Current Favorite Picture

Today

We hiked to the Commanche Lookout Tower. It was a long hike. I took the wagon so I wouldn't have to carry or push Josie. She still wanted me to carry her. I said no. We found out that although she likes bugs, she does
NOT like them to crawl on her. At least not large black beetles. On the way to the tower, Joel had the grand idea to pretend to be Commanches attacking the tower. It was intended to be a nature walk, but it was more nature by osmosis than observation today. I'm ok with that.

Because I Actually Have Checked My Blog To See When The Kids Got Their Teeth So I Could Write It In Their Baby Books

See the missing teeth? Er, see where the teeth are missing? They were missing on top, too. They're not missing anymore.

The Scoop

I was sick this week for the second time in less than a month. Sick as in sick-in-bed. So that's why I haven't posted anything about how our school term is going or anything like that. Amazingly, it's still going.

We are also attending our second funeral in less than a week tomorrow. The first was for a little 8 year old boy from the church we attend in Austin, the one tomorrow is for a middle aged man from the church we attend in San Antonio. If you think about it, pray for their families.

A photo seems appropriate tonight.

How It Is

Well I am still up, breaking one of my main commitments for the fall: getting enough sleep. I have two consolations, or, justifications. One, we are spending the morning at the park tomorrow. Two, this was really unavoidable and It Just Happens when preparing for birthday parties.

Here's a little preview....

A Poem for Fall

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock,
And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin' turkey-cock,
And the clackin' of the guineys, and the cluckin' of the hens,
And the rooster's hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;
O, it's then's the times a feller is a-feelin' at his best,
With the risin' sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,
As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes to feed the stock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

They's something kindo' harty-like about the atmusfere
When the heat of summer's over and the coolin' fall is here --
Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossums on the trees,
And the mumble of the hummin'-birds and buzzin' of the bees;
But the air's so appetizin'; and the landscape through the haze
Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days
Is a pictur' that no painter has the colorin' to mock --
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn,
And the raspin' of the tangled leaves, as golden as the morn;
The stubble in the furries -- kindo' lonesome-like, but still
A-preachin' sermons to us of the barns they growed to fill;
The strawsack in the medder, and the reaper in the shed;
The hosses in theyr stalls below -- the clover overhead! --
O, it sets my hart a-clickin' like the tickin' of a clock,
When the frost is on the punkin, and the fodder's in the shock!

Then your apples all is gethered, and the ones a feller keeps
Is poured around the celler-floor in red and yeller heaps;
And your cider-makin's over, and your wimmern-folks is through
With their mince and apple-butter, and theyr souse and saussage, too!
I don't know how to tell it -- but ef sich a thing could be
As the Angles wantin' boardin', and they'd call around on me --
I'd want to 'commodate 'em -- all the whole-indurin' flock --
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock!

- James Whitcomb Riley

My Motto

Having a personal motto is something I adopted during times when I've struggled to just make it through today. After a certain amount of "just make it through today", all the while knowing that you'll just be saying the same thing again to yourself tomorrow just doesn't cut it. HOW? HOW can I make it through today? HOW can I make it through the next day? I know I am going to survive having four children, but HOW am I going to survive?

I knew I needed a new motto for this fall. My old motto wasn't bad, I just needed something different. Something Cindy at Ordo Amoris posted about earlier in the year was how she was going to introduce "Beauty, Truth, and Goodness" as its own "subject", shall we say, during Morning Time. I say this to credit her with giving me the idea of the importance of seeing truth and beauty and goodness. Surrounding yourself with it. Telling yourself the Truth. My motto needed to be Truth. Not some plasticized, "because you're worth it" line to boost my self worth. I needed something deep. Very deep. Something that would go with me all the way down into days when all I have left is dregs.

Last week I decided to open the wrapper to an LP I bought over 10 years ago. It was outdated then, just as it is now. But I didn't notice until I started reading the cover art and the LP began turning circles, that Lynn Pyles was one of the singers. And Rachel Beauchamp. I nearly started crying. Two of my favorite people - real life mentors - singing in my home, singing Truths. The second hymn that came on is one I've heard many times. Not enough.

Children of the Heavenly King
AKA King of Peace, from Southern Harmony, 1835
Words: J. Cennick
Music: Pleyel

Children of the heavenly King,
As ye journey, sweetly sing;
Sing your Savior’s worthy praise,
Glorious in His works and ways

We are traveling home to God,
In the way the fathers trod;
They are happy now, and we
Soon their happiness shall see.

O, ye banished seed, be glad!
Christ our advocate is made;
Us to save, our flesh assumes—
Brother to our souls becomes.

Shout, ye little flock, and blest,
You on Jesus’ throne shall rest:
There your seat is now prepared—
There your kingdom and reward.

Lift your eyes, ye sons of light,
Zion’s city is in sight:
There our endless home shall be,
There our Lord we soon shall see.

Fear not, brethren; joyful stand
On the borders of your land;
Jesus Christ, your Father’s Son,
Bids you undismayed go on.

Lord, obedient we would go,
Gladly leaving all below;
Only Thou our leader be;
And we will still follow Thee.

And there it was. My motto.

"Jesus Christ, your Father’s Son,
Bids you undismayed go on."

Summer Bird Count

As part of our Nature Study this summer, we did a bird count. I simply printed out a paper on which we could write down the names of birds we saw. I didn't expect to write down more than 5. I was pleasantly surprised! This was definitely a great help for us as I am not a natural "birder".

Bird Count Summer 2012
1. Mourning Dove
2. Mockingbird
3. Downy Woodpecker
4. Common Grackle
5. House Sparrow
6. Killdeer
7. White-winged dove
8. Red-bellied Woodpecker
9. Cardinal
10. Semipalmated Plover*
11. Brown Pelican*
12. Ring-billed Gull*
13. Muscovy Duck
14. Mallard Duck
15. White domesticated Duck
16. Goose
17. Sanderling*
18. Heritage Turkey
19. Great White Heron/Great Egret - not sure which
20. Snipe* - not sure which type

*birds we saw at the beach. Some of them were difficult to identify, so we might not be entirely accurate.

RIP Andy Williams

I have to say it was a proud moment for me when the special on the news came on about the death of Andy Williams, and my kids knew who he was.

"Moon river wider than a mile
I'm crossing you in style someday.
You dream maker, you heartbreaker
Wherever you're going I'm going your way.

Two drifters off to see the world
There's such a lot of world to see
We're after the same rainbow's end
Waiting 'round the bend
My huckleberry friend, moon river and me."
- Johnny Mercer

The Beach

We are at the beach. That is all.

Completing the Thought

These pictures were supposed to be in yesterday's post - the handmade part of the party.

Homemade Birthday

I've been meaning to post about the birthday party. So here's the post. My blogger app doesn't always arrange the pictures the way I'd like, so I'll give you a rundown, then the pictures should be self explanatory.

Josie's theme was "cowgirl", and James' theme was "Michelin Man". I had put off Michelin Man for about 2 years now in hopes that *someone* might forget about him, but the affection has not waned with time. Jason decorated James' cake as he is The Man for all things freehanded, and I did Josie's cake. Neither one of us liked our own efforts, but all in all I think they were pretty good.

We had the party at our house, and as August is so very, very hot we had our kiddie pool, sprinkler, and slip n slide set up in the backyard along with a bucket of bubbles, which didn't really make good bubbles, but kept 'em busy for awhile!

For gifts this year, I did mostly homemade gifts. I made James an apron, just like Joel's except blue. Also I embroidered him 3 handkerchiefs. I hope they get good and worn out. His non-homemade gift is a tadpole that will grow into a frog. They didn't tell me when I ordered it that they don't ship to our area until the average temp is in the 80s. Maybe around Thanksgiving he will arrive.

Josie's gifts were two pillowcases for her small pillow, and the Cinderella by Marcia Brown. I highly recommend it, the illustrations are simply beautiful.

I thought they both got some really great gifts this year, and the party was very enjoyable.

A Respite

Anne smiled and said, "My idea of good company, Mr Elliot, is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company."

"You are mistaken," said he gently, "that is not good company; that is the best."

Persuasion, Jane Austen

And this pretty much sums up the last four days.

Home Education, Part 4

I feel like I left many points out of my post on Chapter 3. Perhaps I will come back later with some quotes. There are so many excellent things she has to say....

Part IV - Some Habits of Mind - Some Moral Habits

Once you get to this part of the book you might be wondering which habit you should begin with. Habit training is something I have pondered for many years, both personally and for my children. It is sometimes difficult to prioritize habits. And there is always the problem of your pet peeves receiving priority because that is what drives you and motivates you. Am I the only one here??? Perhaps the solution is to change our thinking. Instead of viewing habits as a million little things that we need, or that we must instill in our children, we need to learn to act upon principle. Forget the unmade bed, forget the dirty socks stuck in the couch, under the couch and left in the car, forget the nose being wiped on the sleeve.

How about the habit of Attention? That is where CM starts, "because the highest intellectual gifts depend for their value upon the measure in which their owner has cultivated the habit of attention."

Anyone who has tried to teach anyone anything knows that it is impossible to do it without the other person's attention. So yes, it's the best place to start.

CM writes of how our thoughts follow a pattern, a "law of association of ideas", which is "a good servant and a bad master." It is not always an easy task to direct our thoughts, probably especially to children. Children do follow this law of association, and I think parents would do well to teach, or rather *train*, their children to be masters of, and not slaves to, it.

"Here is the secret of the weariness of the home schoolroom––the children are thinking all the time about something else than their lessons; or rather, they are at the mercy of the thousand fancies that flit through their brains, each in the train of the last. "Oh, Miss Smith," said a little girl to her governess, "there are so many things more interesting than lessons to think about!"

Where is the harm? In this: not merely that the children are wasting time, though that is a pity; but that they are forming a desultory habit of mind, and reducing their own capacity for mental effort."

I believe many people do not realize that they have the capability to train their children in this area.  It requires self discipline to order our thoughts.  We must do it, though.  Life requires it.  To teach our children this habit has every bit to do with training them for life as it has to do with them being able to succeed in school.  CM speaks of beginning to train the habit of attention when your child is an infant.  I absolutely believe in what she speaks of.  When our children were very little and learning to be quiet in church, I did not bring a huge pile of toys to keep them quiet.  I brought a few.  Children do not learn to be content and take notice of things when there are so many options they cannot focus.  The grass is always greener on the other side, the human nature is to always want more. 

"It is the mother's part to supplement the child's quick observing faculty with the habit of attention. She must see to it that he does not flit from this to that, but looks long enough at one thing to get a real acquaintance with it."

So when it comes to school....

"But the tug of war begins with the lessons of the schoolroom. Even the child who has gained the habit of attention to things, finds words a weariness. This is a turning point in the child's life, and the moment for mother's tact and vigilance. In the first place, never let the child dawdle over copybook or sum, sit dreaming with his book before him. When a child grows stupid over a lesson, it is time to put it away. Let him do another lesson as unlike the last as possible, and then go back with freshened wits to his unfinished task. If mother or governess have been unwary enough to let the child 'moon' over a lesson, she must just exert her wits to pull him through; the lesson must be done, of course, but must be made bright and pleasant to the child."

And later....  

"But truly, one of the most fertile causes of an overdone brain is a failure in the habit of attention."

 

So then, what is Attention? 

 

"It is evident that attention is no 'faculty' of the mind; indeed, it is very doubtful how far the various operations of the mind should be described as 'faculties' at all. Attention is hardly even an operation of the mind, but is simply the act by which the whole mental force is applied to the subject in hand. This act, of bringing the whole mind to bear, may be trained into a habit at the will of the parent or teacher, who attracts and holds the child's attention by means of a sufficient motive."

This Habit of Attention then spills over into some of the most important areas of training your children, and which CM addresses:    The Habit of Thinking The Habit of Imagining The Habit of Remembering The Habit of Perfect Execution Obedience Truthfulness   This is a rich chapter, and truly makes you think about the seriousness of the responsibilities of Motherhood.  In fact, I came away from this chapter feeling like a failure.  I know for a fact that CM did not write this chapter with that intention.  Rather, it is my lack of forethought and intention in my parenting that makes me realize my failings when presented to me in this chapter.  If you feel the same way when you read this chapter, don't stay feeling like a failure.  "When you know better, you do better", or at least you should.  And chapter 5 has been such a blessing and I can't wait to write about it! 

The Buck Stops Here

There are a lot of things that I never knew went along with being a mother. Lots of amazing, wonderful things. Seems like that's all you hear about. There are some things that I never heard about. Or maybe I did, and I just thought it'd be different with me. Like:

It sucks being the bad guy all the time.
You will constantly be making them (the kids) do things they don't want to do.
Constantly.
Literally.
All day, if you homeschool.
It gets old.
It is exhausting.
You will want to give up.
You will despair, perhaps.

I realized this past week that I am always having to make the kids do stuff they don't want to do, and I complained to Jason about it. He gave me the old, "Yep, that's your job." Gee, thanks. But actually it helped because kids are very convincing. And manipulative, and I fall prey to it, especially when Jason is gone a lot. So thanks, honey, for being my bad guy and not letting me wallow in the mire. Thanks for helping me wake up and remember - it's my job.

The Catapult

Joel worked on making a working catapult all spring, and on towards summer he made one that really worked. I say *worked* as he is currently disassembling it in order to build Orpheus' harp. He really didn't mess with the catapult much once he got a working one built. But it was really cool, and here are the pictures. Please ignore my messy garage.

Are We There Yet?

I have been attempting to write my post on Chapter 4 for over a week now. I simply CANNOT get myself motivated to quote that much CM when posting from my iPhone. It will have to wait until I can get some free time to go use my in-law's computer.

All this reading and rereading of Chapter 4 in order to write about it has made me restless. It's all about habits, you see. And all I can think of are all the bad habits that I have, and all the good ones I wish I had, and how I think I can begin making aforementioned good habits. All of this plus really needing to just be patient. Just be patient. I know that if I come up with some beautiful, perfect, outlandish plan it will be lovely for about three weeks. Then I will realize that I am the Hare, and should have been content to be the Tortoise that I know I must be, and that really and truly Aesop was right - slow and steady does win the race. At least the sort of long haul that I am on anyway.

In other news, we have two weeks left of our Summer Term. I can truthfully say that I feel like it's gone well. I think what makes me happiest is when I see the boys going to the bookshelf and picking out books we've finished in school in order to read them again for the sheer pleasure of it.

Favorite Quotes This Week

"There are days when spelling Tuesday simply doesn't count"

- Rabbit, The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne

"Thus by the Shepherds Secrets are reveal'd,
Which from all other men are kept conceal'd:
Come to the Shepherds then, if you would see
Things deep, Things hid, and that Mysterious be."

- Hopeful & Christian, The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

"'Orpheus shall go with Jason, and bring his magic harp; for I hear of him that he is the king of all minstrels, and can charm all things on earth.'

And Orpheus laughed for joy, and clapped his hands, because the choice had fallen on him; for in those days poets and singers were as bold as warriors as the best."

The Heroes by Charles Kingsley

Home Education, Part 3

Part III - 'Habit Is Ten Natures'

What in the world does that mean? Well, I think it is something that you come to understand, it sort of soaks into you. In other words, it's difficult to explain. But. I shall attempt, if not to explain it well, to give you what insight I gained from this wonderful chapter.

What Charlotte is saying is that habits are your greatest ally in raising and/or educating your children. She says,

"The formation of habits is education, and Education is the formation of habits."

"Habit is TEN natures" is a phrase Charlotte heard in church frequently at the time she was beginning her career. She speaks a little of her experience in the evolution, shall we say, of her philosophy. One of the first things she discusses is the fact that children have "no self-compelling power". Reading this was huge for me. I, like many others, feel like banging my head against the wall every day, ten times a day, because it is so laborious to be on top of the kids all the time. She talks about WHY children are incapable of steady effort, and that they should be saved from the effort of decision. These are all very real things that tend to be burdensome, especially when you have child after child after child. But it's the parent's job to make their children do what they ought to do.

"But it were poor training that should keep the child dependent upon personal influence. It is the business of education to find some way of supplementing that weakness of will which is the bane of most us as well as of the children."

So, here we are again at 'Habit is Ten Natures'. In order to understand what that means we need to understand what 'Nature' is. Our desires. Our affections. Our consciousness of God. Add to that heredity, and physical conditions, and attributes and we begin to have a sense of what our "nature" is. It is nothing to trifle with in a child. She bemoans the fact that a large number of parents and teachers are content to leave children to their human nature. We are not talking about trying to turn our little sinners into saints.

"Wherefore, it is as much the parent's duty to educate his child into moral strength and purpose and intellectual activity as it is to feed him and clothe him; and that in spite of his nature, if it must be so."

"The problem before the educator is to give the child control over his own nature, to enable him to hold himself in hand as much in regard to the traits we call good, as to those we call evil: -many a man makes shipwreck on the rock of what he grew up to think his characteristic virtue..."

She then speaks about Divine Grace, and assures her readers that she is not undervaluing its work.

Returning to 'Habit is TEN natures'. "If that be true, strong as nature is, habit is not only as strong, but TENFOLD stronger. Here, then, have we a stronger than he, able to overcome this strong man armed." Do you begin to see what it means?

Our habits actually run along the lines of our nature. It is nature in action, growing strong by exercise. But habit may be a lever. We can train our children to be courteous, or to never get dirty, or to scream to get their way.

"As a matter of fact, there is nothing which a mother cannot bring her child up to, and there is hardly a mother anywhere who had not some two or three - crotchets sometimes, principles sometimes - which her children never violate."

On to the Direction of Lines of Habit.

"Just as it is on the whole easier for the locomotive to pursue its way on the rails than to take a disastrous run off them, so it is easier for the child to follow lines if habit carefully laid down than to run off these lined at his peril."

She continues in this strain, then stresses the importance of not allowing lapses in order for a habit to grow and strengthen into a nature.

"And do you not take away the child's free-will, make a mere automaton of him by this excessive culture? In the first place, whether you choose to or no to take any trouble about the formation of habits, it is a habit, all the same, which will govern ninety-nine one-hundredths of the child's life: he is the mere automaton you describe. As for the child's becoming the creature of habit, that is not left with the parent to determine. We are all mere creatures of habit. We think our accustomed thoughts, make our usual small talk, go through the trivial round, the common task, without any self-determining effort of will at all. If it were not so - if we had to think, to deliberate, about each operation of the bath or the table - life would not be worth having; the perpetually repeated effort of decision would wear us out. But, let us be thankful, life is not this laborious. For a hundred times we act or think, it is not necessary to choose, to will, say, more than once. And the little emergencies, which compel an act of will, will fall in the children's lives just about as frequently as in our own. These we cannot save them from, nor is it desirable that we should. What we can do for them is to secure that they have habits which shall lead them in ways of order, propriety, and virtue, instead of leaving their wheel of life to make ugly ruts in miry places."

"The boy who has been accustomed to find both profit and pleasure in his books does not fall easily into idle ways because he is attracted by an idle schoolfellow. The girl who had been carefully trained to speak the exact truth simply does not think of a lie as a ready means of getting out of a scrape, coward as she may be."

Notice she does not say that they will not yield to temptation. They have not become sinless, they simply have a strong habit. She drives home again and again through example and illustration the power of habit, and how we are slave to our habits. That is why they are so powerful, and to instill good habits in our children is to do them a world of good.

I love her step-by-step illustration of how mothers ought to go about teaching their children habits. Then the inevitable self-doubting and second-guessing, relaxing, that happens which ruins the progress you've made. To help your child form a habit is such a gift - a "delight in itself", and becomes a real pleasure. It seemed to me that she covered every major issue that a typical mother of young children faces - cleaning up toys, shutting the door behind you, dawdling, tantrums, just to name a few. It is a very thorough chapter, and I highly recommend reading it in its entirety.

More Wishes for James

A subscription to God's World News would be FANTASTIC!
Mouse Tales by Arnold Lobel
The Wind in the Willows illus. by Ernest Shepard