes later from "swimming" -- it was 58 degrees and still drizzling.

After lunch, when String Bean and Bam-Bam went out on the front porch to eat popsicles -- it was 54 degrees. String Bean, wrapped in a polar fleece blanket with Christmas trees on it, refused to come in until her popsicle was done. Bam-Bam (although 4 years younger, decided that discretion truly is the better part of valor) came in and shiveringly ate at the counter.

By mid-afternoon, when I took Brikhead out to practice driving -- it was down to around 53 degrees.

Long story short, today's "Wordsmith" word is particularly appropriate for yesterday's weather:

aphotic (ay-FO-tik) adjective

Lightless, especially without sunlight.

[From Greek a- (not) + phot- (light). Ultimately from Indo-European root bha- (to shine) that's also the source of beacon, beckon, phantom, phenomenon, and phosphorous.]

Hopefully, today's weather will be a bit less aphotic and warmer!

So how does this blogging thing work?

I've been spending the past couple of weeks devouring some books on blogs -- Blogging for Dummies by Brad Hill and Blogging in a Snap by Julie Meloni. I'm a bit of a techhead, so I love reading these kind of books occasionally.

Thanks to these books I now understand a bit better about what blogs are -- weblogs (to use the full name) are nothing more than easily changed web sites. They have evolved to be primarily personal journals, travel diaries, venting spaces, and writing practice; but the bottom line is that they are just websites.

What makes the blogs so different from "just another website" though is the blog community that arises. Whenever I write a blog entry, I assume (sometimes rightly) that I have readers out there reading what I have to say. The comments section on my blog shows that I usually arouse at least one reader, sometimes more, to comment. When I respond to those comments, we have a conversation and thus, a community is built.

Get enough conversations going and the community is really going strong.

Another example is links to other blogs. Here's a prime example of what I mean:

Because of Bloglines (thanks to Lissa's great tutorial!) I have a list of blogs where I can peruse new postings without having to manually visit each blog. From here, I saw that one of my favorite blogs, The Bookworm, had posted about "pegs". In her post, she mentions Lissa's original post -- Nuts, Bolts and Pegs. Now, not only do I have great information about applying Leonie's idea about "pegs", I also have a great understanding of how two different women would implement this system. And I've built a community with these women by commenting on their blogs and back-tracking to their postings.

Pretty cool, huh?

If you have a minute, please pray!

A dear friend of an online friend of mine, Nicole, is dying of cancer. Her children are young and this has been a very long, slow painful process. She and her husband will be going to Baltimore on Wednesday, May 10th, for a "last ditch" effort to destroy the cancer or at least slow its growth.

Please join me in saying a prayer for John Paul the II's intercession on behalf of this woman and her family. JP2 was a man who so loved families and was saddened by the early death of those who were sick. JP2, a man who suffered so much in the last years of his life, will surely intercede on behalf of Nicole and her young family.

Here's the prayer:

Prayer for Pope John Paul II Intercession

O Blessed Trinity, We thank you for having graced the Church with Pope John Paul II and for allowing the tenderness of your Fatherly care, the glory of the cross of Christ, and the splendor of the Holy Spirit, to shine through him.

Trusting fully in Your infinite mercy and in the maternal intercession of Mary, he has given us a living image of Jesus the Good Shepherd, and has shown us that holiness is the necessary measure of ordinary Christian life and is the way of achieving eternal communion with you.

Grant us, by his intercession, and according to Your will, the graces we implore, hoping that he will soon be numbered among your saints.

Amen.

Home is Where You Are

I've always thought the old saying, "home is where you hang your hat" was a nice platitude but didn't mean much. After all, my home is all the things I've collected over the years -- the books, the furnishings, the plates and glasses, the books (we have A LOT of those). My home is all the people -- my immediate family and all my friends and fellow parishioners.

My home is all this -- isn't it?

Over the past weeks I've started to revise this notion a bit. We have spent the past couple of months in high gear -- sorting, packing, storing, trashing. We have spent the past two weeks first sleeping on mats on the floor in our home , than in sleeping bags at a farm in North Carolina and now on beds at my in-laws. In a bit over four weeks, we'll pack and move again for a two week visit to my brother's family in Colorado. Then we'll move yet again to Austria -- where, God willing, we will stay for about three years.

So where is our "home"? We have no house we call our own right now. Thanks to the intercession of St. Joseph, we closed on the sale of our house two days ago. After all the hassles of home selling, we may NEVER buy another house again. Our stuff is scattered in two states; our beloved books are partially packed for shipping to Austria and partially shelved to await our planned return in three years.

So where is our home? After all this moving and shifting and change, my 6-year-old String Bean, burst into tears and asked that we stop getting in the van for awhile and stay home. She didn't want to go anywhere for a while.

So where is our home? Our home is not my Grandma's cedar chest, or our dining room table or even our friends in the neighborhood or at Church. Our home is not even our books -- those we bring or those we store. Our home isn't any of these things, although I'm sure we'll miss them.

So, where is our home? Our home is wherever all seven of us are gathered together. Our home is each other living the lives God planned for us. It really doesn't matter if our things get mislaid over the next few years. It really doesn't matter if our books or winter clothes get lost in the shipping to Austria. It really doesn't matter if we live in a double-wide, an apartment or moving from place to place.

Our home is wherever we are living and learning and loving under God's watchful eye.

Living Books and the Internet!

Here are some websites a friend mentioned on the CHC Yahoo Group list. All these sites help us homeschoolers find "living books" to use with our kids when teaching with a CM slant. All of the sites are created and maintained by homeschooling moms.

GENERAL or MULTI-SUBJECT
Homeschooling 101
Paula's Site of Living Book Lists

MATH
Living Math

HISTORY
Reading Your Way Through History
RC History

SCIENCE
Paula's Science Books

PLEASE NOTE: Some of these sites are non-Catholic and may contain content that is differs from Church teachings.

Corinthians 13 for Homeschool Moms and all Teachers Everywhere

Thanks to a friend on FCL's e-list, I had the perfect meditation/prep-for-school-this-morning note in my email today. Seems someone posted the following edited version of Corinthians 13 in a local homeschool newsletter (the author is unknown). I think it applies to all teachers everywhere -- whether at home, in a private school or a public school -- and at all ages -- whether the "littles" or the "bigs" -- all need to be shown love. I thought the following would be especially appropriate as we wind down the school year and the kids are a bit distracted and the push is for grades and tests and DOING -- when it should be on LOVING.

I hope my readers enjoy reading it too:

Though I teach my children how to multiply, divide, and diagram asentence, but fail to show them love, I have taught them nothing. Andthough I take them on numerous field trips, to swim practice and flutelessons; and though I involve them in every church activity, but fail to give them love, I profit nothing. And though I scrub my house relentlessly, run countless errands, and serve three nutritious meals every day but fail to be an example of love, I have done nothing.

Love is patient with misspelled words and is kind to young interrupters. Love does not envy high SAT scores of other homeschool families. Love does not claim to have better teaching methods than anyone else, is not rude to the fourth telephone caller during a science lesson, does not seek perfectly behaved geniuses, does not turn into a drill sergeant, thinks no evil about friends' educational choices. Love bears all my children's challenges, believes all my children are God's precious gifts, hopes all my children establish permanent relationships with Christ, and endures all things to demonstrate God's love.

Love never fails.

Where there are college degrees, they will fail; where there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we teach in part. But when the trials of life come to our children, the history,math, and science will be done away and faith, hope and love will remain; but the greatest of these is love.

Month of Mary and Almost-Summer Read-alouds

The Church sets aside the Month of May as Mary’s month. Many churches and parochial schools sponsor May crownings, rosaries and other devotionals to the Mother of God. A great book to read-aloud to the family to further this respect and reverence for Mary is Mary: The Mother of Jesus written by Tomie dePaola. DePaola, of Irish-Italian descent has a great love of the Blessed Mother and this comes out clearly in his book about Mary based on facts and legends. As always, dePaola’s illustrations make this a delightful picture book for even the youngest to enjoy with his trademark pale colors and gentle drawings.

On May 18, 1920, God gave the world the future Pope John Paul II. A book of quotes from the Pope to children would be a great way to remember him during his birthday month. For the Children: Words of Love and Inspiration from His Holiness Pope John II has the pontiff’s provocative thoughts on leisure, work, blessings and other words of wisdom, all given at one time or another to children. The book is illustrated with photographs of John Paul II hugging, kissing and loving the children. A great short biography of the pope’s life, published by Pauline Media is titled, Karol from Poland: the Life of John Paul II for Children.

Two classic picture books are wonderful for quick read-alouds and to help the children get through the end-of-the-school-year-blues. Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey is a delightful story about picking berries with your mama – whether you’re a baby human or a baby bear. Punctuated with McCloskey’s drawings of his own daughter Sal, this book is a reminder to us all that berry-picking season has arrived. To help the children start thinking about what to do during the summer, no book is more inspirational than Alice McLerran’s Roxaboxen. Take a deserted plot of land, kids of all ages, and some imaginative direction from the older children, and you’ve got a plan for action all summer long. The illustrations by award-winning Barbara Cooney really help this classic come alive.

For longer reads – now that the evenings are warmer and lighter – a recently published book is destined to be a classic pre-summer “let’s get in the mood” family read-aloud. The Penderwicks is author Jeanne Birdsall’s first book (and hopefully not her last). Written with an ear for children’s dialogue this is the story of four sisters who spend three weeks of their summer at a cottage. Although this sounds mundane and typical – this book is an original! Chock full of family fun, sibling rivalry and bits of tension, this novel has all my children clamoring “one more chapter, please”. The scrapes these girls and their friends get into are classic kid stuff and just good clean fun, with no negative messages. The basic theme is one of family love and child-created (in lieu of technology- or little-league created) adventure. Definitely a classic-in-the-making; start it tonight.

The Mystery of Nature

So our first successful nature study has just finished.

Walking around our new area we found a large powder puff. It looked like a dandelion on steroids, although it had long "sticks" of dark purple.

What could it be? The mystery begins and we were on the job!

We walked a bit farther, and saw this plant. Obviously this is a bloom just getting ready to erupt. The color of the inside, hiding bloom was the same as the purple sticks on String Bean's powder puff. Could this be related?

A bit further we saw the full plant, with the bloom out of hiding. The prickly leaves and dryness of the ground make this plant look desolate and scary. But the flowers are so pretty! And when they bloom out, they have the same "sticks" as on String Bean's powder puff. We were getting closer to identifying the puff as a thistle. But we needed just one more piece of evidence. A walk a bit further down the road and we had the evidence we needed. A bloom had erupted and was just about to propagate it's seeds!


We'd found our plant! Searching the Internet for pictures of thistles that are native to our area, we found out that this thistle is called a Yellow Thistle -- even though it blooms purple. The Latin name is Circium Horridulum. The really interesting thing is that, under normal conditions, the thistle's powder puff (or seed propagated) would normally blow off the plant and scatter its seeds everywhere, leaving no more than a tuft of fluff here and there. Finding the whole puff, which helped us track down the plant, was like a little gift that started us on our first "nature mystery hunt".

Thanks to fellow sleuths at 4Real Forum we have found out lots about thistles -- some are edible, some are medicinal and there are some that are linked to the Blessed Mother and the Nativity! So thistles blooming in May are especially appropriate for a nature study in May, the Month of Mary!

Finally ... we're doing nature study!

After two-and-a-half years of attempting to implement more and more Charlotte Mason into my homeschool, we've finally succeeded in doing a nature hike/study! Now, most of you will probably be shocked by this confession -- after all, nature IS all around and it shouldn't be THAT hard to get three littles out and about, walking in God's creation. But, my only reason -- not an excuse, but a reason -- is that living where we lived, it was extremely hard to find interesting, provocative or FUN nature walks.

Sure, we went to the Zoo, but they didn't want to ever draw any animals they saw -- "we can't make them look right".

Sure, we tried tree identification on our lot -- you'd think four or five different types of oaks, a few sweet gums, a few dogwoods, magnolias and an elm psread over half an acre would be exciting. But not for my littles!

Sure, we tried hikes in the BlueRidge Mountains -- but they never wanted to narrate or draw pictures of that stuff.

So, what's different? What's changed?

We recently moved out to my in-laws in the "country". Near the house there is a paved street that meanders through pure Southern countryside for a bit over a mile. It starts with two arms of a Y and ends in a cul-de-sac. It's perfect:

• as the walk is not too long
• we don't have to get in a car to get there
• most importantly, the kids are fascinated with all the natural growth around them!

But the best part: up at the top of the road is THE hallmark of a Southern country area. Let me explain for those of my readers not true Southerners (that would be you Yankees!). In the South, we don't tear down old buildings -- we let them fall down, we let them disintegrate back to their roots. Tin roofs rust; wooden barn walls collapse, and the ground takes back its own.

The really cool part is the things you can find by looking closely. Dogwood and oak "volunteers" (that would be a weed you DO want) push their way through the slow decay. Blackberry bushes are green and lush -- promising summer's bounty of juicy, drippy, delicious fruit. Snakes and other ground "critters" live and lurk in the tangled mass.

This is the reverse of urban-renewal. This is nature-renewal.

This is nature at work to recreate what was there before the barn that's lying almost-flat, shrouded with blackberry vines and poison ivy vines (a good teachable moment!). This is nature beckoning the six and seven year olds to investigate her handiwork.

And my kids (and their mom) are enjoying every bit of it!

I'm BACCCCCCK!

Greetings to all my readers.

It's been almost a week since my last blog post. We moved from our house -- awaiting a delayed closing on the same house -- and headed north to my BIL's farm in North Carolina. We had a wonderful few days feeding goats, checking those who still had to "kid" out, punishing naughty teen-aged boy goats, collecting and sorting eggs (have you ever felt the warmth of a newly hatched egg?) and taste-testing pound cake recipes.

It was a pure delight. We got back to South Carolina on Friday and moved into my in-law's. They have dialup, so needless to say I wasn't able to blog.

But now I'm back and raring to share my insights into Catholic homeschooling, Catholic families and Catholic culture (as played out here in the Bible Belt!)

BLESSINGS TO ONE AND ALL!