Flexibility

This is a cross-post from my other blog 11:36. (When you have problems keeping one blog updated, it is perfectly logical to begin a second one, right?) Enjoy!


My plan today was to be at the local Maker's Market selling. Then I found out that Primo had a rifle shoot scheduled, Secundo had a fencing lesson, and Terzo and Frodo had a camping trip scheduled... all when I was supposed to be at the market.

Sooooo...

I told Primo she couldn't go to the shoot (she has two others scheduled this month), Secundo could go to fencing, and Frodo would take Terzo camping, and I would hold-down the fort at home and go for a walk at the walking park.

Thennnnn...

Primo and Secundo were invited to a sleepover. Their friends are moving out of state this summer, so I want them to spend as much time as possible together. This didn't change my plans too much, though. My house just became the kid-exchange rendezvous point for Saturday morning.

Sooooo...

I get a call Saturday morning from sleepover mom that Secundo has a fever, so she is going to give her meds and let her rest until it's time to drop the girls off. This is quickly followed by a text from The Man's mom asking if Quarto is going to storytime with them today. (Quarto loves going to storytime with The Man, and The Man is moving this summer, too, so I follow the "hanging out with friends who are moving" philosophy and say he'll be ready to go in 20 minutes.)

Thennnnn...

I get another call from sleepover mom that they are on their way, but can Primo go to friend's little brother's soccer game with friend. I say yes. (See "Thennnnn...." #1) So she goes to the game (so I think... see below) and Secundo gets dropped-off and promptly falls asleep on the sofa. This results in my sending an email to the fencing instructor (can't find her phone number anywhere) letting her know that Secundo is sick and won't be at class. Quarto gets picked up for storytime. All is quiet.

Until...

Primo is dropped off by sleepover dad. She discovers new SpongeBob DVDs and disappears into my room (Secundo is still asleep in the living room) to watch them. (I got a call from sleepover mom about 20 minutes after Primo gets home apologizing for the miscommunication. Sleepover dad brought Primo straight home rather than to the soccer game. I thought that was a rather short game.) Then Quarto gets dropped off and quickly joins her.

Thus...

I am not at the park walking (although I guess I could go now that Primo is home and Secundo is asleep and Quarto is fixated on the TV), and I am not at the Maker's Market as a browser (the seller ship has passed). I am instead listening to Saturday NPR (one of my favorite things to do) and folding laundry and getting ready to plant some seeds then head to the grocery store. Not the day I planned, but a good day. I like good days. And it can only get better when Frodo and Terzo come home... I miss them.

Needs Vs. Wants

I need to find an exercise program that works for me. I had convinced myself that all of the running around I do with 4 kids (6 kids if you include the borrowed ones) burned enough calories so that I didn't need to exercise, but I just can't keep up that charade any longer. I get achy too easily, and I tire too easily. I am obviously out of shape.

So, over the last few years, I have tried-out some various "programs" and schedules. I am not really the internally-motivated type. If it's not down on paper, I won't do it (I will also freak-out that it won't fit into my schedule). So I was looking for something pre-packaged that I could follow then adapt as I got to know it better.

Attempt #1: Back when I only had 2 kids, then 3, Body Electric would air during the kids' nap time. It was perfect. Low impact. Scheduled. 30-minutes and done. Then we moved and our new PBS affiliate didn't carry it, but I had recorded some of the workouts so I thought I'd be good. Wrong. When Quiet Time came around, I'd think, "Oh, I can pop in that tape" [remember tapes?!] "any old time. I'll clean [nap, make supper] now and exercise later." I needed that set time everyday... a set time ordained by someone else. We've moved again since, but now we don't get TV, so any broadcast program is out of the question.

Attempt #2: Exercise class through adult ed at the local high school. I was the youngest, least fit person in the class. I finished-out the classes I paid for then stopped.

Attempt #3: In an attempt to encourage me in my exercise endeavors, Frodo purchased some exercise equipment for me: a yoga mat, a balance ball, a block, and a bag to store and carry it all in. I've use the mat... twice? The ball has been taken out of the box; it wouldn't fit in the bag in its box, so the box had to go. I tried using the block once for some modified push-up exercise and almost gave myself a bloody nose when I slipped off the stupid thing. I use the bag all the time. It stores all the equipment very nicely and fits beautifully in its appointed place, conveniently located to be grabbed on the run or when I need to move it to clean my closet or locate a rogue shoe.

Attempt #4: To go along with my relatively new, yet already dusty, exercise gear, I bought the book Pilates: Body In Motion. It is a DK book with great photos, easy to follow descriptions of each exercise, and recommended exercise plans. I only used it twice. Have you ever tried to "Roll Like a Ball" while holding a paperback exercise book? Not pretty.

Attempt #5: I figured the quick fix to the book problem was to get a DVD. I ordered Louise Solomon's Yoga & Pilates Total Body Toner. Two problems: 1) I had to enforce my own schedule. Ha! 2) I couldn't do the workouts on the floor and see the TV. The one in the living room may have worked if our living room didn't have any furniture in it, and the one in our bedroom was so high up (being on top of a highboy dresser) that I got a workout but then needed to see a chiropracter about the crick in my neck.

Attempt #6: SparkPeople.com I have actually tried them twice. Once paired up with a physically distant friend. I liked the accountability (she could see if I had logged in my food and exercise info for the day and whether or not I was acheiving my goals), but it only works if you enter in your info every day - what you ate and the exercise you did. The exercise was actually pretty easy to enter, but the food was a chore. I often had to enter meals by ingredient since we rarely eat out, eat little prepackaged food, and often make recipe substitutions (whole wheat flour for white, etc) or just don't use a recipe at all. The second time (which I am currently in the process of abandoning - and overlapping with "Attempt #8... oh joy), was solo. All the frustrations of the first go-round with no accountability. Disaster waiting to happen.

Attempt #7: Since I couldn't find someone/ something to impose an exercise schedule on me, I decided an in-house exercise partner might work. Frodo is a faster walker than I am, and we generally have very different schedules, so that pairing wasn't going to work. I decided to go for exercise accountability and one-on-one mom-kid time and asked Primo to do Couch to 5K with me. Who'd of thought that a program with "5K" in the title would involve running? I don't run... unless I am being chased by a bear. They didn't provide one.

Attempt #8: The kids have been taking swimming lessons at the university since last fall. Only students, faculty, and recreation center members (and swim school kids) can use the pool, so this summer we signed up for a student family membership to the center. It was great! When Primo was in her lesson, I swam around with the younger three. When the younger three were in lessons, Primo and I swam laps and played speed games in the pool. Frodo would even join us when he was done with his afternoon tutoring sessions. I was guaranteed an hour in the pool twice a week. It was very easy to plan another family swim time at the pool or lake a third day during the week. I was golden. Until swimming lessons stopped. We went 2-3 tmes a week for almost another month, went on vacation (where were went swimming in the hotel pools almost daily), then came home and... nothing. I think we've been to the pool two times since early July.

As I was discussing my exercise woes with Frodo the other day and sharing with him my plan to get up earlier and try to get to the pool or walking park (did I mention there is a walking park 2 miles down the road from us?) early a few days a week, I came to a realization:

I need an exercise program, but I don't want an exercise program.

I want an exercise montage. Like in Rocky.

I want to don my "I mean business" exercise clothes, lace up my Nikes, and two minutes later be sweaty, fit, and celebrating at the top of the steps to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

I don't want to have to find real time, be sore, create more laundry, or add more showers to my week. I want great background music and a fit body in two minutes. I'm not even averse to sweat.

Is that too much to ask?

And while I'm at it, I would also like commercial breaks where a stage crew comes in and cleans my house. And have conflicts that result in witty one-liners (made mostly by me) and are resolved by a compassionate yet clever heart-to-heart less than 30 minutes (minus commercial breaks) after the introduction of the conflict.

How do you get out of the habit of no disciplined exercised to some form of disciplined exercise? Anyone? I'm all out of ideas.

Know Your Enemy

When we were on vacation at the shore with friends a few years ago, we bought a hurricane tracking chart. I thought it would be a fun addition to weather studies and map reading. During hurricane season, we'd keep tabs on devloping storms by listening to the weather report on the radio. When we heard about a named storm, we'd go to NOAA'a National Hurricane Center website and look at the storm's location and projected track and mark it on our map. Not only was this practice educational, but I thought it would also help allay Primo's nearly pertrifying fear of severe weather. "We live in central PA; we don't get hurricanes," I assured her one day.

Then Ivan arrived.

Now, the effects of Ivan on our land-locked region were nothing compared to that of coastal regions, but they were sufficient enough to finger me as a liar - or at the very least, highly misinformed. Thus, the hurricane tracking chart moved from the purely educational realm and into that of "emergency preparedness equipment." Primo became obsessed with listening to weather radio, keeping the hurricane map up-to-date, and making sure our emergency kit was properly stocked and easily accessible in case the need to evacuate should arrive. (By the way, this fear of severe weather is apparently inherited as my dad's state-of-the-art home weather center and obsession with interest in The Weather Channel can attest. Right, Dad? *wink*)

When Frodo was first looking at graduate schools, the University of Kansas came up and Primo put her foot down. There was no way she was going to live in tornado alley. She was happy when she found out we would not be moving to Kansas. Instead, we moved to Mississippi.... aka the forgotten victim of Katrina... right smack in Dixie Alley. (Yeah, we'd never heard of it either 'til we got here.) Primo learned all these wonderful weather facts after we got here. She was thrilled. [insert eye roll here]

Today we began tracking Tropical Storm Gustav.


It's projected 5-day track has it making landfall (at hurricane strength) at the Louisiana/ Mississippi border... right where Katrina made landfall three years ago. I attempted to comfort Primo by pointing out that the area where we live is covered by the map key. "The makers of a hurricane tracking chart wouldn't cover an area with the key if hurricanes frequently hit that area, would they?" She's still made plans for tomorrow.

Tomorrow, we'll be checking to make sure our emergency kit is up to date... replacing any expired canned goods (or at least making a shopping list), putting in fresh batteries, making sure changes of clothes will actually fit everyone, removing the diapers we put in for Quarto now that he's potty trained and replace them with a couple of "just in case" pull-ups, and making sure we have supplies and contact info for the two kids we watch during the day. We'll also:

-change the back-up battery in the weather alert radio and make sure our hand-crank radio and flashlights are easily accessible (and the flashlights have fresh batteries)
-set aside some containers to fill with drinking water should it look like we'll need it
-review what to do in case of an emergency
-read The Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane and National Audubon Society First Field Guide: Weather (hey, we're homeschoolers; we see life's experiences as reasons to buy and read books)
-update any changes in Gustav's status and track on the hurricane chart
-be shushed by Primo every time the weather report comes on the radio

We are diligently trying to put into practice what Terzo learned in Cub Scouts (particularly during our family emergency preparedness sessions): Be Prepared

As Sun Tzu stated in The Art of War (and as I am trying to impart to Primo through this study of hurricanes and emergency preparedness):

So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will fight without danger in battles. If you know only yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose. If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.

A Gap in Their Education

The kiddos are trying to fit in as much TV as possible before we cancel the satellite service at the end of the month. Primo's favorite channel is the Bomerang Network. They show classic cartoons from the 60's and 70's with a few earlier ones thrown in for good measure. I think Primo is just amazed that they had cartoons when Frodo and I were kids... heck, she's amazed that television existed when Frodo and I were kids! Anyway, tonight she was absorbed in an episode of Scooby Doo. When I walked into the room, she turned to me and said, "Mom, that's Cast Elliott," indicating a character in the show. "Dad knows who she is. Do you know her? Cast Elliott?"

"Do you mean Cass Elliott? Yeah, that's Mama Cass."

"Yeah, that's it! Cass Elliott. Who's Mama Cass?"

"Mama Cass. She's a singer. From The Mamas & The Papas."

"Yeah, she's a singer on here, too. Who are The Mamas & The Papas?"

"You don't know who The Mamas & The Papas are?! Are you sure you're my child?"

At this point, I open up YouTube. (What would I do without YouTube and Google? I mean, seriously?)

"This is The Mamas & The Papas..."



"And this..."





"And this is Mama Cass. Cass Elliott."



"Oh."

Oh?

Sigh. I can see we have to have a more formal study of "American Folk Music of the 50's, 60's and 70's", aka "stuff Mom listened to when she was a kid" and these kids better learn it if they are going to have a good grounding in American Culture Studies (and be able to get half of the jokes in The Simpsons... when they are old enough to watch The Simpsons, that is). They obviously aren't picking it up properly through casual exposure and are seriously lacking in appreciation of the classics of American music.

Johnny Cash does seem to be sticking with Secondo. She has recently declared him her favorite. So, here is a little Johnny Cash to help diversify your own folk music studies. Here is Secondo's favorite:



And here is mine:






(Hey, I'm impressed I was able to hold myself to two.)

Little Serendipities Go A Long Way

I am a planner by nature. If I find out that we are traveling somewhere (and it doesn't have to be far; if we are going to be away from home for more than a couple of hours, that's enough) or having company, out come the paper and pencil, I pull up MapQuest and Google on the computer, and the research and planning begin. And although I get great pleasure out of planning little (and big) excursions, it is often those little serendipities that provide the most pleasure and the greatest memories. We recently experienced one of these little serendipities, and I know it is something I will always remember.

My parents came to visit a few weeks ago. They had never been to our new place here in Dixie, and since our new home is over 1,000 miles from their place, we haven't seen each other in almost a year. With the price of gas soaring as it is, who knows when we'll get together again, so I decided to try and plan some short trips that would give them a good taste of the area in their short trip plus include some places our family hadn't had a chance to explore yet. One of the places we went was the University Museum. Our family had been there before, but it is quite an impressive little museum. They have a wonderful antiquities collection that includes pottery, coins, mosaics, and busts as well as a doll collection, a Civil War (or should I say "War Between the States" or "War of Northern Aggression") collection, a small but broadly representational art collection, and a collection of historical scientific instruments that my children always find fascinating and wish they could touch. Tucked off on the side is a small room that usually houses a temporary exhibit. Terzo was very disappointed when he investigated back there this time and found that the Art of the Faulkners exhibit that we had seen on our last trip was gone. "Now it's just some old books," he lamented to me. Not connecting his statement with some information Frodo had given me earlier in the semester, I took my time moseying back to the exhibit and stood only feet from it is a I re-examined a sketch created and autographed by Kurt Vonnegut that is part of the museum's regular collection. Frodo was just behind me as I finally made my way to the "old books" and I could hear him gasp as we entered, "These are the Remnant Trust books. Remember, Hon, I told you about these? Cool."

At the beginning of the spring semester, Frodo mentioned that the University was going to host a tour by the Remnant Trust. The tour consisted of books considered significant because of their age, rarity, or influence on the world, but even cooler, you not only got to see the books, but you also got to touch them. When I went to the University Museum's website to see if I could take the kids over to leek at the books, I came across this notice:

These books are available for professors to use in their classes under supervision in the museum. The books cannot be removed from the museum. We can accommodate groups up to 70 in our [gallery], up to 40 in our classroom and up to 10 in our board room. For larger classes special arrangements may be possible. We need two weeks notice to arrange to host your class at the museum. Our regular hours are 9:30-4:30 Tues.-Sat. We will try to accommodate classes that meet outside of those hours when ever possible but we cannot guarantee that. Call... to book a class.

Drat. We weren't going to be able to go. Frodo was hoping to arrange a time for his university students to go to the exhibit, but he wasn't able to get a hold of the correct person to arrange an appointment. With the end of the semester, we figured his chance to view the exhibit had gone.

Fast forward to my parents' visit two weeks after the semester ended. The RT was late in picking up the collection, so the University Museum still had it on display! As we were oohing and aahing over the books in the display cases, a museum employee approached us and asked if we wanted the curator to open the cases for us and give us a closer look at the books. Minutes later, we were getting a personal lesson on the books on display.



This is the curator showing us a handwritten, illuminated manuscript (on parchment, I might add) of the Magna Carta from 1350. 1350!

Then, it got even better:

That's Frodo and Primo holding and casually thumbing through a handwritten, illuminated manuscript of the Magna Carta from 1350. How cool is that?!

Here is a closer view. (Handwritten! 1350! Did I mention that it was handwritten and illuminated on parchment in 1350?)

The curator shared the books in all the display cases then left them open for us to go back and pick up and leaf through the ones we wanted and to ask questions.

What other books were there? Well...

Secondo's favorite was the illuminated copy of St. Augustine's City of God c. 1494 (two short years after "in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue.")



I tried to take a picture of her flipping through it, but every time she suspected she was being watched, she took her hands off the book. See, here she is doing the "Me? I wasn't touching the book. I was just standing here rubbing my eye" move. I think she had "don't touch the exhibits" going through her head no matter how many times we were told to feel free to pick up and examine the books.

A first edition of Thomas Paine's Common Sense... printed in England in 1776.


If you ask Primo which book was her favorite, she will tell you it was this one, Summa Theologica Pars Secunda c. 1497. From the accompanying plaque:

"One of only three known copies in the world. One in the British Museum in London and the other in the Newbury in Chicago. This is the most perfect of the three."

See the large blanks in the copy? This copy was supposed to be illuminated, but apparently no one got around to it.


Although she says Aquinas' book was her favorite, Primo spent most of her time paging through this 1862 copy of William the Conqueror's Doomsday Book.


Terzo's favorite was this print of the Boston Massacre made from the plate created by Paul Revere and his silversmiths. (The curator was impressed that Primo knew that the Boston Massacre was instigated by the children of Patriots, and some Patriots, throwing snowballs at the British soldiers... although something was bound to happen sooner or later after months of military occupation in Boston.)

Frodo had a hard time nailing down a favorite. Besides City of God, the Magna Carta, and Summa Theologica which I have already shared, he probably would list the two works by Frederick Douglass that were included in the display.


Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1945)



My Bondage & My Freedom (1855) signed by Frederick Douglass

On the top of a list of Frodo's favorites, if he had been forced to rank them, would have been the copy of John Calvin's Institutes printed in 1578. William Shakespeare was apprenticing at the print shop where this edition was printed and probably set some of the type for the volume. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the book. I got a picture of the plaque, but not the book. (Mom, do you have a picture of Calvin's Institutes?) Not sure how that happened. I was probably distracted by my favorites in the collection.


William Penn's The Great Case of Liberty of Conscience c. 1670.


I was also amazed to see the Minutes of the Second Continental Congress from 1778 and the Illinois broadside of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln. (Each president signed all broadsides sent to his home state.) I couldn't get a good picture of the broadside because it was framed under glass, and I have no idea why I don't have a picture of the minutes. (Mom? Did you get one?)


Other books in the collection were William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Law, 1771 (above), Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication on the Rights of Women, Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Document (1787), and Letters Concerning the English Nation (1733) by Voltaire.

What a great day!

Church Membership

In order to become members of the Presbyterian Church of America (PCA), as we are, you must affirm five vows:

1. Do you acknowledge yourself to be a sinner in the sight of God, justly deserving his displeasure, and without hope, except through his sovereign mercy?

2. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and savior of sinners, and do you receive and trust him alone for salvation as he is offered in the gospel?

3. Do you now resolve and promise, in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit, that you will endeavor to live as becomes a follower of Christ?

4. Do you promise to support the church in it's worship and work to the best of your ability?

5. Do you submit yourself to the government and discipline of the church, and promise to strive for its purity and peace?

Primo and Secondo took these vows at our church's Maundy Thursday service. They are the girls in the hats. The pastor with the dark hair is our head pastor. The pastor who looks like Santa Claus is our youth pastor. We love them. The other gentlemen are church elders. (We love them, too.) I think it's funny that when each man hugs Secondo, they act as if they are afraid to break her. *grin*

I apologize in advance for the incompleteness of the videos. This was my second attempt to use the video feature on our camera. (You can imagine how sad the first attempt came out.)








After the service, we enjoyed a delicious ham dinner. The kids loved eating at the Passover Seder table. You can see the girls in their hats in the background. Terzo is the one in the black coat in the foreground. (The coat was new, and he refused to take it off.)



Here are Terzo and Quarto enjoying their supper.



This church really knows how to host a supper!



This is the Seder Plate containing chazeret (bitter herbs representing the bitterness of slavery), charoset (sweet, brown, grainy mixture representing the mortar used by the Hebrew slaves in Egypt), karpas (a simple food dipped into salt water, representing tears, to remind us of the plain foods the Hebrews ate while in captivity), z'roa (roasted lamb shank bone representing the Pesach sacrifice now fulfilled by Christ, the Lamb of God), and beitzah (representing the festival sacrifice, or chagigah, and symbolizing mourning).



And lastly, Elijah's place.

Mushroom Steak 'n' Linguine

This dish was absolutely delicious! We have asked Primo to make this for us again. It has the consistency and boldness of a creamy stroganoff, but the spinach and rosemary give it a very light, summery, refreshing taste.

Primo found this recipe in Taste of Home's Simple & Delicious magazine. I have copied the original recipe in black type and Primo's substitutions/ alterations in purple.

Mushroom Steak 'n' Linguine

8oz uncooked linguine (16 oz. uncooked spaghetti)
1 lb boneless beef top round steak, cut into thin strips (1 lb. pork steak)
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
3 t. olive oil, divided
1 c. chopped sweet red pepper
1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 lb. sliced fresh mushrooms
1 c. coarsely chopped fresh spinach
1/2 t. dried rosemary, crushed
3/4 c. spreadable chive and onion cream cheese (~6 oz. plain, block cream cheese, handful chopped, fresh chives and dash of onion powder)
1/2 c. sour cream
1 T. milk

1. Cook linguine (spaghetti) according to package directions. Meanwhile, sprinkle beef (pork) with salt and pepper. In large skillet, saute beef (pork) in 2 t. oil until juices run clear. Remove and keep warm.

2. In the same pan, saute red pepper and onion in remaining oil until tender. Add mushrooms; saute 1-2 minutes longer or until tender. Add spinach and rosemary; cook and stir until spinach is wilted (Primo immediately went to the next step so the spinach would be bright green). Stir in cream cheese, sour cream and milk; heat through (do not boil). (Add pork back into pan.) Drain linguine (spaghetti); top with sauce.

Serves 4. Total time: 30 minutes.
Primo doubled the recipe to serve six plus we had enough leftover for everyone to have some the next day.

Enjoy!

Mmmmmm!

I smell something delicious cooking in the kitchen...

and I didn't have to cook it...

and Frodo is reorganizing our closet...

so it's not him cooking...

who could it be?

Primo!

Yes, I have a child old enough to cook by herself. That's a little scary, but it's nice to have a little chef around the house. Oh! And she's not just cooking. She:

1. selected the recipe from a magazine herself (I didn't even know the new issue came in, she snatched and scoured it as soon as it arrived)
2. checked the fridge and freezer to see what we had on hand
3. asked Frodo if certain ingredients we already had could be substituted for some of the ingredients called for in the recipe (for example, the recipe calls for "spreadable chive and onion cream cheese" but we have cream cheese, chives and onions on hand, so she wanted to know if she could mix her own)
4. wrote up a shopping list for Frodo when she knew he was going to the grocery store
5. called him while he was out today when she realized he forgot a couple things when he went shopping yesterday, so he could pick stuff up on the way home *grin*

And now she's cooking.
And it looks and smells really good.

So, what's for dinner? Mushroom Steak 'n' Linguine
Mmmmmmmm!

I'll share the recipe, and Primo's alterations and adjustments, later. Right now, it's time to eat!

Poem - The Duel by Primo

After finishing her schoolwork this morning, Primo disappeared from the kitchen table and came back a few minutes later with a pencil and an index card in hand and promptly sat down and began to write. Given her passion for doodling and drawing, I just assumed that she was working on some new artistic endeavor, so I went back to Secondo and her grammar lesson. When we finished a few minutes later, I looked back at Primo. She had a look of pure, focused concentration on her face. "What are you working on?" I asked. "A poem," she replied distractedly. Her tone conveyed her desire to be left alone at her task.

As Secondo and I dove into a math lesson a little while later, Primo finally said, "Done! Want to read it?" As she handed over the card she said, "I don't know how good it is. I've never really written a poem unless you made me." I read it... a little difficult since she wrote it as a paragraph instead of in the familiar form of a poem. Granted, I am a little biased, but I think it's pretty good. She is going to type it up in a more conventional form then submit it to our local homeschool group's student newsletter for publication.

Don't you love when the seed of passion for beautiful art, history, writing, etc. you planted begins to bloom in your kids?


The Duel
by Primo

The weeds that were cruel
And the plants that were cool
Had a big duel;
They fought and fought and fought.

The plants were delighted,
And the weeds disappointed.
They never fought again.

Poem - Remember by Christina Georgina Rossetti

Primo loves animals. Her first pet (not including our family dog), a hamster named Little Mikey (after the stuffed monster in Monster's Inc.), died after he figured out how to open his cage and let himself out. He subsequently drowned in the sump pump... it looked oddly like a rodent mob hit. The second hamster, appropriately named Little Mikey II, figured out how to disconnect his water bottle from his cage in the middle of the night. Primo didn't discover it until the next morning. He was already dead from dehydration. Primo received Jasmine from Secondo after Secondo realized that the responsibility of taking care of Jasmine was too much for her. Primo took excellent care of her and loved her dearly. Yesterday, the rabbit, Jasmine, passed away. Three days ago, she was fine. By yesterday afternoon, she was dead. Primo spent most of the short time the rabbit was sick in the rain next to the hutch comforting Jasmine, rubbing her belly, and trying to get her to take water and a special food through a syringe. Jasmine received amazing care, but it was just her time to go. Primo is devastated that she's gone.


Remember
by Christiana Georgina Rossetti

Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.

A Lesson in Intolerance

Get out the duct tape. Seriously. Your head might explode.

The whole "tolerance/ PC" thing grates against my nerves for the very reason that many (dare I say, most) preachers of "tolerance" are really preaching intolerance and conformation to their world view over the views of others. They don't want tolerance, they want submission.

A "discussion" on the ABC show The View this morning illustrated this perfectly. No, I don't watch this show... my head would have exploded long ago. I heard the audio on Glenn Beck this morning while eating breakfast. I almost vomited. Speaking of which, put down all beverages and maybe take some peremptory antacid before clicking the link below. The lack of respect that was shown was unbelievable.

Here is an article that describes the encounter and includes a transcript and links to the video in three different formats. I don't recommend reading the transcript, just click on one of the links to watch the video yourself. (Primary sources are always better than interpretations... even mine.)

I showed the video clip to Primo, who is ten. Before I showed it to her, I told her that I knew she wouldn't understand most of what they were talking about but that I wanted her to watch and listen to how the women spoke to and treated each other. Then I hit the play button and let her watch. When she was done, I asked, "So, what did you think?"

"Well the larger woman wouldn't let the woman with yellow hair talk. Then she kept telling the woman with the yellow hair to ask a question, but she was trying to ask the question. The big woman just wouldn't let her. She's not very nice."

A ten-year-old could see it. Respect is respect. Just because you disagree with someone and you believe that you are right and the other is wrong doesn't give you the right to talk all over them then pretend that you understand their opinion. It doesn't show intelligence. It shows a lack of respect, intolerance, and an uneasiness with your own opinion.

Glad I got that off my chest. I feel better now. Thanks for listening. Now would be a good time to think about which Logic curriculum I want to begin with Primo next year.

Fly on the Wall

Conversation between Secondo and Terzo:

Secondo: "What sports are you going to play when you're seven?"

Terzo: "I'm going to play football and sports."

Secondo: "You're going to play all the sports? Well, not ballet, but all the others?"

Terzo: "Yeah. And hockey."

***************

Primo: (while watching a small woodpecker pecking at a branch he was perched on) "I hope he doesn't peck to his death."

What's in a name?

Andie, over at and the mama, gave the background behind her kids' names and asked her invisible friends to do the same, so here we go:

Primo - means "first" in Italian
Secondo - means "second" in Italian
Terzo - means "third" in Italian
Quarto - means "fourth" in Italian

And while I'm at it:
Tutor - means "a person charged with the instruction and guidance of another; a private teacher" in both English and Latin (cool, huh?)
Frodo - means that my dear husband has many of the physical characteristics of the main character/ ring-bearer in C.S. Lewis' Lord of the Rings trilogy... namely, hairy feet. (Also, my dear friend, Angel at Aduladi' & Co., and I have dh's with the same first name, and we were frequently getting confused as to who we were talking about when using first names, so we decided the menfolk needed nicknames. My dh became 'Frodo' and hers became 'Mr. Clean'. )

Okay, joking aside (mostly), since I don't use our Christian names online for a reason, I won't share them here, but I will give some background as to where our kids' Christian names come from:

Primo - named after a murder mystery movie... just like I was. Her middle name is a cool-sounding name that was uncommon, sounded good with the first name, and was picked by Frodo. (Btw, this started our "baby naming protocol". Since I have known what I wanted to name my first daughter ever since I can remember, when Primo turned out to be a girl, it was a given that I got to pick the first name and Frodo would pick her middle name. With Secondo we swapped and Frodo picked her first name and I picked her middle name. With Terzo, we swapped again, and so on.)

Secondo - Was named after the main character in a popular piece of English literature. Her middle name comes from a combination of an attribute of God and the name of my Great Aunt's best friend. Sadly, we thought we were picking a very unique name at the time, and have since met many little girls with the same combo of first and middle name. Sigh. At least our little pixie is a trend-setter.

Terzo - Was originally named after a main character in a popular piece of American literature, but we were undecided whether to use the full version or the shortened version. We ended up using the full version after I had emergency surgery while 5 months pregnant with him and decided we wanted to maintain the full meaning of his name to celebrate his coming through the surgery unharmed... and glorifying the One who brought him through. Of course, we had to use the transliterated spelling... i.e. the unusual one. His middle name comes from the Christian name of a man integral to the Reformation.

Quarto - Frodo was undecided between three different first names for Quarto, so he let the other kids choose from the three. They ended up choosing a name that Frodo liked because it was the name of a student he taught who he thought was a neat kid. Quarto's middle name comes from a New Testament figure who is mentioned because of a special place he holds in the ancestral development of the Church. It is a rather unusual name, but people don't think it is that unusual after they find out that my first choice for his middle name was "Chingachgook"... aka "the last of the Mohicans".

Well, that's who our kids are and why. What about yours? Or share why you chose the virtual names that you did. Inquiring mind want to know.

Congratulations, Primo!

Primo's square won a blue ribbon at the state fair on Monday!

Way to go, Confident Kids!

Primo and Secondo joined a Homeschool Square Dancing class in October, and a large number of them have been focusing on the competition since late November (Secondo didn't participate in the competition). The group sent three squares to the competition. Their two lower division teams received blue ribbons and their upper division team received a red ribbon. There were sixty squares entered in all. That's 480 dancers! That's a lot of Do-si-dos! And a lot of dust. The competition was held in the Large Arena... the same place where we saw a cattle competition a few hours before. It smelled like a cattle stampede, but what else do you want at the fair?!

There were dancers there of all ages... from infants through seniors. The local paper caught this little guy dancing with his dad during one of the exhibition dances, and he wasn't the littlest. His little sister, only a few months old, was strapped to Mom in a front pack. This looks like the best ride at the fair, doesn't it?! And talk about a workout for mom and dad!


Primo can't wait until next year... when she hopes there will be enough boys so that she can dance in the girl's position and wear a fluffy skirt! In the meantime, we can listen to their call CD and reminisce. Now all we need are two more kids, and we've got a square!

Cowboy Calisthenics

I have discovered the soon-to-be-newest fad in exercise programs. Trust me, it will be sweeping the nation. And just think, I'm letting you in on the ground floor.

The program has 4 easy steps:

1. Crash your daughter's square dancing class during line dancing time. If you don't have a daughter in square dancing, go to your nearest county fair, retirement home, or township singles night.

2. Grab the nearest toddler and attach him firmly to your hip. (I cannot stress the word "firmly" enough.) It is helpful to bring your own toddler or to ask permission before grabbing a random toddler off the street. I was fortunate enough to have Quarto pulling on my jacket saying, "Dance with me, Mommy! Dance with me!" No coercion or permission needed.

3. Commence dancing the Cotton-Eyed Joe. (Hang on to that toddler. He can really throw himself into those spins!)

4. Collapse into a breathless heap as soon as the music ends while the toddler yells, "Again! Again!"

That's gotta be good for at least 1000 calories, right?

Oh, and to add some entertainment to your workout (if you can possibly increase the entertainment value of watching 50 kids, ages 7-17, trying to do the Cotton-Eyed Joe in a room designed to hold 50 people only if they stand very still), wear a knee-length, medium-weight jacket with a heavy wallet in one pocket and a cell phone and key ring in the other. Then, place yourself immediately in front of an uncoordinated 6-year-old. Watch the 6-year-old duck and sway to avoid being clocked by your wallet or keys while trying not to take his eyes off of your feet. Trust me... this makes the chest pounding, unladylike perspiring and complete loss of equilibrium totally worth it.

I'm tellin' ya. It's gonna be BIG!

For Primo

A Prayer For My Daughter

by William Bulter Yeats

Once more the storm is howling, and half hid
Under this cradle-hood and coverlid
My child sleeps on. There is no obstacle
But Gregory's wood and one bare hill
Whereby the haystack- and roof-levelling wind,
Bred on the Atlantic, can be stayed;
And for an hour I have walked and prayed
Because of the great gloom that is in my mind.

I have walked and prayed for this young child an hour
And heard the sea-wind scream upon the tower,
And under the arches of the bridge, and scream
In the elms above the flooded stream;
Imagining in excited reverie
That the future years had come,
Dancing to a frenzied drum,
Out of the murderous innocence of the sea.

May she be granted beauty and yet not
Beauty to make a stranger's eye distraught,
Or hers before a looking-glass, for such,
Being made beautiful overmuch,
Consider beauty a sufficient end,
Lose natural kindness and maybe
The heart-revealing intimacy
That chooses right, and never find a friend.

Helen being chosen found life flat and dull
And later had much trouble from a fool,
While that great Queen, that rose out of the spray,
Being fatherless could have her way
Yet chose a bandy-leggd smith for man.
It's certain that fine women eat
A crazy salad with their meat
Whereby the Horn of Plenty is undone.

In courtesy I'd have her chiefly learned;
Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earned
By those that are not entirely beautiful;
Yet many, that have played the fool
For beauty's very self, has charm made wise,
And many a poor man that has roved,
Loved and thought himself beloved,
From a glad kindness cannot take his eyes.

May she become a flourishing hidden tree
That all her thoughts may like the linnet be,
And have no business but dispensing round
Their magnanimities of sound,
Nor but in merriment begin a chase,
Nor but in merriment a quarrel.
O may she live like some green laurel
Rooted in one dear perpetual place.

My mind, because the minds that I have loved,
The sort of beauty that I have approved,
Prosper but little, has dried up of late,
Yet knows that to be choked with hate
May well be of all evil chances chief.
If there's no hatred in a mind
Assault and battery of the wind
Can never tear the linnet from the leaf.

An intellectual hatred is the worst,
So let her think opinions are accursed.
Have I not seen the loveliest woman born
Out of the mouth of Plenty's horn,
Because of her opinionated mind
Barter that horn and every good
By quiet natures understood
For an old bellows full of angry wind?

Considering that, all hatred driven hence,
The soul recovers radical innocence
And learns at last that it is self-delighting,
Self-appeasing, self-affrighting,
And that its own sweet will is Heaven's will;
She can, though every face should scowl
And every windy quarter howl
Or every bellows burst, be happy still.

And may her bridegroom bring her to a house
Where all's accustomed, ceremonious;
For arrogance and hatred are the wares
Peddled in the thoroughfares.
How but in custom and in ceremony
Are innocence and beauty born?
Ceremony's a name for the rich horn,
And custom for the spreading laurel tree.

Primo, may you have decades upon decades to grow, live, and love

and an eternity to bask in His Glory.

O magnify the LORD with me,
And let us exalt His name together.

-Psalm 34:3

School Is In Session

To be honest, it was never really out of session, but I can't fit "Sitting At A Table And Doing Workbook Pages, Handwriting Practice, and Other Textbook Learning Has Now Re-Commenced" in the subject line.

Since life occurs year-round, learning occurs year-round here at Apollos Academy. This summer was full of swimming lessons, trips to the local pool, trips to the neighbor's pool, hiking, museum visits, festival fun, family film fests, 4H, reading, watching thunderstorms, working in the garden, baking (both food in the kitchen and ourselves in the heat), church picnics, vacation bible school, and just being. With all that fun and learning, you'd think the kids wouldn't want to settle down with books, would you? Well, that's where you'd be wrong.

I called the girls into the kitchen this afternoon (after 2.5 hours working in the 4H garden) and told them that it was time for math. Both Primo and Secondo said, "Yay! Math!" Yay? Math? After half an hour, I asked them to clean up their Cuisenaire Rods and hand me thier worksheets,

"Now?! I was having fun."

"Just a few more minutes. PLEEEEAAAASSSEEEE!"

I gave in. Who wouldn't? They're begging to do math for goodness sake. A couple minutes later I hear:

Primo - "Mom, come look at my computer bars."

Tutor - "Computer bars?"

P - "Yeah. You know, like the bars on your cell phone or when you're waiting for a thing that you clicked on to come up on the computer."

T - "You mean a download?"

P - "That's what I said."

Secondo - "Mom, look. I can make steps this way (places rods vertically) or this way (stacks rods horizontally) or if I mix them up like this (places rods of random heights in a line vertically) it looks like New York City!"

T - "Very cool!"

I finally convince them to put the rods away after reassuring them that we can play with the rods again tomorrow, and they quickly clean up then scatter. I call them back in mere minutes later. Secondo arrives first and sees me holding books in my hands. "Are we having a spelling quiz?" I confirm that we are, indeed. Secondo enthusiastically screams, "Primo! Come here! Spelling quizes!"

"Spelling quiz?! Woo hoo!" Primo yells as she runs to her spot at the table. " I like spelling."

The rest of this week will be more of the same mix of conventional and unconventional:

Tuesday: Deskwork, housework, and swimming (maybe some car washing)

Wednesday: Deskwork, library trip, and swimming exhibition for grandparents at the local pool

Thursday: field trip to the county fair to see the girls' displays, eat fattening foods, and take in everything the fair has to offer

Friday: deskwork and swimming

And thus begins our re-commencement of "Sitting At A Table And Doing Workbook Pages, Handwriting Practice, and Other Textbook Learning"... and then some.

Wait. They'll tell you when they're ready.

As parents, we give and receive this advice quite frequently.

When should I introduce solid food? When your baby starts reaching for your green beans or chicken, he's ready to try some. He'll tell you when he's ready.

When should I start potty training? When your toddler starts showing interest in the potty, it's time to sit her on it. She'll tell you when she's ready.

When should I teach my child to read? When you child grabs a book and starts pretending to read, he's ready to learn. He'll tell you when he's ready.

When should I teach my child the birds and the bees? When your child starts to ask questions about where babies come from, she's ready to hear an "age appropriate" answer. She'll tell you when she's ready.

"They'll tell you when they're ready. "

What does this mean?

When we give this advice to another parent, we are generally trying to encourage them not to worry. We are encouraging the parent to wait until the child gives some sort of signal... grabbing the fork, sitting on the kiddy potty, pretending to read a book, or asking if he was in Mommy's tummy just like baby sister. But does this advice work for everything? Let's face it, if many of us waited for our children to tell us they were ready for vegetables or ready to learn to clean their rooms, we'd still be waiting for the signal when they left for college! On the other hand, sometimes we get signals we aren't sure what to do with, are intimidated by, or seem to be "age inappropriate." By age inappropriate, I mean that our child is asking questions about things that our culture has decided are above their comprehension for thier age so we have no guideline for discussing these topics with our children. This seems to happen most often with topics of spiritual signifigance. When do you start talking to your children about topics like sin, redemption, death, and sanctification?

I believe in this situation, where a child is asking a question about a topic you feel he is too young to understand, you answer the question... or at least try to. Lest you respond, "That's easy for her to say." Here are some questions that our kids have asked Frodo and I recently (after each question, I have indicated which child asked it and how old he/ she is):

"Why did God create light first?" (Terzo, 5)

"What would happen if lightening hit our car and we all died?" (Terzo, 5)

"Why would someone steal a kid?" (Primo, 9)

"Why did God make butterflies if they only live for 2 weeks?" (Secondo, 7)

"Why did the Stone Table break after Aslan came alive again?" (Primo, 9)

"Why does God let tornados kill people?" (Primo, 9)

"How come there aren't any more dinosaurs?" (Secondo, 7)

"How come different books about dinosaurs say different things about why they died and what they looked like?" (Secondo, 7)

"How come Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil when God told her not to?" (Terzo, age 5)

"Will you die?" (Primo, 9; Secondo, 7; Terzo, 5)

"Will I die?" (Primo, 9; Secondo, 7; Terzo, 5)

We did our best to answer their questions and pray for wisdom in answering those that will inevitably come up in the future.

Our children will let us know when they are ready to face some of life's hard questions. But I have learned some things through my children's questions... I don't know all of the answers, I probably never will, and I don't ask enough questions myself but it is important that I ask. Asking questions and searching for answers (sometimes receiving them and sometimes not) matures us. If I stop questioning, I stop growing.

Have I stopped asking?

Have you stopped asking?

Does this mean we are not ready for the answers?

Or does it just mean that we are hiding from the responsibility required of us when our questions are answered?

Locks of Love

For those of you not familiar with this organization, Locks of Love is a non-profit organization that collects hair from donors and has it made into individualized wigs for children suffering from conditions or treatments that cause them to lose their hair. Those of you who know Primo know that she has very long hair... or at least she did. Thursday morning, Primo donated 10 inches of her hair to Locks of Love. Although her haircut turned out a little shorter than she was expecting, she felt much better that some little girl with no hair would now have a short haircut like hers and be very appreciative of it. The salon where Primo had her haircut was wonderful. (We had never been there before. You have to donate at an approved salon where the stylists have been trained in how to collect the hair.) The salon gave Primo a free cut and style and sent her a thank you note for donating her hair.

If you or your daughters have long hair (donated hair needs to be at least 10 inches long) and are looking to get a shorter haircut for the summer, please go to the Locks of Love website (linked above) and find an approved salon near you through which you can donate your hair rather than having it swept into the trash. There is a child out there who would love your unwanted hair.

Book Club Woes

Last year, the girls participated in a homeschool book club at our local library. The group had about 10 kids on a regular basis, and they read some really good books and enjoyed the company of their friends. This year, the girls couldn't wait for the book club to start again, so as soon as I could, I signed them up.

The club started out fairly strong but has quickly dwindled to 2 children... Primo and Secondo. Mrs. B, the librarian in charge, asked me to put the word out about the club or she would have to discontinue it... it's a lot of work for only 2 kids who are in the same homeschool. I did... and now we have 3. But I am not sure how long that will last.

The last book the kids were required to read was any book in the Mrs. Piggle- Wiggle series. Not terribly difficult books, but funny stories that were good for kids of various reading levels (the book club is for grades 1-3). In order to attract more kids, Mrs. B decided to choose easier, faster reads. This month's book is A Ghost Named Fred. Unfortunately, the library only has 4 copies of this book, and all of them were checked out. The girls put 2 on hold and hoped they would come in in time to read them for next month's meeting. They needn't have worried.

The girls are required to read for at least 30 minutes per day on their own. They get to choose their own book and often read their book club books at this time. As soon as the books came in, the girls set aside their other reading (Primo - Charlotte's Web, Secondo - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) and opened their book club books. Ten minutes later, Primo calls out, "I'm done!" then Secondo follows, "Me too!" I can't believe it, so I ask Primo for her copy of the book so I can skim it and quiz them. I read the entire book in about 2 minutes... this was the first page. I ask them a few questions, then Secondo asks, "Can I read Harry Potter now?" "Absolutely!"

I appreciate everything Mrs. B has done for the girls and the club. The girls adore her. However, I think we will settle for the summer reading club and letting the girls select their own books next year.