We Have a Winner

I've put your names in a bowl, I've blind folded Matt, and the winner is...hang on...
Louise Moody
Congratulations!!!!

If you could just email (see the side bar) me an address, I will begin baking almost immediately (after I finish this sermon).

Thank you all so much for posting. I was in much need of some new blogs to read and I appreciate you're taking time to post and for reading here in the first place. Of course, I'm feeling terrible that I only drew one name and that you didn't all win, so I'll probably do this again soon. I didn't think about that on the front end of this. Alright, I've got to go plunk all those kids in bed so that I can think.

Thank You! and a Contest

It appears, having bothered to click on my site meter report today for the first time in weeks, that I have passed the 100,000 hits milestone by several hundred hits. THANK YOU to all you fabulous readers who stop by and read, perhaps even on days I was too lazy to post.

I'm not going to do a site redesign, as I did at 50, mostly because I still like the way this looks. And I'm sorry I wasn't paying attention and offer up a present to the person who hit that 100,000 mark. I will, however, because I have So Much Free Time, offer up a little contest.

Here's What to Do
Post a Comment here telling me 1. Who you are, 2. What your Three Favorite Blogs are (this one doesn't have to be on your list, heh), and 3. how you came to read this blog.

I'll let comments continue on for 24 Hours. Let me see, that means until, let's say, Friday morning. At which time I will print all the comments, put them in a hat, pick one out, and that will be the winner. To the winner I will mail 2 loaves of fancy bread.

Photoshoot

It seems a long time ago now (because it was) but I'm gradually sorting through this summer's pictures. One afternoon, during our two weeks in Texas, we dressed the two baby girl cousins up in fluffy dresses in order to photograph them. They were so cute. R watched in fascination and, halfway through, inserted himself into the picture. You can see that he was not dressed for this activity. And you can also see that he was Very pleased with himself.

At the Closing of the Day

I've essentially lost my voice.
After shouting 'Creation, Fall in the Garden, Cain and Able, The Flood...the Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt by Pharaoh Menes...Hagar and Ishmael...What are the Four Types of Connective Tissue...Please Sit Down' well, I didn't shout Please Sit Down. But it was a herculean effort to wake the little guys up.

And then going to choir and singing very high and very low...
I've essentially lost my voice. So Wednesdays are going to be a serious marathon-CC in the morning, Choir in the evening, pretending in between.

E: 'Mommy, pretend you don't know me. Pretend we're just children on vacation and we're looking for a family. You can call me E'.
Me: 'Ok, that sounds fun. I'll be Dehlia.'
E: 'Why? Why don't you want to be called Anne?'
Me: 'Because really, I prefer Dehlia.'
R: 'Pimpess!!!!!' (He's holding up a small plastic Disney Princess) 'Pimpess!!'
E: 'We live behind the couch, but we'll come out for meals, for school, to do our chores, and to play.'
Me: 'That's very helpful.'
E: 'We're going to be very polite strange children, but I don't think my bed is very comfortable, I only have a box and a small blanket.'
Matt: 'Well, it just so happens that we very recently lost our two children. You may have their beds if you like.'
E: 'I like to wear fancy dresses. Did your daughter like fancy dresses?'
Matt: 'Indeed she did.'
E: 'Well, that will be nice. But later I'll just be your child again.'
Me: 'Ok.'

Half of a post

For those of you who are getting tired of all the homeschooling chitchat, I'm sorry, as things settle out I'm sure I'll be able to think about many other things. Its just been on my mind for the last few weeks to comment on the strange juxtaposition or intersection (its Monday morning, I don't know what word I'm casting about for) between something like the Trivium and something like Catechesis of the Good Shepherd.

Catechesis is essentially Montessori based. Sophia Cavaletti, is inventor and founder, was friends with Maria Montessori and set out to fill out and provide the spiritual/religious element that Montessori herself never had time to. In other words, its all about 'Experience' and 'Prepared Environment' (I'm not being snarky with the scare quotes). The environment is key to the experience of the child as they meet God. The underlying most basic assumption of Catechsis is that the child already has an understanding of God, that God has already revealed himself to the child in creation, in love, in care. And that the child, especially at age 3 to 6, responds naturally and openly to God in prayer, thanksgiving and worship. Obviously, many things can happen before the age of three to interrupt or destroy a child's vision and experience of God, not least of them not being brought to church.

The prepared environment, or Atrium (entry way into full life in the church), sets the stage for the child to experience God and begin to gain vocabulary and meat and potatoes knowledge around that information. This is where it's so interesting, for me. There's no memorizing. There's no coloring of worksheets. There's no 'teaching' per say. The Catechists tells the stories of scripture (all carefully chosen) and uses various handmade materials to tell and retell the story and talk about, particularly 'wonder' about what God is doing, how the people in the story feel etc. The repetition naturally produces real knowledge of the scripture, and the use of the materials makes the connection between hands, heart, mind, and body. There's nothing more restful than watching a child speaking quietly to herself, moving little wooden sheep in and out of a green pasture, moving the Good Shepherd, opening and closing the gate.

Then I flip over to Classical Education, where I am not at all concerned (well, not too concerned) about the Religious Potential of the Child or their Experience of anything, my Main Concern is knowledge. So we are memorizing Everything-the Catechism, the times tables, the systems of the body, the Time Line, history dates and facts, Latin, language arts. They Are like Sponges. In three days of minimal repetition, they basically have the first week down.

About a year ago I mentioned to someone that we were thinking about Classical Education. The person I was talking to was a Montessori teacher, in a Montessori school. She was appalled, practically sick to her stomach. 'How can you do that? What about the Child? You're going to wreck the three year cycle!'

Well, we are on the three year cycle, the CC three year cycle.

Show Time

The Baby and the Flower
by A Kennedy
Once there was a baby in a flower and the baby fairy was inside of it and it was finking of her friend so she flew away to her friend's house and a big monster came but the knight came and killed it.

what does the Lord require of thee

I'm supposed to be working up sign up sheets for tomorrow's Mission and Ministry Fair. So, naturally, I thought a little blogging would be in order.

Well, I don't actually have anything interesting to write about, but I did find This very interesting and am curious about what you all think.

Now in the Fading Light of Day

Remarkably, the kids are quiet in bed, the house is clean, the cats were miraculously corralled inside. We Managed to do school for a Whole Day, and it went fine. The little kiddos were interested, attentive, obedient, funny, intelligent. We did everything on my list. I'm totally surprised. It helped that R went away for the whole day for quality play time with his favorite person. But actually, even if he had been here, I think it would have been fine.

I was about to say that 'I don't know what I was so afraid of' but that's not true. I have plenty to be afraid of-failure, disobedience, interruptions, not Getting it Done...
But perfect love casts out fear. So, having put aside the fear and done it, there was love instead, and grace, and a calm pleasant day. It helped, of course, that my expectations were unnecessarily low.

So there we are. We're a homeschooling family. And we go to church. And we embrace the culture of life over death. And every time McCain 'plays to his base' we are tickled pink. I'm going to gather up Calvin and Hobbes, my knitting, and go watch that speech in bed.

Ouch

I stayed up and watched the speech, and the spin...So we're starting school a little late this morning. For school E is wearing her Christmas dress, and A is dressed as Spider man.

As for the speech-Ouch!, I'd hate to be a member of the media. They're not used to meeting Ladies Who Can Dish It Back. What a glorious day.

So Many Things

I'm trying to decide how late to stay up. I REALLY want to see the Palin Speech. But its also been an extremely long day. Hmmmmmmm.

This post will be in Two Parts. Part One: the Palin Pick. Part Two: the First Day of School. And it will be scattered and badly written.


Part One: The Palin Pick
When John McCain announced his choice of Sarah Palin to be his running mate, I astonished my children by dancing ridiculously around the kitchen. I am positively delighted. I Might just vote now. In the days following I have tried to think carefully about why this choice is so interesting and delightful. These are in no particular order.
A. She can wear a skirt and does (see my long lost post, KJS in pants).
B. She didn't set out to be a politician. She joined the PTA, probably got mad about something, ran for local office, was successful and moved on up. She hasn't been sitting in the Senate for the last 30 years arguing with Bush's judicial nominees and otherwise being unhelpful (that would be Biden, if you're not getting who I'm talking about).
C. And this is really the most important, She is Pro Life. And not just politically, she's put her money where her mouth is.
D. I've been trying to understand the media frenzy over the last few days and why it Didn't bother me that she, as the mother of five children, is seeking high office. It is, as Matt pointed out, so interesting that liberals who generally think All women should go to work and leave their children in the hands of strangers for education and care (think Hillary Clinton), suddenly do not think that This woman should do This job, because she has children some of whom have issues. Presumably they believe she should stay home. And honestly, this is probably the most compelling part of the whole Pick, for me. This is where I am constantly struggling in my own professional/family life. I'm an ordained minister of the gospel. I do A Lot of work in the church, of every kind-pastoral care, preching, admin, healing prayer, bible study, christian ed, vestry, the list could go on and on-and I haven't really stopped doing any of that. But my kids are a Priority. They need to be educated, they need to be fed, they need to be read to every day, they need to be taught to clean the house (heh), and I'm not going to let someone else do it for me (although I get plenty of help). In this way I really do have the feminist legacy to thank. The fact that I can do both is because so many before me have. But that very legacy is now angry with me, and Sarah Palin, and every other woman who works in the world but refuses to Buy into that world-the so called 'culture of death', universal preschool, universal health care (God preserve us from such a wretched idea), secular relativism, government schools, I could go on and on. I'm not saying very well what I mean. I just think that Conservative Women are launching A New Age-the Age of Skirts, Babies and Awesome Coolness. Maybe I'll be able to write more coherently about this tomorrow.


Part Two: The First Day of School
I popped awake at 5:30 this morning and was So Prepared I was ready to go a whole half an hour early (I know this will never happen again). I was as nervous as the day I preached my Chapel Sermon in Seminary. We were so early we had time to stop for coffee (well, I did, the children did Not drink coffee, they didn't need it). And we didn't get lost, even though I'd planned for that eventuality. We arrived wildly early and had to dance in the parking lot until other people arrived. We found a series of big glorious school rooms with enormous windows and more toys than you could hope for.

For those of you who aren't caught up, we've joined the local Classical Conversations Group and I am tutoring the Fours and Fives or Abecedarians as they say in CC. A is in my class along with five other 4 and 5 year old little boys. E is in the First/Second grade class with a Fabulous tutor. E was deeply in love at the end of the morning and cried half the way home.

Spending the morning with six little boys proved to be as challenging as I imagined it would be. My expectations were completely met. But, I had a thoroughly good time. They are interesting little guys, and I'm going to enjoy every Wednesday with them. I'm also going to crash into the ground every Wednesday afternoon, Guaranteed, after waving my arms, marching around the room, jumping up and down, clapping, singing, and "teaching" drawing.

Tomorrow we start our time at home-Reading/Phonics, Math, Piano, a little French, Bible, CC Review and Little House on the Prairie. I'm going to use Math U See because Saxon (just even looking at the cover) makes me want to weep and moan. I think we're going to have a jolly good time.

This afternoon, while I slept blissfully on the couch (first time I've been able to sleep in weeks, that's how nervous I've been), E went next door and had her second loose tooth dislodged. So now I have to collect some change and go pry the tooth out of her little hand.

The Plunge

I have distracted myself with many things over the last few days-the Palin Pick (Thank You Sweet Sweet Baby Jesus), the laundry, my camera, baking four batches of bread in one evening-all in the effort to avert my eyes from the ever encroaching first hour of School. I feel like I'm standing on the high dive looking down at a placid sea and everything's fine, except that I'm afraid of heights (in this case my children and their education) and so jumping off the board is going to be unpleasant. I know I have to do it. I know its probably going to be better than I expect in many ways and possibly worse and that we'll be fine. But none of that knowledge has any bearing on the state of my nerves. I remember a long lost high school boyfriend insisting to me that if I just Understood what he was trying to say, I would Feel better about it. I told him 'Malarchy' at the time, and I stick by it.

I think perhaps, the root of my discontentious anxiety is the fact that my oldest child is beginning to be rational. This has never happened to me before. The cozy cacoon of me and my husband and a lot of little children who are lovingly put to bed before quiet dinner time is shattered by one (and now two really) insisting on staying up to eat it with us, and Talk and Relate. This Talking and Relating has interfered itself in my preparations for school, offering unasked-for advice about how the school room should be arranged, whether we should have desks or a table, whether we should have a chalk board or a white board (the fact that we are having a board at all, in fact; we Are having one, even though I had not at all planned on it), at what hour we will color and do paste and when lunch will be served.

And, to my chagrin, this little person has inserted herself into my kitchen. Her job, every morning, is to unload and reload the dishwasher while her brother clears the table, wipes it down, and then cleans up the bathroom.
'I'll do it like this, Mom' (note the tone of the word 'Mom'). 'I'll put all these dishes here and then I'll call you and you'll come and tell me its fine and then I'll mop the floor and feed the birds.'
'Are you trying to be Cinderella?' I asked, 'Because you're not.'
'I know,' she said, 'but I'm still going to do all the work in the whole house.'
At which point I realized that I am now sharing My Kitchen with another female, and that I'm going to have to go on sharing this kitchen until she meets some poor unsuspecting guy and goes off to organize her own kitchen.
'If you don't do it exactly the way I tell you,' I said, 'and disobey me on Purpose, then you will have to do your own work and your brother's work tomorrow.'
'Oh' she said with her nose turned up, 'Alright.'
'Its my kitchen,' I said.
'I know.'

So, we will take the plunge, maybe tomorrow just to get our feet wet (skipping the high dive, as it were), but for sure on Wednesday-all the way, no holding back. Ack.

A Glimpse of that Tooth, Its Lack There Of

 

 

A Harvest

E is collecting apples for an apple pie. The neighbor's tree hangs over into our yard and is well laden with green apples turning slowly red. But you have to climb into the middle of a large bush to access the branches. E has spent all day in the middle of the bush, nearly to the top, picking and picking. She brings the apples in and lines them up along the counter, counting them each time. Now she says there are one hundred and one apples on the counter.

Later we are going to sew. The church, in an alarming and graceful fit of generosity gave me a fine new Brother Sewing Machine (XL5500) and some cash to go with it. And there was cake (a large portion of which we brought home) and a song. So thrilling (Thank You!!!!). I came home from church and fussed with the machine for a long while, trying to get it to sew. By nine o'clock I had whipped out the skeletons of Two Tea Cozies and organized spools and pins and scraps into various boxes. I need to go find stuffing for the cozies. I'm thinking about ripping up a pillow, rather than going to the store. I have too many pillows anyway. Its very hard to sit on this money and not rush out and fling it to the far winds on fancy shiny material and pretty thread. But I think it would be better if I knew what I wanted to make first, and if I could make it, and then go buy the material. We shall see how my will holds up.

This has been an historically lucrative birthday. Besides all the apples and the sewing machine I am in the possession of a large blackberry pie (well, I was in the possession of), a creamy single pearl on a delicate chain, a pair of embroidered and healed mosque shoes and a vast array of new clothes that make me look extraordinarily thin. Its a real shame all the festivities have come to a close. And the Olympics are over. Matt mentioned that the Democratic Convention is leaping in to take its place, but I'm pretty sure it will not fill the Olympic Void. I suppose instead I will have to go to bed early, from now on, and get enough rest, and do a reasonable amount of work every day, rather than groping around in a stupor.

A Favorite Thing

I'm sitting here because I can't bear to watch my children slowly clean the living room. I did not wreck it, so I am not going to clean it. But as they wander around vaguely picking up little toy knights, socks, paper dolls, crayons and tea towels, every fiber in my being longs to cry out to Hurry Up and then rush in and do it myself. So I've come down here to get out of their way. I know, from experience, that they will do an excellent job, and it won't even take them that long, but I can't bear to watch.
Instead, I'm watching this.

I'm so young

Matt: How old do you think Mommy is today?
A: Open a Present! Open a Present!
Matt: How old do you think Mommy is today?
E: Three months, No! Sixteen.
Anne: Thank you. That's a lovely thing to say.
E: No, seventeen.
Anne: Still, that's very generous.
Matt: No, Mommy s 32.
A: That's Really Old.
Matt: I know.

Week In Review

As so many of you have pointed out, I've been seriously not blogging. BUT I have been working very hard on my house. I have emptied out most all the cupboards, continuing to throw and throw and throw and reorganize. I have two rooms left to do. I've been working over my calendar and to do list trying to hammer life down, as best I can. I've been on the phone nearly all the time (not something I'm very good at). I've moved Matt out of his office and helped make him a new one. I've painted his old office and made it into a school room. And, I've colored with E and discussed the nature, purpose and being of the Tooth Fairy.

Its true, she has lost her first tooth. I wasn't prepared. None of my life up to this point has prepared me for this moment. Not only do I not know the Size of the Tooth Fairy (is she very tiny? how does she carry all those teeth? why does she collect teeth? what does she do with them?), I did not know the going rate on teeth, nor how to extract a tooth from the tight fist of a sleeping baby girl who refuses any longer to call me 'mommy', instead tipping her chin up and saying 'Mom' with an unnecessary tone of authority. And I don't know how to cope with the fact that she is 6 years old and she's only going to get bigger and more beautiful, and I am only going to get smaller and more shrivelly. (By smaller, I mean shorter, I will probably continue to get wider.) I couldn't go to sleep several nights this week worrying about where she would decide to go to college.

And, tomorrow is my birthday. As a present to myself, I'm going to lay around in the morning with my kids and then probably make them pancakes. May God preserve me through this next year.

Note To

He Who Owns the Cattle on a Thousand Hills (presumably God and the blessed person working for Him)

Thank You

As if I had time

She's ten months old today, and she appears to be inching across the floor on her two feet, which could be, I suppose, construed as walking. Just what we need, a minute infant walking around the house instead of sitting down or lying on her back like a sensible baby.

So much is changing so quickly. E, in a fit of gender identity, decided this week that she could no longer share a room with her brothers but that there should be a "Boys Room" and a "Girls Room". Taking the posture and attitude of the Persistent Widow, she wore us down. Matt moved a big grown up twin bed into the nursery and E, quietly and disobediently, has been moving stuff into the room before I can make place. Its now almost impossible to walk the the door. I was under the mistaken impression that I would have another year or so before we had to make this move.

Regardless, she is having the time of her life. She wakes up and plays with the baby in the morning keeping them both occupied. She picks out matching clothes for them to wear and then shoves her screaming and unhappy sister into them. At night she goes in and wakes her up trying to be companionable. Meanwhile the boys fight and shout in the other room.

When Sin Enters In

I didn't mean to cease blogging for a whole week, but I happened to fall into sin and its completely preoccupied me. I have literally (in the most cliched way possible) been Freaking Out all week. The nature of this sinful freak out? I, generally the most Mary of women, turned into a raving frothing Martha. Its been coming on for a while. While daily reading the scriptures, reading great posts like this one, praying, ostensibly "seeking the will of God" I was Actually setting record unreasonable expectations for myself and my house, for my husband and children, indeed, for God himself. Each day of the past month they have reached ever higher until today it all crashed down about my fat ankles. I was reduced, this morning, when my plans were snatched away from me and I was forced to consider alternatives for my very Important Day of organizing my house, to hysterical whining on the phone to Matt about how bad my life was.

Needless to say, God and everyone had had enough and I was pulled back into reality, complaining wildly. I exaggerate, a little, not too much. Mostly I'm meekly grateful to have some perspective restored, and, unsurprisingly, some real progress on the house. When I finally stopped complaining, and started working, I ended up getting something done. Tomorrow I will return to the Kingdom of Blogging, as I leave aside the Kingdom of Anxiety. Goodnight.

Just a few years

I'm desperately trying to find something to wear. Matt is under the mistaken impression that just because I have a closet full of clothes, I therefore have something suitable to wear to a fancy restaurant, or anywhere for that matter. Also, I'm desperately trying to find some carpet cleaner because the kitties (this is not the official blog post on that subject, believe me, there is much to tell) out of fury and anger, relieved themselves in Matt's suitcase in our room (oh, they knew it was his, they're very smart cats). I know, we've been home a week and we shouldn't still have suitcases out, but I haven't managed to unpack them yet, so they're still there.

So, we've been married seven years. Matt thinks that he married up, but really, there's no way I could endeavor to deserve him. And to celebrate that fact, we're going to a new restaurant in Binghamton, a fancy one. We'll see. And I'll tell you tomorrow about what an interesting and lovely person Matt is, but for now, I've got to get my hands on that carpet cleaner or I shall veritably loose my mind.