Blessings

I have been so blessed by wonderful women recently who have inspired me to be a better person through their grace, mercy, compassion and selflessness. One sees a place to extend grace, and does. One sees an opportunity to give, and does. One sees a chance to set an example, and does. One sees a moment to grant forgiveness, and does. One sees an opportunity to make me something yummy, and does.

Today, I received in the mail a book from A Circle of Quiet. I had posted a list of books that I was seeking for our schooling, and ACoQ happened to have an extra copy she was willing to sell me--cheap. And then we had a financial crisis, from which we're still trying to recover, and I decided that it was not time to buy a book. She blessed me by saying that she would just send it to me as a gift, but I felt that I needed to give to her, not accept from her, so I refrained. Then I had a very small windfall that I felt I could part with, especially in light of getting a great book at a fantastic price for my children's daily lessons, and I sent her what I had, with a promise to send the rest. But instead, she blessed me by sending the book and asking for nothing more. That book came today, which was a tremendous blessing, but in addition, she included a lovely hand-written note, seed pods from her hollyhocks, candles to soften my environment, a bundle of herbs--lavender, rosemary and others--that I hung in a prominent spot by my front door, and seven California acorns, to represent each of her seven family members. I was touched and moved to tears by this blessing box.

Thank you, D, for such a thoughtful act of kindness. It brightened my day and I thank God for you.

What have you done???

Donna, over at Quiet Life , posted this on Tuesday. The idea is to highlight the things you've done. I guess there are quite a few exotic things I haven't done. I haven't had much opportunity to travel, but I'm trying to make up for it vicariously through my children.

There are some things on the list I wish I would have done, or hope to do someday, like backpacking, climbing a mountain, held a lamb, visited all fifty states, etc. But there are several that I'm glad I've never done, or don't really care one way or the other.

What have you done?

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk.
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe.
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Our curriculum choices: a history

I know that the footer of this post will tell you, but today is October 26th, 2006. We have been doing "formal" education for six and a half weeks this year.

Is that really all it's been? Unbelievable.

It feels like much longer, honesty.

But not because it's going badly. Not at all. It's actually going quite well. Which leads me to believe that either we've finally found the way to do it, after 16 years of learning...or we're forgetting something.

For many years, I struggled with finding the "right" curriculum for our family.

We attempted using KONOS, which, while very interesting and entertaning, was utterly exhausting for me as a mother.

We took a short jaunt into The Weaver Curriculum, but I didn't like the huge focus on Biblical learning and the minor focus on academics.

We took a stab at the boxed curriculum; I couldn't afford the whole thing, but I took bits and pieces from it. It was hopelessly dry and boring.

We eventually forayed--or was it moseyed?--into eclectic, interest-led education, pulling from our daily questions to delve into answers. While this was the method that worked best for us, I always felt that we were missing something, that I had so many great books on our shelves that may never get into rotation. This sent me on a search of a supplemental literature-based program, not something to completely take over what we were doing, because I liked the eclectic approach; I just wanted something that gave us more time to read, and threw us more bang for our bookish buck.

This led me to Five in a Row, a literature-based curriculum that works on the precept that you read the book every day for five days in a row, finding something new and interesting about it with each day. Every day, you focus on another area of study: day one, you might discuss the art of the book; day two, you discuss the history of the setting; day three, you talk about the science; day four, you cover the math; day five, you discuss the geography, or the foreign culture, or whatever else you want to throw into the mix. We even took time to make meals of the culture, or go on field trips based on what we were reading. There's a great conversational explanation of it here.

We really liked Five in a Row. I especially liked the support that was offered on the website, the ideas that were given by other "Rowers", as they're called, on the message boards. But it still involved a lot of time at the library, quite a bit of planning, and too much homogenization of education for my widely-spaced, varied-interest kids. I did try the Above and Beyond Five in a Row for Bard, but we felt it wasn't in-depth enough, didn't have as much potential for being self-led as Bard wanted.

We tried Switched on Schoolhouse, an Alpha Omega Publications product that uses CD-Roms and computer time to teach the kids. While I liked this, and felt that it gave my children a sound basic education, I didn't like that they kids spent so much time on the computer, or that they spent so little time with me, and I definitely didn't like the bugs and glitches that sent Bard into fits of frustration when all of her grades were lost, or it kept assigning something she'd already finished. There were freezes and crashes and grading errors galour. Plus, having only one working computer made it difficult for the kids to work independently at their own paces because they had to wait for their turns. And we STILL didn't get to read all of that quality literature I had sitting on my shelves collecting dust, because I spent too much of my time waiting for tech support.

When we moved to the community we're now in, I decided that things were going to be a bit crazy, and I needed something simple, straightforward and thorough. Into my mailbox one day magically appeared a postcard for Ohio Virtual Academy, and that set my family and me into a downhill spiral of red tape, control and inflexibility that still almost brings me to tears when I think of it. It was not, in any way, the kind of thing that fit our lifestyle. If you're an on-the-go family who likes to spend more time in hands-on learning than clock-watching, OHVA is completely and totally not for you. After three months of going at it as hard as we could, I finally threw in the towel. It took us quite a bit of time to recover from those dark days. I still get angry when I see an online ad for OHVA that touts it as a "homeschool program." Go ahead--do a search on Ohio Virtual Academy, and you'll see it, too. And while you can pay for OHVA and be free of the restrictions and control, the big draw for most people is the "free" materials and use of a computer (still only one per family, so if you have multiple children doing the program, you'll have the bottlenecking that I experienced).

The one thing that my experience with OHVA did do for me was to remind me of what kind of education I did want for my children. It helped me to appreciate the freedom and flexibility of true homelearning, not just school at home, or public school without the bricks and mortar, but true, unencumbered, inhindered learning.

It was after that that we dove head-first into a fairly intensive stint into unschooling/eclectic learning and "Rowing," as Five in a Row is called. And it was shortly after that that we took a formal education hiatus in order to build our house, an educational experience in and of itself, and a wonderful one, at that.

But once the house was built and we'd begun to settle into our home, community and routine, it was time to go deeper. I had children of all ages, from two to fifteen, and we were all eager for more.

I had been exposed to classical education and the Charlotte Mason method by my dear friend Kathy. Kathy had sent me my very first package when we moved to the cabin, a box full of books on a wonderful Autumn day (or was it Spring?) which I spent the afternoon devouring on the hammock, Sweetheart curled up next to me. She had sent me A Charlotte Mason Companion and a book on how to keep a nature journal. And while it was all very intriguing, I didn't really entertain the thought of doing an entire Charlotte Mason curriculum.

Until last year.

Honestly, though, I don't remember what encouraged me, finally, to pursue a full curriculum using Ambleside Online. I did a lot of reading about classical education, the Trivium, etc, and I think I just lit on Charlotte Mason as the thing that most resonated with me.

So this is our second year using Ambleside, and I am really loving it. I enjoy the works that we read, mostly because I learn, either again or first the first time, so much from the selections. I like the grace of the thing, the easy pace of it. I like that it challenges us, yet inspires us, too.

And I don't look upon our lessons with dread. Instead, I'm happy to read aloud to the kids, or listen to what they're learning during their narrations. We cuddle up together and take off for adventures.

Mason's teachings have been a blessing to me, an encouragement to view the whole child and recall the magic of being young, discovering the beauty in everyday things.

I pray that all homelearners can enjoy their learning and their children.

The Love of Writing

I'm struggling today, because I really want to write, but the real life that I have, with the stacks of dishes, the broken vacuum the shattered budget and the piles of laundry, are insisting on attention. Like a siren song, the hum of my computer keeps pulling me back, so I'll sneak a few minutes to check e-mail, or peek at myspace, but I know that my satisfaction will only come with completing a household task.

It's so hard to get what I want to do and what I have to do to match up. I know that once I start folding boxer shorts and bath towels, that's where I'll want to be. It will feel good to get it done.

Until that siren song calls again.

Bo informed me yesterday that when you do a search on Google for Today Lessson or Today's Lessons, my blog comes up first. What a huge potential I have to touch and reach people, if I could just get my life in order, or slow it down a bit.

Yet, what would go if I decided to simplify? Piano lessons? Houseconcerts? Homeschool classes? Choir? Morning walks? Writing? Reading? Gardening? The stars? The sunsets? Teaching? Learning? Friendships?

I know what I wish would go away. Laundry piles. Dirty dishes. Dust. Procrastination. Arguments. Disappointments. Nasty surprises. Broken appliances. Bounced checks. Overdue bills. Illness. Depression. Fear. Death.

What a wonderful dream that would be.

So I can't eliminate either list. Still, in my naive way, I keep believing that it will get better someday. That it will slow down or imporve. Or that I will magically learn how to do it all.

Ha.

And this doesn't even take into account all of the things I want to do that aren't even in the time and money budget right now. Fiddle lessons, voice lessons, dulcimer lessons, travel, decorating, hiking, biking, boating, the beach, the mountains.

Or all of the things I've put on hold so I can do the other things. Knitting. Sewing. Bread baking. Guitar lessons. Teaching Sweetheart to knit. Attending births. Learning to draw and paint. Writing books. Photography. Medical care. Yoga. Attending concerts and museums and historic places. Being politically active.

A fellow writer sent me this quote the other day: "The idea of wanting to write but being unable to find the time would make absolutely no sense to someone who truly loves to write." It cut me to the quick. Why? Because it's wrong. It's a guilt motivator that doesn't motivate...it just makes me feel guilty. I do love to write. But I've chosen--CHOSEN--to put writing aside to care for my family. To put them first. It's been one of the biggest struggles in my life, aside from money. My children will grow and leave home. My experiences will only increase, so that my writing can only improve as I age. Stealing a moment here and there to write or to read excellent writing fills me with guilt, like I"m indulging in a secret sin. I feel selfish and full and whole when I write, when I've completed writing. I feel lost and disjointed and worthless when I don't write. I don't choose that route because I don't love writing. I choose that route because I love my family.

The laundry is still there, waiting for me and me alone. And no amount of writing-love will make it disappear.

It's over

A dozen teenaged boys.

A little cabin in the woods.

Ninety-six hot dogs.

A ton of snacks.

Four 2-liters of Vault.

Two 2-liters of Mountain Dew.

Light sabers and Heroscape.

An eighteen hour party.

No sleep for the boys.

Little sleep for the dad.

It's time to recover.

Houdin threw his first party, planned and executed by him. He invited a bunch of homeschooled boys and a neighbor, prepared the cabin for his guests, prepared pancakes for breakfast and promoted the event as much as he could. I would say it was a success.

Now he's supposed to do all of the clean-up, too. When I visited the cabin (there were no girls allowed for the 18 hour period), Monet was passed out open-mouthed on the recliner and Houdin was completely dead to the world in the upstairs bed. He told me a few minutes ago that it's now cleaner--cleaner than it was--and that he's preparing to do the dishes that he toted up from the cabin. I hope his standards have somehow magically risen to meet mine!

It's Bard's turn next. She gets to have a girly party and plan it herself.

But for now, I'm going to go downstairs and relax. The rest of the world can party on without me.

What One Learns at Stuff*Mart

I was in line at my local Stuff*Mart when a woman in front of me yanked an opened food container from her cart and shoved it into the cashier's hands.

"I couldn't help it. I was really hungry," she said. And then she added sheepishly in a tone of mock apology, "You can see I tore right through the bar code."

And indeed she had.

The cashier looked at her incredulously and then attempted to scan the empty package. No dice. She tried again. At this point, I'm assuming she gave a look or an exasperated sigh, though I did't hear it, because the customer, a slightly plump woman dressed in a hot pink getup, complete with hot pink sneakers, groaned, "Look, I was hungry, okay? I was about to fall over. I'm sorry." Her attitude was longer than the growing line behind her. "I'll go back and get another one for you to scan, if that will make you feel better." The cashier sighed again, declined the offer and hand-entered the numbers beneath the bar code. Success.

The transaction continued fairly normally from that point, though I just kept thinking of how rude this customer had been--rude like I can't even describe in words because it was just oozing out of her pores. The way she stood. The way she looked. The way she spoke. Complete and total arrogance. It disgusted me. I hope I NEVER act like that, I thought. It didn't help that her purse bore my first initial. It made me wonder how many times I've stepped close to the edge.

When her purchase was complete, the woman took her receipt and said, "Have a nice day. And I'm sorry I ruined your life by eating my sandwich."

Here's me being floored.

So, as I was placing my items on the conveyor, here comes this man with two items in his hands. Two items. And I hear him tell my cashier that he was just waiting until "this nice lady" was done with her cart so he could use it. And I see him approaching me. By this time, I had almost, but not entirely, finished emptying my cart. I still had several items in the basket as well as on the bottom. The man walked over to my cart, asked me if I minded, and then started putting his things in my cart while I was still unloading it! "You don't mind, do you? I'll even help you unload it." Well, I was a bit taken aback, but I figured I was finished with the cart, so what the heck?

Until the cashier called out, "You can't take her cart! She needs it! What is she going to do with her bags of groceries?"

She had a very good point that I'd not thought of. In my haste to get rid of the guy and avoid more uncomfortable conversation, I just told him to take it, that I'd get another, but could I retrieve my gallons of water from the bottom first?

I did. And he took my cart and moved on. And I walked out to the lobby area while my groceries were being bagged and got another cart, fifteen feet away from where this man had just walked.

Stunning, isn't it?

I had to think long and hard about all of this. What does it mean, I wondered as the cashier confided in me about her loss of faith in the human race.

"It only takes one day of working here before you just don't like people anymore," she said. I could see what she meant.

And it made me wonder. How much are we to give? When do we say, "No. I'm sorry. I need this for myself," or "My apologies, but I can't do that for you." When, as Christians, is enough enough? Is it ever? When a man asks for our cart, do we give him our water, too? Do we give him a cup of cold Vault in Jesus' name? Where does it end? Will it end? And how do we determine who is worthy of these graces?

I know I've been pardoned many times. I am fairly certain that I have been extended my share of grace, that there have been times that I have stuck my foot in my mouth, or asked for more than I should have, or taken what wasn't rightfully mine. What would I have had my offendee do for or to me? What would have been productive? What *is* productive in my life now?

For me, for now, it's grace and mercy. It's what's holding me together, keeping my feet moving, keeping my mind working and my blood pumping, keeping my sanity. it's those who extend grace who are helping me survive, with their hugs and offers of help and gifts of books and apple butter and music and school supplies and cash.

And love.

The Greatest of these.

That's a pretty heavy lesson to learn while standing in the Stuff*Mart checkout line. But I suppose I had to learn it somewhere.

Life at present

What keeps a writer from writing?

Life.

These past weeks have been so full of life that I haven't wanted to write them down for fear of leaving something very important out. I know that's silly, but it's the way I think. Still, how can I possibly fit it all in?

We've been plugging away at our Ambleside readings and, for the most part, enjoying them. There are, of course, those few items that aren't favorites, but we're continuing on with them in the belief that we'll be quite happy that we did. That has generally been the case so far. Currently, our reading list includes a bunch of stuff about artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Macbeth (we're read through all of our other Shakespeare assignments, so I decided to dive into this one). We're also reading Kon Tiki, Bullfinch's Mythology, Robinson Crusoe, Paddle-to-the-Sea, This Country of Ours, An Island Story, Fifty Famous Tales, Aesop's Fables, The Wonder Clock, The Blue Fairy Book, the poetry of Tennyson, selections from Winnie-the-Pooh, and a host of others I can't remember right now. I think we've all been learning quite a bit, and this doesn't even cover our "fun" reading or Bard's reading list.

We were blessed to host a houseconcert on Saturday evening, which you can read about here, and we're looking forward to hosting another on November 18th featuring Jake Armerding. If you have a free evening and want to come, please do. It's sure to be a grand treat.

The homeschool speech and debate season is underway, with four of our five children currently participating. Bard and Houdin are doing both speech and debate, while Sweetheart and Monet are doing speech only. Yesterday, Sweetheart presented The Young Crab and His Mother by Aesop and Monet did an informative speech on rats. I'm leading the varsity speech group, which has been a blast so far. Yesterday, we covered impromptu speeches and Dulcea gave her award-winning persuasive speech from last year, which was quite good. In just a couple of weeks, we'll do our first mini-competition, the Round-Robin, where the novice speakers and debaters compete. They're judged by the varsity students from our own club. I've enjoyed this club immensely, and I think the kids have, too. It has caused them to grow so much and has provided them with a good group of solid, well-spoken, intelligent Christian friends.

The support group season is also underway; that has been a blessing, as well. Bard is currently taken Chemistry, Worldview and Algebra II, Houdin is taking Worldview and Algebra I, and the younger ones are taking sign language. I'm also teaching a women's history class, which has been enjoyable and fascinating. We've all learned so much, and it has been an incredible joy to get to know these girls.

Bard took the PSAT this past week and is anxious to find out how she did. She feels fairly confident that she did well, but she knew that there were some math questions she didn't know how to approach. I'm looking forward to seeing how she did, too. It will be a good gauge of how our education has gone, since she did no "cramming" or test prep ahead of time, but has just basically orchestrated her own education for several years.

For the past few weeks, my friend Kim and I have been walking in the mornings whenever we can. That, too, has been a wonderful blessing. It's refreshing to spend time outdoors, getting exercise, and talking to Kim, with whom I have so much in common. I wasn't able to walk this week, due to schedule conflicts and rain, but I hope to continue walking with Kim all through the winter, if we can. It has felt so good to get that exercise!

Last night, we spent the evening with a fun homeschooling family who plays music at nursing and retirement homes and other places. It was fun to get together with them, talk, share music, find out a bit about them, share a bit about us, and have delicious food! Thank God for friends. God has been bringing some amazing people into my life, and I'm so very pleased. Every one of them is filling a different need that I've had; He is so incredible.

Music has been a fairly central theme in our lives this year, and especially in these past couple of months. With houseconcerts, jam sessions, and music lessons, life has taken on so much sound. I love it! Bard has been progressing very well on her guitar playing, Houdin has been faithfully practicing his bass, and the younger kids are enjoying the piano, especially since we've made the choice to change piano teachers. Also, they've all been happily involved in their individual choir ensembles, which has inspired more music around the house. I've taken the role of choir manager for Sweetheart's choir and it has been such a pleasure to watch her choir director work with the children. I'm looking forward to their first concert, which is approaching quickly!

The only issue in my life right now that just doesn't seem to be resolving is money. If I could find a way to continue enjoying life just the way we are and completely eradicate finances, I'd be unbearably happy. I've even been tempted to play the lottery, believe it or not. There have been a couple of people who have been extremely helpful in assisting us in keeping our heads above water, and I thank God for them every day. Even the little things they've done have been very big in my eyes, especially those people who have extended grace. Thank you. We actually took steps toward credit counseling this past week and hope that it will help us get our feet on solid ground. Please keep us in your prayers.

Along those lines, I made the decision to not work at the cheesehouse this Christmas season. This may seem contrary to what I'm trying to accomplish, but I actually feel that we lost more money with me working than I made, and it caused us to be behind on schooling, caused me to be stressed out, and it obliterated our holiday. I feel like I'm honoring God and my family by choosing not to drive Amish, work outside the home, and instead focus on simplicity in meals and activities. I feel like home and with family is exactly where I need to be, and I'm praying that God will honor that.

And now the morning has begun to slip away, but there is much for me to do. Thanks for indulging me in this little game of blogger catch-up.

Blessings on you!

Five Things Meme

Got this one from Kate over at The Tate School.

1) Five Minutes to yourself. How would you spend them ideally?
I think how I do spend them and how I think I would spend them would be two different things. Usually, I do spend them sitting in front of the computer. How sad. But recently, I've been stealing moments down at our cabin, generally putzing around, enjoying the quiet, eating raspberries, looking at Country Living and Country Home magazines, and reading snippets from various books.
2) Five Dollars to spend right now. How or where would you spend it?
A trip to our local thrift store for books and home stuff. Or, if there's a new magazine on the racks, I might buy that if there were nothing at the thrift store I wanted.

3) Five Items in your house you could part with right now?
* The television. Before our last house concert, we moved it into the computer room and it didn't come back out. After a month, I said, "Let's just get rid of it." We moved it to the in-law suite in the basement, but I'd rather it just be gone.
*Three rats. We have five, but I'd just like to have two. Want 'em? They're loads of fun!
*The quilt rack. I bought this great oak quilt rack at a furniture store years ago, but it's never been anything but in the way. I'll probably take it down to the cabin or give it away.
*Half the clothes in my closet. I shop thrift stores and clearance racks, so some of the things I bring home end up being a bit less desireable than I thought they'd be, for one reason or another. Some are just hopelessly out of style, though I try to stick with classic stuff.
*My garden. A lot of those things need to be yanked out and thrown to the goats. When I have time.

4) Five Items in your house you absolutely, positively could never part with?
* My dog
* My food processor (I feel a little funny writing this just after I wrote "My dog.")
* My mixer
* My book collection
* My photos

5) Five Words you love?
* "Let's go out."
* "What can I do to help?"
* "All done, Mom."
* "Yes."
* "I have good news!"

You're it! Let me know if you do this one.

You're invited!

Have you always wanted to meet Thicket Dweller and family? Have you always wanted to visit the rolling hills of Amish Country? Have you always wanted to listen to fabulous music in the company of other music lovers?

Well, now's your chance.

You're invited to our houseconcert this weekend, Saturday, October 14th featuring Jason Harrod. Bring your hubby and make it a date. Bring your kids and make it a family night. Bring your lawn chairs and make yourself comfortable in our spacious Gathering Room. And, for goodness sake, bring FOOD.

If you're interested in knowing more about the houseconcert, visit http://sproutedacorn.blogspot.com. If you're interested in knowing more about Jason Harrod, visit www.jasonharrod.com and http://www.myspace.com/jasonharrodmusic . If you're interested in tickets, e-mail sproutedacornATgmailDOTcom.

Suggested donation is $10 per person or $22 per family.

We'd love to see you there!

Home

By Edgar A. Guest

It takes a heap o' livin' in a house t' make it home,
A heap o' sun an' shadder, an' ye sometimes have t' roam
Afore ye really 'preciate the things ye lef' behind,
An' hunger fer 'em somehow, with 'em allus on yer mind.
It don't make any differunce how rich ye get t' be,
How much yer chairs an' tables cost, how great yer luxury;
I ain't home t' ye, though it be the palace of a king,
Until somehow yer soul is sort o' wrapped round everything.

Home ain't a place that gold can buy or get up in a minute;
Afore it's home there's got t' be a heap o' livin' in it;
Within the walls there's got t' be some babies born, and then
Right there ye've got t' bring 'em up t' women good, an' men;
And gradjerly, as time goes on, ye find ye wouldn't part
With anything they ever used -- they've grown into yer heart:
The old high chairs, the playthings, too, the little shoes they wore
Ye hoard; an' if ye could ye'd keep the thumb marks on the door.

Ye've got t' weep t' make it home, ye've got t' sit an' sigh
An' watch beside a loved one's bed, an' know that Death is nigh;
An' in the stillness o' the night t' see Death's angel come,
An' close the eyes o' her that smiled,
an' leave her sweet voice dumb.
Fer these are scenes that grip the heart,
an' when yer tears are dried,
Ye find the home is dearer than it was, an' sanctified;
An' tuggin' at ye always are the pleasant memories
O' her that was an' is no more -- ye can't escape from these.

Ye've got t' sing an' dance fer years, ye've got t' romp an' play,
An' learn t' love the things ye have by usin' 'em each day;
Even the roses 'round the porch must blossom year by year
Afore they 'come a part o' ye, suggestin' someone dear
Who used t' love 'em long ago, an' trained 'em jes' t' run
The way they do, so's they would get the early mornin' sun;
Ye've got t' love each brick an' stone from cellar up t' dome:
It takes a heap o' livin' in a house t' make it home.

From the book "A Heap o' Livin'" ©1916

Ren Fest and Barry Stebbing

The past couple of weeks have been busy in so many ways. I hope to sit down sometime soon and write about the things that are on my mind, especially in hopes that the lessons I'm learning will help others, but right now, I just want to post some photos that make me feel happy. :-)

Below, you'll find photos of this week's art workshop with Barry Stebbing. Below that, you'll see some photos of our trip to the renaissance faire a couple of weeks ago.

I hope your Autumn is going well.

Blessings!

K.B.

T.T.

Concentrating.

L.R. and C.R. with their grandma.

Mr. Del and Mr. Stebbings teaching.

The Del family.

Another table hard at work.

P.L. and R.B.

Bard painting a sunflower

Barry Stebbings helping a student.

Sweetheart

Colorful cups

Busy at work.

Sweetheart and Monet

K.B.

L.H.K and Jesse

P.L. again

P.L.

Dan

Rachel

Bard, Houdin, The Baby, Sweetheart and Monet with Good Queen Bess.

Bard enjoying a good joust.

Sweetheat took this one of me and a friendly pirate...statue.

If only I could sew...I saw so many costumes and capes there that I would love to make.

Houdin in his ren garb.

Here he is again.

Bo was chosen to go onstage. What a ham!

Sweetheart in a felted Acorn Cap

Monet with a turkey leg.

Bard and Thicket Dweller

Adorable Illustrations

My darling husband just pointed me to these illustrations by Deas. I'd love to hang this one on the wall in my piano room. The adorable face on the little independent girl reminds me so much of our Baby, and the sock colors match Houdin's room. Go check out the other drawings. Quite cute. Thanks for showing me these illustrations, Bo.

How to Save the World

I just read this article, in light of the difficulties that we're having financially, and it really makes me think. Please read this. I believe it will make you think, too.

"An obscure legal loophole, discovered in 1978 and validated that same year by the US Supreme Court, changed forever lending and borrowing practices, and the housing market, in the US. Until that time, interest rates were a matter of states' rights, and most states carried on a long-standing tradition of anti-usury laws designed to protect consumers from unconscionably high interest rates. In 1978, the Supreme Court, in the infamous Marquette decision, said that existing laws allowed lenders to charge borrowers anywhere in America the rate ceiling allowed in the lender's state of incorporation, regardless of the rate ceiling in the borrower's state, and that it was up to Congress to change the law to prevent 'exporting' of high interest rates. Congress did nothing, lenders flocked to Delaware and Nevada (the two states with no rate ceiling, which are still home to the companies that do half of all consumer lending in America) and in four short years virtually every state, to prevent exodus of financial institutions, had scrapped its interest rate ceiling.

There was at first bi-partisan celebration of this ruling. Free-marketers saw this as the removal of an unnatural impediment to business, the end of interference in the establishment of rates that truly reflect the lending risk. Liberals saw this as an opportunity for middle-class Americans to finally buy their own homes -- prior to the removal of the interest rate cap, most lenders would only lend money to the rich, people who really didn't need money and used it principally for investments. At the time, inflation was rampant and even the rich were paying high rates of interest on borrowings, so the dangers of eliminating anti-usury laws was unforeseeable.

A quarter century later, the consequences of this ruling are clear. In their well-reasoned and thoroughly-documented book The Two Income Trap (the Salon review of which I covered last year), Harvard Professor Elizabeth Warren and her daughter outline what has happened since 1978:

The proportion of Americans who own their own homes has risen a paltry 3%.
140 million (70%) of adult Americans now admit they are carrying so much debt it is making their lives difficult and unhappy.
Bankruptcy rates for women have risen 662%. Foreclosure rates have risen 400%.

Having a child is now the single biggest predictor that a woman will declare bankruptcy.
One out of 7 families with children will declare bankruptcy this decade, and at least that many more should declare bankruptcy to make a fresh start but will instead out of ignorance or fear live with the constant horror of repossessions, hounding and threats from creditors.
More Americans each year declare bankruptcy than have heart attacks, get diagnosed with cancer, graduate from college, or get divorced.
Increased availability of credit has more than doubled the price of housing, to the point that after paying for housing and other essentials (and the other essentials have actually decreased in cost), the average two-income family has less disposable income than the average one-income family had a generation ago.
Families with children have driven up the price of housing in many areas with desirable public schools by as much 600%, and a recent survey indicates proximity to good schools is now the single largest determinant of US residential housing price.
Credit card debt balances have risen from $20 billion to nearly $800 billion, a forty-fold increase (see chart).

The average interest rate on Citibank mortgages is nearly 16%, ten points above prime, and interest rates on 'sub-prime' mortgages are much higher than that (Citibank and other lenders don't divulge the breakdown). On an average home with an average mortgage, the 'sub-prime' borrower is therefore paying $500,000 more over a 30-year mortgage life than a prime rate borrower.

Visible minorities and those with limited education are twice as likely to be paying the high rates of 'sub-prime' mortgages as whites and college-educated people with the same incomes. The reason, according to one retired lender: Because the lenders know they can get away with the higher charges.
Credit companies including Sears, AT&T, GE, Macy's, JC Penney, Circuit City, Radio Shack and GM are just some of the companies that have paid millions of dollars in fines for illegally hounding people after bankruptcy, and for illegally hounding descendants of deceased customers, to repay credit card balances. Most of these companies now make more money from finance charges than they do from selling products.
Even the FDIC, the government body that insures the banks, has expressed alarm at the unforeseen and, in human terms, tragic consequences of unregulated interest rates and credit. They acknowledge the direct correlation between the hawking of massive amounts of credit to everyone in the country at outrageous interest rate, and the rate of personal bankruptcies (see chart above -- the blue line, left scale is the bankruptcy rate; the yellow line, right scale, is credit card debt). They even make it clear that it is the aggressiveness of lenders, more than interest rates per se, that leads to bankruptcies: In Canada, which has never had anti-usury laws, bankruptcy rates were always significantly lower than in the US, except for the brief period in the 1970s, when VISA and MasterCard and their agents began aggressively pushing credit cards in Canada for the first time, when the bankruptcy rate in Canada surged and briefly surpassed the US rate. After the Marquette decision, US bankruptcy rates surged back ahead, and rates in both countries continue to soar.

The authors take great pains to demolish the myth, perpetrated to this day by neocons like William Buckley Jr., that it is consumers' inability to budget and restrain themselves from making reckless purchases that is behind the skyrocketing bankruptcy rate, and that a lot of people just declare bankruptcy to discharge their personal responsibility for undisciplined spending behaviour. Compared to 1978, the average American family spends (inflation-adjusted) 21% less on clothing today, 22% less on food (grocery & restaurant combined), and 44% less on furniture and major appliances than they did, although their (mostly-two-income) family take-home has risen 70% relative to the (mostly-one-income) take-home of the early 1970s. Where has the extra money gone? First and foremost to skyrocketing housing costs (up 100% on average, up to 600% in areas close to the best schools). What else is way up in cost? Health insurance, transportation (to and from two jobs instead of one), pre-school, after-school-care and college tuition are all up from 100% to 500% in cost since the 1970s. Over 90% of all personal bankruptcies are due to three causes: job loss, medical problems, and divorce. The pervasive myths of reckless overconsumption and the immoral debtor are not only untrue, they are cruel deceptions perpetrated by corporatists to mask the real cause of skyrocketing debts and bankruptcies: Reckless lending, usurious and unconscionable interest rates, and cynical mortgage consolidations designed to facilitate foreclosure and expropriation of homes for corporate profit.

One lending analyst has broken the 18% annual charge commonly charged today on credit cards into these four components:

7% for true interest, the cost of borrowing in a low-inflation world
5% for administration costs (which are much higher than for mortgages because of the volume of transactions) and fraud costs (which the credit card companies are legally bound to pay, and which are soaring)
3% for defaults -- the cost of people who skip town, die or declare bankruptcy before paying their balance (did you know that if you die, your beneficiaries are under no obligation to pay off your credit card debt?)
3% for 'the opportunity cost of the early payment period' (the losses the lender incurs when people pay off their cards on time)
So when you carry a balance on these cards, you are subsidizing three groups -- card defrauders and identity thieves, bankrupts, and those who pay their balances in full each month. It is easier and cheaper for credit card companies to get you to pay for these costs than to improve security over credit card abuse, exercise more discretion in lending to those who can't afford to repay, and get early-payers to pay their share of the administrative burden of credit card management. And that doesn't include the other unregulated add-on costs: late-payment fees, balance transfer fees, transaction charges and other service charges, which a recent study showed are increasing by 20% every year. Late payment fees (charges when you don't pay a specified minimum of your credit balance each month) alone are up 300% in the last decade.

As I mentioned at the end of my last economic post, one fourth of all new mortgages are now debt consolidation loans, mostly at high rates. These diabolical schemes often make things worse, and they're being falsely sold as the panacea for families in financial trouble. They complete the cycle that is wiping out the American middle class, which looks like this:

You want to put your children in a good school, so they won't have to struggle like you did. So you pay the outrageous price, inflated by all the other parents with the same aspirations, for a home in the 'right' area.
To pay for it, you both need to work, and one of you has to work two jobs. The 'right' area is not near your work, so now you need two cars, day-care, and a lot of other new expenses.
You just qualify for the huge mortgage, but because of the risk you have to pay a much higher-than-prime rate: Citibank's average 16%.
You can just barely make the payments. And with tuition for university going up by double-digits for the 5th straight year, and youth unemployment through the roof, the dream of putting your kids through college is starting to look out of reach.
Suddenly, one of you loses their job. Or gets sick. Or one of your parents gets sick, or children gets sick, so one of you has to stay at home to look after them. Or the stress breaks up your marriage and now you have two households to pay for.
With the drop in income and/or increase in costs, you max out your credit cards, and the effective interest rate with penalties goes from 18% to 28%. You miss a mortgage payment and late fees and charges push its effective cost above 20% as well.
In desperation, you consolidate your debts with a new mortgage, taking advantage of the increase in the value of your home. You end up with a mortgage larger than what you paid for the house, at a higher interest rate, but at least the credit cards are clear.
You swear you'll tear up the credit cards, but the only way you can pay for the medical bills, the transit pass, the gasoline bills, is on credit. You have no cash for heat, phone and electricity, so you draw cash on your credit cards to pay them, too. Some of the things you bought for a house on a 'no payments until 2004' basis are coming due, so they get rotated right back onto the credit cards. Soon they're maxed out again.
Ashamed and afraid and too ignorant to declare bankruptcy, you borrow from family and friends to pay creditors. You stop paying for life insurance, and sell family heirlooms in garage sales or on eBay. You're crying all the time. The phone rings with creditors non-stop, threatening to take back your Sears Posturepedic, the kids' Christmas toys. They even talk to your kids and tell them in condescending tones that their parents are bad people.

And finally, you become one of the statistics on the blue (or if you're a Canadian, the red) line on the chart above. You've probably lost your home, your marriage, the respect of your children, your friends (who you never repaid), your health. Everything. And all you were trying to do was put your kids in a good school.

So what are the answers? As the authors explain, they're very simple: Congress needs to reinstate anti-usury laws, capping interest rates at a uniform rate, closely tied to the prime rate, across the country. Any and all fees would be added to the interest rate and the total would have to stay below the cap. And consumers need to look before they leap, and keep their debt-load below the level that would allow them to handle that debt if they were suddenly hit with a job loss, a sick or injured family member, or a divorce.

What are the chances of it happening? In the US, at least, it's remote. The financial services industry is one of the largest campaign contributors to political candidates, and they are fiercely opposed to any re-regulation, which would have a catastrophic effect on their profits. They are, in effect, legally stealing from the poor and middle-class of America. The authors show how powerful this lobby is with a story about Hillary Clinton. Because America's unconscionable lenders want to keep the screws on their poorest and most profitable customers, they have twice tried to ram through Congress a bill that would make bankruptcy declarations much harder to make, allow secured creditors to circumvent bankruptcy protection entirely, reduce the priority of family support payments over credit card debts, and require credit cards to be paid off along with mortgages, thereby making it easier for foreclosure before bankruptcy. These lenders contributed $60 million to various politicians to get their support. The authors, and other groups representing the poor, were able to convince Hillary to get her husband to veto the bill. But with MBNA bank the largest contributor to the Bush campaign, the bill was reintroduced, and now-Senator Hillary Clinton, beholden to bankers who contributed $140,000 to her campaign, supported it the second time. Only a fierce lobby, some of whose members were opposed not to the bill but rather to riders that had nothing to do with bankruptcy, managed to block it again -- for now. Both John Kerry and John Edwards opposed the bill, and have promised to pay more attention to bankruptcy law if they are elected, so there is some room for hope.

What are the chances that Americans will follow the authors' advice and rein in their spending, not on luxuries, but on the home they raise their children in, and allow for a contingency like loss of a job, a serious illness or injury, or divorce when they do up the family budget? Pretty remote. It's like asking people to give up the American Dream. Even if, for many, it is destined to become a nightmare. "

Prayer

I haven't felt much like writing lately. There's not a lot of inspiration to draw from. Well, there probably is, but my eyes are too blinded to see it.

Please pray for our family today. A financial crisis has us just about against the wall.

Miracles are desperately needed.

Renaissance Weekend

I love it when things fall into place. It doesn't often happen, so when I see a window of opportunity, I step, climb or break through it, whatever the situation may necessitate.

Last year and this, as part of our Ambleside adventure (for those who aren't aware, Ambleside is a FREE online curriculum based on the teachings of Charlotte Mason and featuring Living Books, or books that are not textbooks but real stories of real people and/or places), we studied/are studying Good Queen Bess, Shakespeare, Leonardo DaVinci, Gallileo and other Renaissance subjects. We've just finished reading Shakespeare's A Comedy of Errors and are studying Pieter Bruegel, who slips in during the mid-16th century.

This weekend we will be immersing ourselves in Renaissance history. Tonight, Bard and I will be taking in a play written by The Bard himself. A friend gave us the heads-up that one of our local universities is presenting Midsummer Night's Dream for little more than a song, so how could I refuse?

On Sunday, our family will be traveling to one of the largest Renaissance faires in Ohio. The Ohio Renaissance Faire will be focusing on pirates this weekend! So the children's assignment for tomorrow is to read all of the loads of books about pirates that I toted home from the library today, selected with the help of our wonderful children's librarian.

In between those activities, we'll enjoy a down-home hot dog roast.

Any ideas as to how I can tie that in with the Renaissance period?

Take Music

Music is so amazing and powerful.

We just came from a house concert, and the music invoked so many different emotions, feeling and ideas. When music plays, relationships change. People think and talk differently. Words take on more weight. The air becomes heavy with meaning.

If you have an opportunity to see live music, please, please, please, for the love of all that's good, do it. You can see a movie any weekend. It will always be available on DVD. You can spend any day in the bookstore. Starbucks will always be around.

But live music? That's Right Now. That's something you can't duplicate.

That's irreplaceable.

Stream of Consciousness Whilst I Take a Break from Reading

The air smells of fried rice
dappled with bits of browned onion,
pungent garlic,
candy carrots,
bitter green pepper,
sweet, spongy zucchini.
The boys are playing Heroscape with Bo.
Sweetheart is playing with clay.
Bard is scavenging for food, having IM'd her way through the fried rice dinner,
unaware that her favorite foods were being consumed without her.
I thought she was asleep.

We removed the television, poking out the huge, unseeing eye from the middle of our Gathering Room.
Too distracting, I say. When I'm lazy or depressed, I go to it, beg it to pacify me with things that, even for video, seem noble--British films, documentaries, cooking shows.
But the books that I love, the ones that I find on dusty shelves in thrift stores or in caving boxes at yard sales or filed neatly by author at the used book stores, are neglected, and as long as that beast lies in wait, my books will go unread.
Since I've pulled the plug, more books have been read, more games played, more conversations had.

Yes, I sometimes miss it. Tonight, for example, when the sadness from this life's weight sends shooting pains through my neck, down my shoulders, I wanted to retreat into thoughtlessness, make an unnecessary trip to the video store and shovel through the heaps of dung in search of one bright and shining treasure. Sometimes it happens. Most times it doesn't. Then, afterwards, I feel used, like my life has been wasted on some superficial thing.

Tonight, I held my ground.
No movies.
No pizza.
Instead, I will read. The librarian graciously waived my outrageously insane fine, and now I'm welcomed there once again, so reading material abounds, not only on my shelves, but in my library bag.
This week, it's Headlong by Michael Frayn, since we're studying Bruegel (read: BROY-gull) this term, and I think I've found a new author to enjoy, as well as a new artist to appreciate.

The fried rice smell is dissipating now, being replaced by the scent of boiling pasta--Annie's Macaroni and Cheese--as Bard attempts to fill the void that was created by her exclusion from the earlier meal. She'll be sustained, but not satisfied.

My break from reading has lasted long enough, and I must find something sweet to eat.

The Lady of Shallott

On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And thro' the field the road runs by
To many-tower'd Camelot;
And up and down the people go,
Gazing where the lilies blow
Round an island there below,
The island of Shalott.
Willows whiten, aspens quiver,
Little breezes dusk and shiver
Thro' the wave that runs for ever
By the island in the river
Flowing down to Camelot.
Four gray walls, and four gray towers,
Overlook a space of flowers,
And the silent isle imbowers
The Lady of Shalott.

By the margin, willow veil'd,
Slide the heavy barges trail'd
By slow horses; and unhail'd
The shallop flitteth silken-sail'd
Skimming down to Camelot:
But who hath seen her wave her hand?
Or at the casement seen her stand?
Or is she known in all the land,
The Lady of Shalott?

Only reapers, reaping early
In among the bearded barley,
Hear a song that echoes cheerly
From the river winding clearly,
Down to tower'd Camelot:
And by the moon the reaper weary,
Piling sheaves in uplands airy,
Listening, whispers " 'Tis the fairy
Lady of Shalott."

PART II

There she weaves by night and day
A magic web with colours gay.
She has heard a whisper say,
A curse is on her if she stay
To look down to Camelot.
She knows not what the curse may be,
And so she weaveth steadily,
And little other care hath she,
The Lady of Shalott.

And moving thro' a mirror clear
That hangs before her all the year,
Shadows of the world appear.
There she sees the highway near
Winding down to Camelot:
There the river eddy whirls,
And there the surly village-churls,
And the red cloaks of market girls,
Pass onward from Shalott.

Sometimes a troop of damsels glad,
An abbot on an ambling pad,
Sometimes a curly shepherd-lad,
Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad,
Goes by to tower'd Camelot;
And sometimes thro' the mirror blue
The knights come riding two and two:
She hath no loyal knight and true,
The Lady of Shalott.

But in her web she still delights
To weave the mirror's magic sights,
For often thro' the silent nights
A funeral, with plumes and lights
And music, went to Camelot:
Or when the moon was overhead,
Came two young lovers lately wed:
"I am half sick of shadows," said
The Lady of Shalott.

PART III

A bow-shot from her bower-eaves,
He rode between the barley-sheaves,
The sun came dazzling thro' the leaves
And flamed upon the brazen greaves
Of bold Sir Lancelot.
A red-cross knight for ever kneel'd
To a lady in his shield,
That sparkled on the yellow field,
Beside remote Shalott.

The gemmy bridle glitter'd free,
Like to some branch of stars we see
Hung in the golden Galaxy.
The bridle bells rang merrily
As he rode down to Camelot:
And from his blazon'd baldric slung
A mighty silver bugle hung,
And as he rode his armour rung,
Beside remote Shalott.

All in the blue unclouded weather
Thick-jewell'd shone the saddle-leather
The helmet and the helmet-feather
Burn'd like one burning flame together,
As he rode down to Camelot.
As often thro' the purple night,
Below the starry clusters bright,
Some bearded meteor, trailing light,
Moves over still Shalott.

His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd;
On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode;
From underneath his helmet flow'd
His coal-black curls as on he rode,
As he rode down to Camelot.
From the bank and from the river
He flash'd into the crystal mirror,
"Tirra lirra," by the river
Sang Sir Lancelot.

She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces thro' the room,
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She look'd down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
"The curse is come upon me," cried
The Lady of Shalott.

PART IV

In the stormy east-wind straining,
The pale yellow woods were waning,
The broad stream in his banks
complaining
Heavily the low sky raining
Over tower'd Camelot;
Down she came and found a boat
Beneath a willow left afloat,
And round about the prow she wrote
'The Lady of Shalott'.

And down the river's dim expanse
Like some bold seer in a trance,
Seeing all his own mischance--
With a glassy countenance
Did she look to Camelot.
And at the closing of the day
She loosed the chain, and down she lay;
The broad stream bore her far away,
The Lady of Shalott.

Lying, robed in snowy white
That loosely flew to left and right--
The leaves upon her falling light--
Thro' the noises of the night
She floated down to Camelot:
And as the boat-head wound along
The willowy hills and fields among,
They heard her singing her last song,
The Lady of Shalott.

Heard a carol, mournful, holy,
Chanted loudly, chanted lowly,
Till her blood was frozen slowly,
And her eyes were darken'd wholly,
Turn'd to tower'd Camelot.
For ere she reach'd upon the tide
The first house by the water-side,
Singing in her song she died,
The Lady of Shalott.

Under tower and balcony,
By garden-wall and gallery,
A gleaming shape she floated by,
Dead-pale between the houses high,
Silent into Camelot.
Out upon the wharfs they came,
Knight and burgher, lord and dame,
And round the prow they read her name,
The Lady of Shalott.

Who is this? and what is here?
And in the lighted palace near
Died the sound of royal cheer;
And they cross'd themselves for fear,
All the knights at Camelot:
But Lancelot mused a little space;
He said, "She has a lovely face;
God in his mercy lend her grace,
The Lady of Shalott."

I haven't forgotten.

Watch This!

David Wilcox is my very favorite singer/songwriter. His music has so many layers, so many metaphors, that after listening to one of his pieces, I'm left with message after message for days. If you're not familiar with David, be sure to check out his webpage at www.davidwilcox.com

How Do I Start the First Day?

This post was written by veteran homeschooler, Norma Curry in response to a new homeschooler who wondered how to start her first day of home education. I thought it was absolutely excellent advice, so I asked Norma's permission to republish it here. So, with her blessing, here is Norma's advice:

The beauty of home education is that you get to decide what kind of scheduling works for you and your family. If you have early birds in your family you can begin your day early (lucky you!), and if you are like more of us and have kids who would rather sleep than breathe you will probably begin your day late. Teens are definitely prone to the latter.If you have things that your student must do at any time of day, like mucking stables, or getting to practice ice for skating, or the gym for gymnastics, or fencing class, or to an art class or cello lesson, then you can arrange your schedule around those things.

If you must work part of the day you can arrange your direct interaction with your child around your work schedule. And your child can do more self-directed learning activities, too, giving you more freedom.

If you have a child who loves discipline and routine then you will probably devise a disciplined and routine oriented learning schedule. If you have a very creative type learner then you will probably go for a more ecclectic mode of learning. All are viable and all can work, depending on the learner.

Remember that learning does not only take place while reading a textbook or "doing" school work. Learning is all around us, everywhere, all the time:

• in the kitchen;
• in the workshop;
• in the backyard garden or bird feeders;
• on hikes in the woods;
• helping grandma make a quilt;
• singing in a choir;
• dancing;
• taking care of animals;
• volunteering;
• hanging out at the library;
• watching movies and educational videos;
• traveling;
• reading;
• writing;
• watching PBS;
• doing research at the computer;
• visiting a museum;
• going on lots of different field trips;
• organizing events and activities;
• doing art projects;
• in clubs and organizations;
• in sports and recreational activities;
• and so on.

So be sure to count ALL your instructional hours. You will be amazed!

Learning does not have to come packaged in textbooks and workbooks unless you have a child who really enjoys that kind of thing. If so then you might start out doing lots of "school at home" type activities. If not then you will be fighting all the time to get your child to do things he or she simply does not want to do, and, truth be told, does not have to do to learn. And forcing a child to do something is not conducive to good learning.

Ecclectic learning does not eliminate excellent learning options. Start out spending lots of time at the library. Find out about any programs for homeschoolers they might have. And there are always other programs for kids after school and on weekends. Check with your local parks and recreation folks to see what they are offering; again, often there are classes for homeschoolers. And then follow your child's interests and organize activities that feed those interests. Learning does not have to be painful or boring or sitting in a chair at a table.

The best learning is hands-on so you can help your child find activities that she enjoys and that inspire him to want to learn more.

Plan visits to interesting places whenever you can:

• go to the Renaissance Fair;
• visit your local dairy, factory, bakery, food processing plant;
• attend historical re-enactments.
• Buy one museum or special facilities membership per year (or more if you can afford them) and attend all the great events available to members in these facilities. These might include:

• the Cincinnati Art Museum;

  the Taft Museum;

  The Cincinnati Museum Center ($55/year for a family membership,
  special
  to home educators!);

  the Newport Aquarium;the brand new Freedom
  Center;

  the Contemporary Art Center;

  the Berringer Crawford Museum;

  Heritage Village Museum;

  and many others

If your child already has special interests then further support those interests:

• join a rock and minerals group;
• join a group into fossils, like Dry Dredgers;
• join 4-H and do projects, whether or not you plan to show them at the county or state fairs;
• join a club for any sport;
• join an astronomy group;
• and if you can't find a group form one of your own and tell others about it.

Scheduling? Take your pick. The day is yours and no one else has any right to tell you how to organize it. Figure out what is best for you, your student, your family, and go from there. Generally you will do lots of tweaking and adjusting as you go along. My daughter started her first job at 12 and has been working ever since, so some of her scheduling had to revolve around her work, and still does. She also skates everyday, so again, her scheduling often revolves around when she can get ice time. And she has, over the years, taken many classes. We then had to work her schedule, and mine, around those classes.

Basically home education is a juggling act. The difference is that you have far more time in which to juggle everything. You do not lose that big 6-8 hour chunk of each day that most kids spend sitting in school, plus getting to and from school. And that really makes a difference, stretches out all your options. Give yourself some time to feel your way through what works best for you. Never assume! Just because something works for someone else does not mean that it will for you. And just because the folks in public or parochial school do it that way does not mean it is the right way, or the only way to do it.

Stay open to new ideas. Have fun! Look at every situation you encounter every day and ask yourself what you are learning, or what you could be learning from that situation.

• Do math at the grocery store, or on any kind of shopping trip, or when planning family travel.
• Do science in the kitchen or with household cleaning, or in the backyard.
• Do literature in the car with books on tape.
• Or listen to classical music, or foreign language lessons as you travel in your car.
• These days you can even have personal DVD players in the car so each kid can watch good educational DVDs while you drive anywhere, or while waiting in the doctor's or dentist's office.
• Check out my recent posting about how to get hundreds of free educational DVDs.

Relax! No one is keeping tabs on you. No one is going to come in and tell you what you have to do or when you have to do it. Find your own rhythmn. Allow some time to "deschool" for a while. And then do whatever works best for you. That is what home education is all about.

Written by Norma Curry

Looking for BOOKS again

I'm looking for a few books to begin our academic year. I'm especially looking for inexpensive books, so if you have any of these books lying around and would like to give them away or sell them cheap, please let me know. I'd be very grateful!

*Note: Some of the books that I crossed off below were borrowed from a friend, but I would still like to own my own copy. If you have an extra copy to sell or give away, please feel free to e-mail me at todayslessonsATgmailDOTcom

Poor Richard by James Daugherty
Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution by Natalie Bober
It Couldn't Just Happen by Lawrence Richards Borrowed
Physics Lab in the Home by Friedhoffer
Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley
This Country of Ours by H.E. Marshall
An Island Story by H. E. Marshall
George Washington's World by Gen. Foster Borrowed
Abe Lincoln's World by Gen. Foster Borrowed
Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer Borrowed
What Everyone Should Know about the 20th Century by Alan Axelrod
Of Courage Undaunted: Across the Continent with Lewis and Clark by James Daugherty
Passion for the Impossible: The Life of Lillias Trotter by Miriam Huffman Rockness
Carry a Big Stick: The Uncommon Heroism of Teddy Roosevelt by Geo. Grant
Wild Animals I Have Known by Ernest Thompson Seton
Fairy Land of Science by Arabella Buckley
Christian Liberty Nature Reader, Grade Five Borrowed
How Should We Then Live by Francis Schaeffer
Tremendous Trifles by G.K. Chesterton
Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer
Anything by P.G. Wodehouse
Anything by Chesterton
Trial and Triumph (Church history from a definite Protestant perspective) by Richard Hannula
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell Purchased
Pollyanna by Eleanor Porter Borrowed
The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit Purchased
A Book of Golden Deeds by Charlotte Yonge
Bambi by Felix Salten
Little Britches series by Ralph Moody Borrowed
Lassie Come Home by Eric Knight
Gentle Ben by Walt Morey
Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright Borrowed
Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright
Return To Gone Away by Elizabeth Enright
The Complete Peterkin Papers by Lucretia Hale
Calico Captive (girl interest) or The Sign of the Beaver Borrowed. (boy interest) by Elizabeth George Speare
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
Tree of Freedom by Rebecca Caudill
Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates
The Reb and the Redcoats by Constance Savery (British view of revolution)
Justin Morgan had a Horse by Marguerite Henry
The Age of Fable by Thomas Bulfinch preface to 14 (Minerva-Niobe) Purchased
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe Purchased
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Irving
Paul Revere's Ride by Longfellow
Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving

Bruce Cockburn's Latest, "Life Short Call Now"

Beautiful Creatures

There's a knot in my gut
As I gaze out today
On the planes of the city
All polychrome grey
When the skin is peeled of it
What is there to say?
The beautiful creatures
are going away

Like a dam on a river
My conscience is pressed
By the weight of hard feelings
Piled up in my breast
The callous and vicious things
Humans display
The beautiful creatures are going away

Why? Why?

From the stones of the fortress
To the shapes in the air
To the ache in the spirit
We label despair
We create what destroys,
Bind ourselves to betray
The beautiful creatures are going away

~Bruce Cockburn

On today's playlist:

Bruce Cockburn's Latest, "Life Short Call Now":

1. Life Short Call Now - Bruce Cockburn
2. See You Tomorrow - Bruce Cockburn
3. Mystery - Bruce Cockburn
4. Beautiful Creatures - Bruce Cockburn
5. Peace March - Bruce Cockburn
6. Slow Down Fast - Bruce Cockburn
7. Tell the Universe - Bruce Cockburn
8. This Is Baghdad - Bruce Cockburn
9. Jerusalem Poker - Bruce Cockburn
10. Different When It Comes to You - Bruce Cockburn
11. To Fit In My Heart - Bruce Cockburn
12. Nude Descending A Staircase - Bruce Cockburn

Farmgirl Fare: Savory Tomato Pesto Pie

If I ever get any tomatoes from my garden, I will most DEFINITELY make Farmgirl Fare: Savory Tomato Pesto Pie

Well, how do you like that?

Got this from the witty and talented Rachel. Funny, because I didn't expect these results, but I nodded with understanding once I saw them. Interestingly enough, a position as journalist just opened at our local paper. I responded to the ad with a nice letter of interest and was answered with a request for a resume. HA! Like I have a resume! So I didn't respond further. I hope they find a good person for the job.

You scored as Journalism. You are an aspiring journalist, and you should major in journalism! Like me, you are passionate about writing and expressing yourself, and you want the world to understand your beliefs through writing. Journalism 100% Sociology 92% English 92% Philosophy 92% Psychology 83% Linguistics 83% Engineering 75% Dance 75% Mathematics 67% Anthropology 67% Biology 58% Theater 50% Art 50% Chemistry 42% What is your Perfect Major? created with QuizFarm.com

Customer Service

On Thursday, I saw an ad for an i-pod accessory that Bard has been wanting. It was on sale--one day only--at Kohl's. The price was exceptional, and the ad made it clear that the sale was good on in-stock items only--no special orders, no rain checks. There was also an additional discount--15% off--for senior citizens, so I talked my dad--who is befittingly old--into riding to Neighboring City with me to get the extra amount off. This, in itself, was a miracle.

Not wanting to mess up this good thing and being the wise shopper I am, I called ahead to ask if the item was indeed in stock. Travis, the young man who answered the phone, sounded less-than-enthused that he had to walk ALL THE WAY to the other end of his department to check. What a drag it is to be required to do one's job.

"Just a minute," he droned.

When he came back on the phone, Travis said, "Is it round?" I looked at the photo ad of the transistor-radio-like unit and tried to imagine what Travis's definition of "round" could possibly encompass. There was nothing about the item in this photo that I would describe as "round."

"No," I said, "it's not round. It's rectangular. It looks to be about 12-18" long, though it's hard to tell from the picture."

"But it's not round?" He repeated. Round? I said it was a rectangle. How can a rectangle be round?

"Uh. No. It's not. It's rectangular. It's long, and the i-pod is inserted in the middle, between the two speakers. It's not in the shape of a circle, if that's what you're asking me. Circles are round. This is definitely rectangular."

"Oh. Okay."

Long pause.

"Well, do you have a model number?" He asked.

"No. No model number. There's none given in the ad. Just the description that's on the front page of the flier."

"What does the description say?" I read it to him, and described the photo again.

As if he suddenly had an epiphany or a geometry lesson, he unconvincingly uttered, "Yeah. Yeah, this is it."

I paused. "Are you...are you sure? Because I'm driving forty minutes from Little Village for this item, and this item only. I'm making a special trip, and I want to be sure you have this specific item in stock."

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure this is it."

Just because I've been burned before, I asked him to please confirm for me the price of the product. I knew he wouldn't be pleased with his mission, but I meant business. And it was, after all, his business to do business with me.

"Hold on," Travis said, and I could just imagine him rolling his eyes as he set down the phone and trudged ALL THE WAY to the other end of his department to check the item that he had lead me to believe was in his hands.

Minutes later, he returned. "49.95," he sighed.

"Yes! Great! That's the one. Are there more than one?" I asked, imagining a virtual torrent of i-pod accessory buyers flocking to Kohl's for this one-day-only event.

"Yeah. There's a bunch of 'em," Travis said.

"Thank you so much!"

I hung up the phone, packed the kids and my age-appropriate, Golden Buckeye Card-carrying dad into the car, and drove to Neighboring City as quickly as allowed by law. Once at Kohl's, we headed straight to the proper department where I found...

...nothing at all that looked like or was priced the same as the photo in the ad.

There were plenty of units that were much smaller, much larger, and much more expensive, but there were none even remotely the type or the price of the one I'd seen in the ad. The one I'd driven there to purchase. The one Travis had assured me was in stock.

I rang the bell for assistance, was almost instantly greeted by a Nice Young Woman, and showed her the ad, which I'd had the presence of mind to carry along with me in the same plastic baggie as my dad's Golden Buckeye Card.

"Oh, those? We haven't had those in this store for weeks," the Nice Young Woman nonchalantly informed me.

"You...you what?"

"Maybe you'd like to look at one of the other units we have in stock?"

WHAT?!?

After explaining to this Nice Young Woman that I had just spoken to Travis less than an hour prior, that Travis had told me that there were several in stock, and that Travis had confirmed that they were $49.95, she stood silently for a moment. She then headed over to the telephone and called, I'm assuming, Travis, who told her, I'm assuming, that he saw them on the end of the rack. She spoke in hushed tones and then hung up the phone. She then showed me said "end of the rack." There were no units on the "end of the rack" that looked like the one in the ad. There were no units on the "end of the rack" that were priced like the one in the ad. There were many units that were clearly marked, on their boxes, $99.95 and $119.95, and $199.95, but no units marked $49.95. There was, however, a sign above the units that indicated that, at one time there had been, or were supposed to be, units that were, indeed, $49.95.

Travis, however, was nowhere to be seen.

I explained, very politely but very firmly, that I had called ahead and spoken to Travis in order to avoid this very scenario. Travis had assured me that he understood that I was driving 40 minutes to purchase this *particular* $49.95 unit, and he also assured me that, though it was not at all round, it was absolutely, totally, and positively in stock.

The Nice Young Woman called for her manager. I walked around the rack again to be sure that there was no mistake. The Nice Young Woman rejoined us. My dad, who had been not-so-patiently waiting, was repeatedly dropping very heavy hints that we should get a more expensive unit for the same price as the one in the ad, for all of our troubles. The Nice Young Woman smiled politely and repeated that her manager was on her way.

Sure enough, several minutes later, said manager appeared, carrying under her arm the very unit that Travis had assured me was on the rack, that the Nice Young Woman has assured me had been out-of-stock for weeks. I recognized the non-round product immediately as she approached.

"Oh, THANK you," I said to the manager. "Thank you SO much." And then, for some very inexplicable reason, I asked, "Where did you find it?"

The manager, whose face had a look similar to the sound Travis' voice had had, paused briefly and said, as if I should have known the answer to such a ridiculous question, "We don't keep these out. It was locked in The Cage."

I knitted my brows.

That made no sense to me whatsoever.

They had smaller units that were more expensive. They had items that were so small that they could fit quite easily into a person's pocket. And these, the units that were advertised on the front page of their sales flier, were locked in The Cage?

Can you say, "Bait and switch?"

I took the unit from her and noticed that she had a sales flier in her hand. It then occured to me to wonder why Travis had to ask *me* to read what was written on the sales flier, why he had to ask *me* to describe the photo of the item and inform him that it wasn't round. After all, wasn't he there, at the store, where the sales fliers must be floating around like detritus after a thunderstorm?

As I was walking away, I heard the manager whisper to the Nice Young Woman, "Restock a few of those on the end of the rack."

Locked up in The Cage, my arse.

My dad lingered behind and laughed to the manager, "I guess this means that Travis doesn't lose his job?" He was joking, of course, but the manager wasn't laughing.

"No, of course not," she shot back. "He's one of my best."