Release

For as the heavens are high above the earth,

So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
As a father pities his children,
So the LORD pities those who fear Him.

For He knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.

As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
For the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
And its place remembers it no more.
But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting

On those who fear Him,

And His righteousness to children’s children,
To such as keep His covenant,
And to those who remember His commandments to do them.

(Psalm 103:11-18)

This week, I feel my dusty frame. So weak and so inconstant. How could I continue but with deep draughts of His great mercy? Little feet have run far away and brows have been furrowed in long anger and I wonder anew that I was given this high calling of motherhood.

I ask aloud, "How will we ever train these boy hearts to love the Good and put off the old, to live this adventure with gratitude and courage?" And I feel the burden heavy on my shoulders, the days stretching out before me full of forgotten responsibilities and meaningless squabbles, of childish tantrums that cut me deep. And I see that I can't carry this. I can't.

But there is this Love that carries me and knows my frame. Gently, gently He leads me and He speaks promise to me. In Him I live and move and have my being. And if I would change these boy hearts, I would first change my own and draw them gently before the throne of grace, to the One who gives life and breath and all things.

And, God willing, someday those feet that are so quick to run fearlessly down the street will run fearlessly after Jesus and that stubborn heart with stubbornly chase after the Truth. But it won't be because of me. It will be the work of the Spirit in them. The same Spirit that whispers to me, seals me for Hope, and changes me; He will do this work. I can't.

I am released. And I release these boys, too, and we are all flowers in this field and someday the wind will come and our place will not be remembered.

But God's mercy will be, from everlasting to everlasting.

“So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (Acts 20:32)

Decadence?

So, I'm confused...

This often happens: I think that I know the meaning of a word and I even throw it around in casual conversation, only to find out later that I used it incorrectly. That's fine; I'm happy to refine my personal vocabulary (since it's one of my most beloved possessions), but there are times when I am shocked to discover the true definitions of my thoughtlessly tossed-out words.

Chase and I had an enjoyable time making two decadent cheesecakes for a bake sale.* You know, cheesecakes that were rich and yummy and perhaps a bit over the top? Does this make sense? I thought it did. Here are some synonyms for decadent:

corruption, debasement, decay, decline, degeneracy, degeneration, degradation , devolution, dissipation, dissolution, downfall, downgrade, fall, incontinence, lasciviousness, lechery, lewdness, licentiousness, regression, sensuality, sybaritism

These are not words that I would have chosen to describe our (triple chocolate and chocolate-peanut butter) cheesecakes. I was hoping to convey the idea of deliciousness. I perhaps should have used the words toothfull, dishy, or hunky-dory, just to stay in safe morphological territory. Safer still would have been words like esculent or comestible, words which look fancy but could also be used to describe celery.



I can see the nuanced trail that connects the ugly words above with our decadent cheesecakes when I consider other synonyms like excess, gluttony, and intemperance. Perhaps it was excessive to lick out the bowl in which we melted the chocolate. And I may have been an intemperant glutton when I consumed an entire slice of cheesecake in one sitting. But the cheesecake was decadent. How could I resist?

*The cheesecakes were donated to the children's ministry at our church. Some of the kids helped to organize a bake sale to raise money for a few local organizations who are busy sharing the gospel around town. They raised $150!

logos 'speech' + -phile 'friend, lover'

Romans 11:34a


For who can know what the Lord is thinking?

Car qui a connu la pensee du Seigneur?

Τίς γὰρ ἔγνω νοῦν κυρίου

quis enim cognovit sensum Domini

For some (not yet fully-known) reason, God made me a logophile. I have a deep, deep love for words. I think there is something lovely about orthography and syntax. I enjoy skimming through texts in other languages and trying to puzzle out the meaning. Verb conjugation and noun declension make me giddy.

It started my sophomore year of college, after my summer of salvation. I took a course on French linguistics and was instantly hooked. This class was followed by more phonetics courses, some serious novel reading, and random minor obsessions over various literary and linguistic topics.

Until this year, my love of words and language has found little practical application in my daily life. Sure, I've read (a lot), and have whimsically studied this and that, but my logophilia (I think I made that word up) has never had a serious impact on my life. This year, however, I'm swimming in it. As part of his third grade education, Chase has been learning French, Latin and Greek! And I've been learning, too!

The French is a familiar friend to me, having studied it from my freshman year of high school until I graduated from college. I've been surprised to find how quickly the language has come back to me. I remember the vocabulary and grammar and even the cute little teaching helps that I received from different French professors along the way. (For example, my high school teacher helped us to remember the names of the acute and grave accents by drawing a picture of "a cute grave" and placing the accents above a curved tombstone).

Latin and Greek are new and fresh languages for me (though ancient and dead), and I am loving every linguistic morsel. As a bonus, I get to learn along with Chase. Our study of Latin and Greek is less like a teacher-student relationship and more like a couple of friends trying to crack into a locked safe. Chase loves helping me with my Greek writing and pronunciation and I love helping him come up with ways to stuff all that information into tidy categories in his (endlessly stuffable) mind.

Someday, I will understand why God placed this odd love of words in me. Perhaps Chase (or I) will grow up to become a Bible translator or scholar. Maybe we'll just be able to turn a nice phrase or put an abstract idea into words so that someone can understand it in a new way. Whatever the purpose, may it be to the glory of God.

Romans 11:36

For everything comes from him; everything exists by his power and is intended for his glory. To him be glory evermore. Amen.

C'est de lui, par lui, and pour lui que sont toutes choses. A lui la gloire dans tous les siecles! Amen!

ὅτι ἐξ αὐτοῦ καὶ δι᾽ αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν τὰ πάντα αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας ἀμήν

quoniam ex ipso et per ipsum et in ipso omnia ipsi gloria in saecula amen

A Block of Calvin and Hobbes

Once Chase's fancy has landed on a topic, he'll not stop pursuing it until there's nothing left to learn or try. This last spring he fell madly in love with the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip by Bill Waterson (thanks to Mr. Josh, who loaned us the entire collection of books). When Chase has finished his work for the day, it's common for him to ask if he can read Calvin and Hobbes. We keep a volume handy in the van for long trips, and Chase has filled at least a half dozen notebooks with his own version of the comic which he calls "Calvin and Hillful" (which incidently is about two boys because Chase thought that drawing a tiger would be too difficult).

Chase has taken on some of Calvin's endearing traits: a deep appreciation for Saturdays, a healthy scepticism regarding the contents of dinner, and an aversion to girls. Like Calvin, Chase has his own characters that he likes to pull out on random occasions, like PX13 from Jupiter, who strangely enough emerges most often at the library, much to the chagrin of the lovely folks who work there.

In an attempt to direct some of his inspiration, I encouraged Chase to draw out a Calvin comic with chalk on the sidewalk squares in front of our house. After about a half an hour, I went outside to check his progress and was shocked to see that he had filled the sidewalk squares in front of four different houses! Here are a couple of my favorites:

It was great to see Chase take on the challenge of drawing a tiger.

Here Hobbes is ready to pounce on Calvin.

Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs: Calvin's favorite breakfast food

and one that I'm sure Chase wishes he could eat.

Around our house, we eat Flaxseed Frosted Fiber Bombs for breakfast.

Third Grade Texts

My previous post about third grade was supposed to include a brief description of the texts that we chose, but I was taken away by philosophical meanderings and never got around to it.

Our homeschool curriculum is roughly based on The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer. Years ago, before we seriously considered homeschooling, I randomly found Bauer's book in a bookstore and was inspired to research classical education. I was quickly hooked. Though the Hubs isn't quite as fired up about the whole thing as I am, he's given me his reasoned support.

We plan to continue our study of the Bible with Christian Studies Book II from Memoria Press. Last year we used a Bible curriculum from Veritas Press, but we tired of it about 1/3 of the way through. Fortunately, this year's study picks up right where last year's left off, with Joshua and the settling of the Promised Land. Of course our Bible study is always complemented with family-centered prayer and study as well as awesome teaching from the Children's Ministry at our local church.

This will be our third year using the RightStart math curriculum. Three years ago, at a homeschooling convention, I attended a break-out session on mathematics. I became interested in programs that emphasized conceptual understanding, as opposed to rote memory. Though this approach isn't classical and though these texts are kind of pricey, we have loved them. Chase has enjoyed the hands-on activities and I have come to understand more deeply some elementary math strategies I had either forgotten or was never taught.



The part of classical education that I was most taken with from the start was the learning of classical languages like Latin. In Kindergarten, we started with Latin and in first grade was started Greek and a little bit of French. We have continued these three languages and now that we are entering third grade, our curriculum will become a bit more demanding. In prior years, we used workbooks from Greek 'N' Stuff to learn the very basics of Latin and Greek (and my own head for French, since I have a degree in that language). We also used Prima Latina from Memoria Press on and off for Latin. This year we're using texts from Memoria Press for Latin, French, and English roots, and a Greek curriculum from Open Texture.

We have followed a winding path of language arts for the last few years. There's not enough room to list here all the many plans and texts that we've tried in the past. For spelling this fall, we will try Spelling Wisdom Book 2 from Simply Charlotte Mason and for grammar we will follow First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind Level 3 from Peace Hill Press. I routinely have Chase perform oral readings for me from scripture or literature and we memorize poetry, too. We are always in the middle of a classic work of literature. This year I hope to finish the Little House books and move onto The Little Prince, A Christmas Carol, and others.

Having completed Life Science, Earth Science, and Astronomy in first and second grades, we'll be moving on to chemistry this year. We'll learn about some very basic chemistry concepts from our Usborne Science Encylopedia and then follow up those lessons with some small experiments. Hopefully we'll be inspired for the science fair this year. We will learn about the Early Modern period in history this year with The Story of the World Vol. 3 by Susan Wise Bauer. We've used this history curriculum for the last two years and have enjoyed it a great deal. We'll also spend a great deal of time studying scientific and historical topics with the help of our local library.

These texts comprise the rough plan for our upcoming year, but we will add or subract as needed to meet our needs or the leading of the Spirit. There's always more to do than time to do it and we've found that there is no text or curriculum that perfectly 'fits' our homeschool. I'm looking forward to jumping into the work in a few weeks. Chase might have a different opinion after his fun-filled summer-- one that involves a week or two of feet dragging and potentially some kicking and screaming. Lord willing, we'll be chugging along smoothly by the end of September.

Flower Dissection

Being unhappy with our first grade study of plants, we set out this summer to (re)conquer grammar-stage botany. Our new text, Exploring Creation with Botany by Jeannie K. Fulbright has been challenging. I was aware that my knowledge of plant life was not extensive, but I had no idea there was so much I didn't know. There are endless Greek and Latin root words, unfamiliar botanical references, and anatomical jargon. More than once Chase and I have shared a sigh of woe and scratched our heads. But we're pressing forward and enjoying every minute.

In addition to our regular seed collecting, this week Chase tackled two projects with a big smile. The first was a collection of drawings of carnivorous plants. Some of these bizarre plants he was already familiar with, but the sundew caught his attention. He thought it was the scariest of the bunch. His second project was flower dissection. We carefully tore apart a rose and a day lily and identified the flowers' anatomy. Below you'll see our notebook entries. Chase loved peeling away the rose petals. I was struck by the delicate beauty of the lily. Its parts were simply gorgeous.

Nature Field Trip

Last week, Chase and I were lucky enough to go on an extended field trip with a group of homeschooling friends. Our day included a nature hike, pond skimming, soil study, and some lessons on simple machines. Though it was windy, we enjoyed ourselves and learned a lot of interesting things. We heard and saw a number of creatures including a turkey vulture, geese, a mallard, a house swallow, and a few different frog species. We put some of our pond friends under the microscope and were amazed. Chase wasn't terribly thrilled with the large leech that he discovered, but he got along nicely with the smaller critters. The soil study was interesting; I've never done anything like that before. We were tired when we arrived in the barn to learn about simple machines, but we had a nice time experimenting with the tools and toys.

Here Chase is holding a praying mantis egg sac.

Pond skimming!

Studying a soil sample.

Using a lever to weigh something.

Moshi Moshi!

I realize that 'moshi moshi' is the Japanese telephone greeting. I'm just gonna go with it, since I'm not greeting you in person and because it's a fun way to begin our account of Chase's latest project: a presentation of Japan. On March 20th, our homeschool group organized an International/History Fair. From a short list of options, Chase chose the country of Japan. Jim has been to Japan a few times for work and we've had three individuals stay with us from Japan, so we were able to pull together a large number of items that represented Japanese culture.

Here we see Chase-san in his Danny Larousso costume holding up an origami swan (which he, incidentally, didn't create). Behind him is a display board with his short essays on engaging Japanese topics like 'Sumo Wrestling' and 'Mt. Fuji'.

We had a great time preparing for the International Fair. Chase worked hard on his writing and he learned a lot. We were able to look through many of our 'artifacts' and remember the people and places that we (as a family) have connected with. Chase and I made an origami crayfish and monkey.

We served Cherry Blossom tea to those who were brave enough to try it. This tea is beautiful to prepare. It's made by pouring hot water over a preserved cherry blossom. If you gently poke at the flower with your chopstick (which may not be proper chopstick ettiquette), it opens up into a lovely blossom. The tea tastes a bit salty, I think because of the salt preserves that it's packaged in, but you can also taste just a hint of cherry. This tea was a gift from our dear friend Norio, who spent a day with us last Summer while he was at CMU learning English.

Have I mentioned that I love homeschooling? This is a good example of the fun and interesting things that we do every day! What a privilege!

Science Fair

Last week, our family participated in our first Science Fair. This year, for science, Chase is studying Earth science and astronomy. When we began planning for the Fair, we were studying rocks and minerals, so we decided to do a project about iron. We found some instructions on the internet for removing the iron from breakfast cereals with a magnet. Very interesting!

After learning some facts about iron and Nutrition Facts labels we started our experiment. We made slurries with our three cereals (Total, Cheerios and Honey Smacks) by blending them with water. Then we poured the slurries into plastic cups with magnets attached to the side. We stirred the slurries and the little iron bits stuck to the side of the cup where the magnet was. It was really neat! The Total cereal gave us a sizeable chunk of iron. It's pretty amazing that we eat that stuff! We titled the project, "Nails for Breakfast?"

During the process, Chase learning about the scientific method and about how to organize information and prepare a presentation. Last Friday morning, we set up at the Science Fair and Chase was drilled by the judges. When we returned Friday night for the awards ceremony, Chase was given 2nd place for his project. Hooray Chase! He looked very proud and a bit shy as he accepted his ribbon in front of everyone.

The science project was pretty fun for all of us. It was hard for me to find the balance between guiding and teaching Chase during the process and taking over the whole project, but in the end, I think we did alright. All the other kids who entered projects in the Science Fair did a great job, too. Homeschooling is fun!