‘To Autumn’ by John Keats

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,
Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Every Monday is a New Beginning

I love Monday– it’s my favorite day of the week!

From the pinnacle of Monday morning, there stretches before me a string of four perfect days at home. From now until Friday, I’m able to focus on home and to be with my family, doing the ordinary tasks of home life– setting the house in order, working on home and garden projects, making meals to nourish my loved ones, writing to communicate with others. This is my life, and I love it.

It’s not an accident that I enjoy four unblemished days each week. It began years ago when our children were small and I discovered that life went more smoothly when we organized our time. The most important things in our lives happened at home, so we made it a point to designate only one day of the week for errands. This left four uncluttered days for living, one day of the weekend for fellowship, and one day of the weekend for projects or family pursuits. Read more

What Does Education Look Like? Part II- Socialization

I came across an article that fit perfectly with this series, as well as with the thoughts I shared on socialization a few weeks ago. I got permission to reprint it, and you’ll find the entire piece on my website (CLICK HERE). I had to snip this excerpt for this installment of “What Does (Institutional) Education Look Like?” It could also be titled “How Institutional School Applies (or Doesn’t) to Real Life.”

Does any of this sound familiar?

Your employer is auditing the inter-office e-mail system and comes across a personal note between you and a coworker. You are required to stand at the podium in the next sales meeting to read it aloud to your coworkers.

The police knock on your door, and announce that because you and your neighbor have gotten so close, they’re separating you. You must move your home and your belongings to the other side of town, and you may only meet at public places on weekends.

You’re sitting at a booth waiting for a coworker to arrive for a scheduled lunch date. Suddenly a member of upper management sits down across from you and demands your credit cards. When your friend arrives, you just order water and claim you’re not hungry, since your lunch money has been stolen.

You’re applying for a job and in an unconventional hiring practice, you are made to line up with other applicants, and wait patiently while representatives from two competing companies take their pick from the lineup.

You’re taking your parents out for an anniversary dinner. After you find a table, a waiter tells you that seniors have a separate dining room, lest they “corrupt” the younger members of society.

You go to the grocery store only to find that since you are 32 years old you must shop at the store for 32 year olds. It’s 8 miles away and they don’t sell meat because the manager is a vegetarian, but your birthday is coming up and soon you’ll be able to shop at the store for 33 yr. olds.

You’d like to learn about Aviation History. You go to the library and check out a book on the subject only to be given a list of “other subjects” that you must read about before you are permitted to check out the aviation book.

You’re having a hard time finding what you need in the local department store. The saleslady explains that each item is arranged alphabetically in the store, so instead of having a section for shoes, you will find the men’s shoes in between the maternity clothes and the mirrors.

Your cable company announces that anyone wishing to watch the Super Bowl this year must log on a certain number of hours watching the Discovery Channel before they can be permitted to watch the game.

You apply for a job only to be told that this job is for 29 year olds. Since you’re 32, you’ll have to stay with your level.

In a group project, your boss decides to pair you up with the person you don’t “click” with. His hope is that you’ll get learn to get along with each other, regardless of how the project turns out.”

You’ll probably want to read the entire article by Lisa Russell on my website.

“Remember” by Christina Rosetti

Thinking about September 11….

Remember

Christina Rosetti

 

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.

 

 

From Goblin Market, The Prince’s Progress and Other Poems by Christina Rosetti. London: Macmillan 1879.

What Does Education Look Like? Part I

What does learning look like? Consider….

Scene 1:

Child A sits in a classroom full of children who are just his age. “Today, students,” his teacher announces, “We’re going to learn about chickens.” She unrolls a poster of a giant chicken, with each part labeled in big cheery letters. “Has anyone ever seen a chicken?” she asks. No one has, but one child volunteers that they say “cock-a-doodle-doo!”

The lesson goes on, with each part of the chicken pointed out and discussed. A plastic egg is handed around, along with a dry chicken bone, and a plastic bag of chicken feathers. At the end of the lesson, each child is provided a worksheet with a chicken outline and instructed to color it, label the parts, and bring it back tomorrow.

Scene 2:

Child B cautiously opens the door the of the chicken pen, and is immediately surrounded by a dozen clucking, noisy hens, eager for the salad trimmings she’s brought from the house. She distributes the treat, making sure that the smaller hens get a share, and fills the feeder with cracked corn.

Some of the hens have already headed out through the open pen door to spend the day scratching in the garden, feasting on bugs. The child checks each nest box for eggs, gathering them carefully. On the way back to the house, she shoos a hen from the hosta bed and back toward the vegetable garden. She fills an empty egg carton with the morning’s eggs, and sits down to breakfast with the rest of the family.

To be continued…


ArkivMusic Opera Sale

Purposeful Planning- A Review

Summer’s winding down, and we’re already preparing to head back into the school year (it’s almost too hot to think of!). Even though the boys are finished with homeschooling, there’s still plenty of schoolwork happening with all three of them in college.

I enjoy looking ahead to the new year, considering priorities, and creating a fresh schedule to help us all juggle rides to school, computer time, and everything else that goes into our busy lives. This is the time of year when I like to re-read some of my personal planning favorites– Steven Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, Marilyn Rockett’s Homeschooling at the Speed of Life, David Allen’s Getting Things Done, and others.

This year, I came across Purposeful Planning, a very different sort of planning guide– one written especially for families. Author Phyllis Sather shares the story of how she and her husband began taking short planning weekends together. As the years passed, they included their children, and the planning weekends have become a significant family tradition. Read more

Homeschool Through High School Audio (and Benefit)

I finally have my Homeschooling Through High School: There’s Joy in the Journey audio workshop, with PowerPoint(TM) presentation and book list handout, available on my website! If you’ve been wondering about whether you should home school through high school, I think you’ll find this workshop very reassuring.

There’s something special about it this week, though– I’m offering it as part of an amazing benefit package for someone who is a very special part of the homeschool community. Tammy Cardwell, reviews editor for EHO (Eclectic Homeschool Online), is living with her family in a home that is virtually giving away in the Texas rains. Water, mold, and falling ceilings have created a dangerous situation for their family, and they just need to get out (read more). Several of us in the homeschool community have joined together to offer a collection of really good products in an amazing package deal, so that Tammy and her family can transform a little warehouse they own into a safe, dry home.

For just this week, you can get my brand new Homeschooling Through High School: There’s Joy in the Journey audio workshop package as part of the benefit special, along with over twenty other good things from other home school writers and speakers. CLICK HERE to read more about the benefit and to make a donatation to help Tammy and her family.

If you’d like to read more about Homeschooling Through High School: There’s Joy in the Journey, you can visit my website by clicking here. But remember, be sure to go to the benefit site to get it, so that you can receive all the other special products and benefit the Cardwells.

Among the things included in this workshop:

I’ll share some of the most important lessons I’ve learned as I’ve homeschooled my sweet boys from kindergarten into college. You can curl up with a cup of something cool, and listen, while I take some of the unknowns out of the homeschool high school experience. Remember– there’s joy in the journey!

“Barbara Frietchie” for Independence Day

In honor of Independence Day 2007, here is a poem I have liked since I was very young.

Barbara Frietchie
by John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)
Up from the meadows rich with corn,
Clear in the cool September morn,

The clustered spires of Frederick stand
Green-walled by the hills of Maryland.

Round about them orchards sweep,
Apple and peach tree fruited deep,

Fair as a garden of the Lord
To the eyes of the famished rebel horde,

On that pleasant morn of the early fall
When Lee marched over the mountain wall,—

Over the mountains winding down,
Horse and foot, into Frederick town.

Forty flags with their silver stars,
Forty flags with their crimson bars,

Flapped in the morning wind: the sun
Of noon looked down, and saw not one.

Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then,
Bowed with her fourscore years and ten;

Bravest of all in Frederick town,
She took up the flag the men hauled down; Read more

Reading ‘Laddie’ (and a Happy Birthday Dinner)

Once things settle down after the June convention and workshops, I always take extra time off for reading and projects. June is birthday month for four of us, so we all feel a bit celebratory.

This year, my very sweet daughter-in-law had a birthday dinner for those of us with June birthdays. Together with our April son, she fixed a lovely meal and decorated our new patio with sparkly lights, candles, and flowers, making it seem so very festive. The weather was perfect for a fire, so after dinner, we roasted marshmallows (sort of an appetizer before dessert;-)). It was a wonderful evening.

So… that was the kickoff for our summer break. As soon as the dust from convention subsided, I started reading. During the school year, it seems that I have time for non-fiction, and a lot of serious reading, but very little time for fiction or creative reading. This summer, I plan to re-read some of the books that have shaped my thoughts of home and family, plus a few classics. Of the books I’ve read since June 11, one stands out– Laddie: A True Blue Story by Gene Stratton Porter. Read more

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders Fields
John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Read more

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