Winter Term, Week 4 Intentions

January Hymn: “Jesus, Friends of Sinners” by Charles Wesley (link to YouTube) (Link to printable Hymnal)

January Folksong: “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” (link to YouTube)

Winter Term Poet A: James Whitcomb Riley (link to poems on AmblesideOnline) (One poem per Morning Meeting)

This Year’s Shakespeare: Henry V (We are reading through Henry with friends outside of our Morning Meeting.)

Morning Meeting Day 1:

  • Bible: (yr 7 week 30)  Joshua 7;  Psalm 96
  • History: This Country of Ours chapter 32: King Philip’s War
  • Picture Study: Edgar Degas (day-GAH; 1834-1917; French Impressionism)    The Dance Class, 1873-75

Morning Meeting Day 2:

  • Bible:(yr 7 week 30) Joshua 8;  Psalm 97
  • Myths: Age of Fable chapter 1 (1/3)
  • Composer Study: Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)    4 Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14 (YouTubealso here)

Morning Meeting Day 3:

  • Bible:(yr 7 week 30) Luke 20:1-26; Proverbs 29:1-15
  • Myths: Age of Fable chapter 1 (1/3)
  • Citizenship: Plutarch’s Life of Publicola lesson 11

Reflections on Winter Term week 3

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Margin Report: This week had very little Margin. But we knew that going into it, as I had a rather unwise nine different class preps to do this week, and Jon had five of his own on top of our usual workload. We survived. And we don’t plan to do that to ourselves again. This week is only our regular load, and I hope to spend most of it at home with the boys.

Rejoice: I did manage to get up early most mornings and have a few moments to myself before the rest of the house was awake.

Relate: We stopped to read aloud everyday. The younger boys and I are ten chapters into
Christ Grabenstein’s Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library (aff.link), and we are really enjoying it. I have playing the piano more days than usual (because the church pianist should probably practice), and the boys have been asking for piano lessons. I’ve said yes to that more often, but not every time. I’ve also given some cooking lessons. Those are tasty.

Remember: We did memory work and the rest of our Morning Meeting three days this week, and we were proud of ourselves. Having all the links all in one place is really helpful to Getting Things Done around here.

Reason: All expected math assignments and grammar assignments were completed. The boys had more success with just working than I did.

Read: Josiah and Gideon read their assigned readings and poured over The Action Bible (aff. link). Micah read and worked for his Challenge 1 class and spent a lot of time with his violin. I didn’t accomplish the amount of reading I needed to this week, but we knew that was going to happen. I have a commitment to finish A Tale of Two Cities by February 2, and it is time to get on the ball.

Record: I wrote a little essay this week that needs editing before it gets published anywhere. The boys did what I asked of them. Jon sent a book to the printer. We are excited to get the review copy back next week.

Restore: We did take a little time to relax every evening, but I failed in sleeping at least six hours a night. Again, we knew that would happen this week. Now I will play catch-up.

Winter Term, Week 3 Intentions

January Hymn: “Jesus, Friends of Sinners” by Charles Wesley (link to YouTube) (Link to printable Hymnal)

January Folksong: “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” (link to YouTube)

Winter Term Poet A: James Whitcomb Riley (link to poems on AmblesideOnline) (One poem per Morning Meeting)

This Year’s Shakespeare: Henry V (We are reading through Henry with friends outside of our Morning Meeting.)

Morning Meeting Day 1:

Morning Meeting Day 2:

  • Bible:(yr 7 week 29) Joshua 5-6
  • History: This Country of Ours chapter 31: The Hunt for the Regicides
  • Composer Study: Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)  Symphony 2 in E minor op 27 (YouTube)

Morning Meeting Day 3:

  • Bible:(yr 7 week 29) Luke 19; Proverbs 28:18-28
  • History: Trial and Triumph Richard Lion of the Covenant
  • Citizenship: Plutarch’s Life of Publicola lesson 10

Reflections on Winter Term Week 2

We actually completely the work that was planned.  It wasn’t always pretty, and some of it was not done with quite the attention it deserved. But it was completed.

I think I owe the completion of our work week to the lack of crazy and the return to the liturgy of the morning.  I got up when I was supposed to, and I had time to myself with coffee and Jesus before the boys got up. I walked early at the Y with a friend one morning. We started chores at 8 and served breakfast with a side of morning meeting at a quarter to nine. Then we worked through the work.

I had planned this coming week before Margin became my word for the year. I am overbooked but determined to enjoy myself. Again, we have nothing scheduled before noon that is out of the ordinary. The liturgy of the morning should happen, and so should the rest of the schoolwork.

Winter Term, Week 2 Intentions

For several reasons, Morning Meeting only happens three times a week at our house. I’m finally learning to only plan three meetings. It took me a whole semester to figure that out. Between our CC community day and a  couple of other activities, we just don’t get to it four or five times. Three will just have to suffice in this season

January Hymn: “Jesus, Friends of Sinners” by Charles Wesley (link to YouTube) (Link to printable Hymnal)

January Folksong: “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” (link to YouTube)

Winter Term Poet A: James Whitcomb Riley (link to poems on AmblesideOnline) (One poem per Morning Meeting)

This Year’s Shakespeare: Henry V (We are reading through Henry with friends outside of our Morning Meeting.)

Morning Meeting Day 1:

  • Bible: (yr 7 week 28)  Joshua 3; Psalm 92
  • History: This Country of Ours chapter 29: The Founding of Connecticut and the War with the Indians
  • Picture Study: Edgar Degas (day-GAH; 1834-1917; French Impressionism) The Belleli Family, 1862

Morning Meeting Day 2:

  • Bible:(yr 7 week 28) Joshua 4; Proverbs 28:10-17
  • History: Child’s History of the World Chapter 71: A King Who Lost His Head
  • Composer Study: Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)   2 Prelude in C-sharp minor Op 3 no 2 (YouTube)

Morning Meeting Day 3:

  • Bible:(yr 7 week 28) Luke 18:15-43; Psalm 93
  • History: Trial and Triumph Warrior King
  • Citizenship: Plutarch’s Life of Publicola lesson 9

Reflections on our Winter Term Week 1

Margin did not allow me to get the links we used this week posted. I’ll get that done this weekend and maybe get ahead on writing posts. It was a good week, but a rather full one.

I did teach my first local Latin Clinic. We talked about nouns and their declensions. The rest of the week was interrupted by glasses. I broke my glasses on Christmas Eve, and since I am legally blind without correction, I had to wear an old pair until I could get a new prescription.


On Wednesday, Micah got a full eye exam and ordered unexpected glasses, and I got most of an eye exam and ordered my much-needed new glasses. I also got the broken glasses temporarily fixed because the older pair was giving me nasty headaches. The only way to fix the old pair until the new ones were ready was to replace the left temple with a temple from an abandoned pair of Hello Kitty glasses. It’s a good thing I’m comfortable being nerdy.

Today, we went back with my mother because I needed to have my eyes dilated, and I wasn’t allowed to drive home afterwards. We also picked up all of the glasses, hung out with Gramma, and ate Pei Wei. I didn’t expect that project to take quite so much time or cost quite so much money.

As for our Morning Meetings this week,  I planned to return to Ambleside Online as a morning time resource, and I did. They select an artist, a composer, a poet, a nature study focus, a Shakespeare play, and a Plutarch life for each term, and they choose a hymn and folk song for each month. I discovered that the artist and composer for they chose for this term are people that we have recently covered, so I went forward to their selections for 2028-2029 and selected Rachmaninoff and Degas. (If I am still looking at beauty every morning in 2028, it will be just for my own enjoyment, because the boys will be 21, 22, and 26 that year.) We also read from Year 4’s poets, Dickinson and Tennyson, last year, so I picked up Sara Teasdale, Hilda Conkling and James Whitcomb Riley for the next few poets because AO recommends them, but we haven’t read them yet.  We started learning Charles Wesley’s hymn “Jesus, Friend of Sinners.” I picked a folk song from 2011, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,”  and it was a total bust. It annoys Micah, so Gideon sings it over and over again, and that stressed Josiah and I out. So, I’ll pick a new one next week, and we will try again.

Josiah and Gideon both enjoyed the Year 4 readings that they did this week, and we will continue to work on those assignments. I bought the audiobooks for the history books from Audible or Canon Press, and we listened to one chapter from each book in the history loop over breakfast on the three mornings that we were home. We had some interesting conversations about the stories from each book: (aff. links) This Country of Ours, Trial and Triumph (audio from Canon Press), and A Child’s History of the World. Since we listen over breakfast, Micah didn’t lose time from his school day. He was sitting with us anyway to eat, and he can participate in the discussion afterwards.

Have you tried getting a subject done during a meal?

Winter Term, Week 1 Intentions

January Hymn: “Jesus, Friends of Sinners” by Charles Wesley (link to YouTube) (Link to printable Hymnal)

January Folksong: “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” (link to YouTube)

Winter Term Poet A: James Whitcomb Riley (link to poems on AmblesideOnline) (One poem per Morning Meeting)

This Year’s Shakespeare: Henry V (We are reading through Henry with friends outside of our Morning Meeting.)

Morning Meeting Day 1:

  • Bible: (yr 7 week 28)  Joshua 1
  • History: This Country of Ours chapter 28: How Maine and New Hampshire were Founded
  • Picture Study: Edgar Degas (day-GAH; 1834-1917; French Impressionism) Self-Portrait

Morning Meeting Day 2:

  • Bible:(yr 7 week 28) Joshua 2
  • History: Child’s History of the World Chapter 70: James the Servant
  • Composer Study: Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) 1 Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18 (YouTube: played by Rachmaninoff)

Morning Meeting Day 3:

  • Bible:(yr 7 week 28) Luke 17
  • History: Trial and Triumph Duchess of Ferrara
  • Citizenship: Plutarch’s Life of Publicola lesson 8

2017: Margin (at least that is what we will try to create)

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I finished my last post wondering how we were going to find some rest, and Jon and I were both exhausted. It turned out that the way for us to rest in the month of December was to NOT do. He finished up his classes and even took a few days (well earned) off from his real job to concentrate on a couple of outside projects. He got them buttoned up and out of his head. I stepped away from this screen and tutoring to spend some time journaling on paper and thinking through plans for 2017. I turned out a ton of Christmas goodies and made Advent and Christmas happen in my home. We played music and watched movies and prepared our hearts and home for the holiday, and we spent time with family and friends. It was a holiday season well-celebrated with people we do life with. It was great.

Now those holidays are over, and 2017 has arrived. I’m thinking about new things and revisions of old ones. How do we have a life made of atmosphere and discipline and fulfill our responsibilities and rest? I don’t know how to wear all the hats I wear in a day and not be crazy. I make endless lists, but I feel frantic trying to do it all. And no one list is checked off before I have to make a new one.

So, my word for 2017 is going to be Margin. Perhaps some can be created. There are a few changes I am going to start with. Like, I am going to call my living children by their middle names on this blog because I know strangers read it as well as friends.  I can remember their middle names and keep straight who is who. It isn’t hard for me. Each blog post will get one picture that I take with my phone, and whatever I use will also go on Instagram.

Also, I am going to quit writing my own Morning Time and elementary school curriculum, and just use the one provided for free at Ambleside Online. Micah will continue with Classical Conversations Challenge 1, and Gideon and Josiah will continue studying Foundations Cycle 2 and Essentials with IEWs Medievals, but I’ll schedule their reading from AmblesideOnline’s Year Four.  I’ll still post what we are going to read and watch during our three Morning Meetings each week. I just go to the week’s Intentions post and click through things from there. I’ll share it with you to make your morning easier if you want to follow along.

I’ve love to write some homeschooling encouragement posts and some topically classical education series, but I may not accomplish that often. I would absolutely love to grow this blog in a way that makes it both a blessing to followers and profitable, but that may take more time than I have. I am definitely teaching some local Latin classes and seminars that are taking over my brain space as soon as I finish this post.

We are working on Margin in what we spend, what we eat, what we keep and how we clean as well, and we know that our physical strength plays a role in how well we can complete our tasks. We are mulling through how to do all that we need to over here, and my brain is tired already. But, balance needs to be found, and that means our margins must be wider.

What are your thoughts for the new year? Are your margins wide enough?

Week 14 Intentions

Rejoice: Quiet for me, with Bible and prayer and writing something and planning. Writing morning pages and writing down a concrete plan for the day are still working together to help me focus and refocus frequently thought the day.

Relate: We looked yesterday at Thomas Gainsborough’s Girl with Pigs and The Blue Boy. We’ll continue reading about Beethoven in The Story of Beethoven, and we’ll listen to Beethoven’s String Quartet Op.59 No.1 “Razumovsky”

Remember: I did finally switch out the memory work for November this week. We starting working on a passage from Joshua 1. We kept Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky because we aren’t done with it yet. I added in “Home on the Range” because it came up in conversation a while ago. We live in Oklahoma, and night skies are amazing. We were out under the stars with some friends, and somebody started singing that song. The boys couldn’t sing along, so it went on my mental list. We also added the hymn “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty.” November promises to slow down a little from the schedule that we kept in October, so we should be able to master these things in short order and then move on.

Reason: We’ll continue with math and grammar as we have been. And one boy will continue with his study of JavaScript and Electronics.

Read: We’ll read bits of The World of Captain John Smith, Wild Animals I Have Known, Pilgrim’s Progress, Plutarch’s Publicola, Trial and Triumph, and Roger Lancelyn Green’s The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood. (Short lessons mean that we’ll be spending 15-20 minutes on each of those, so that list isn’t as long as it seems like.) We will continue reading this book of poems by William Blake. We need to listen again more of Henry V, and maybe watch the movie.

Record: The younger boys will do copywork and an IEW lesson. The older boy has multiple projects due as the end of the semester approaches.

Restore: There are plans to be at the YMCA at least twice this week, and Jon and I each have somewhere to be one evening this week. We are still working on that more rest problem that happens to all parents. We have been tired, and we love our kids and our multiple jobs (paid and unpaid) and our work. We are working on finding a way to keep our sanity while we keep doing the next thing.

 

Week 13 Reflections

So, that was a particularly crazy week. There was too much in nearly every day, and the evening were also full. I hate weeks like that, and multiple ones in a row are really hard for me. I didn’t finish everything that I needed to, and I didn’t read everything that i needed to know. We had a few yucky things happen, but they all turned out ok.

For instance, last Monday, the water heater went out. On Mondays, I have Latin classes to teach for which I cannot find a knowledgable sub, but my husband was able to work from home and wait on the plumber and make a bunch of decisions that would have stressed me out anyway. It was an expensive endeavor, but it is another improvement that will make our house more marketable when we are ready to sell it.

Last Monday, we left our CC campus at the same time as our friends, and we were all headed to Costco, so all my kids jumped in the van with their buddy. Or so I thought, as I drove away by myself, enjoying the momentary bliss of no one talking to me. I got a phone call telling me that only two of my boys were in the other vehicle. Oops. As I rounded the corner of the church, I got a text from another friend saying, “I have your Giant. I’ll meet you at Costco, too.” Mom fail. I actually drove off and left a kid. He thought it was hilarious (such was his faith that I would come back once I realized my error.) We were still laughing when we pulled out of the parking lot to buy groceries and visit with friends.

He was still giggling a few minutes later when we got rear-ended. It was a slow-speed encounter, and no one was injured. None of the vehicles involved had any visible damage. It was raining lightly, and the roads were slippery. I stopped in a line of traffic. The person behind me failed to do so. She pushed me into the person in front of me. It happened in slow-motion because of traffic, and I hope she got her tires and brakes checked so that it doesn’t happen again.

The rest of the week we crammed in a little school around a rather abnormally busy schedule. In addition to the classes and lessons that we do most weeks, I also subbed in Challenge 3 on one day and worked at a new business that belongs to an acquaintance on another day. It was a little much. I am not schedule to do both on the same week again, and that is good.