Simple Woman's Daybook 4/28

Outside my window...

It's supposed to be sixty degrees today with rain expected. We still wake up to a 64-degree house. Spring means warmer days, but the nights and mornings are still cold. The grass has greened up beautifully, but the leaf buds are late on all the trees around here, and many people, like us, were disappointed that their tulips didn't bloom (too cold for too long, with one April snow). Or, it's time to put in new bulbs this year. The library's tulips look great.

The girls are riding their bikes around the driveway and the boys are playing basketball.

I am thinking...

This is nearly impossible to answer because I'm always thinking. My life is lived in a cloud of thought, and only the children's needs, my love for them, and my responsibilities toward them and toward God propel me forward, doing the next thing. If left to myself, I would read and write all day. The good news about this is that it's easy to remember to pray throughout the day, and the bad news is that I'm not always fully present, unless a lesson, cuddling, or read-aloud is happening.

The chores give me plenty of time to think, though a mother's thoughts are always interrupted. My need for quiet solitude keeps me up late at night at least 4 nights a week. In fact, Jane Eyre was finished at 3:30 AM one morning, because I couldn't read uninterrupted during the day. I can survive on 5 hours of sleep, but it isn't ideal. The kids get up between 7:15 and 8:15 every morning.

I am thankful...

~ for spring and the joy the outdoors gives my children.

~ for online friends and church friends.

~ that the fuel pump went out in the van in our driveway last night as we were getting ready to go to the spring church picnic, rather than in the AWANA church driveway twenty minutes earlier. That would have been a disaster. Only the boys and my husband went to the picnic, as husband's car is 25 years old and can't accomodate car seats or all six of us. The girls were crying and angry at first but they got over it.

Paul entered the dessert contest at the picnic with peanut butter eggs, which taste better than Reeses. You won't be able to stop eating them so don't try the recipe. Just my two cents. :) He didn't win but he did get complimented, so he was happy.

~ My father-in-law's air conditioning went out a couple weeks ago in Florida, and he had just gotten it fixed the day of our regularly scheduled phone call (4x week husband talks to his father for 90 minutes at a time. His father is still living alone and doing well, at 91 years old).

Our AC has been out since last fall. Husband mentioned it and asked if it was the motor or the compresser that went bad on his father's. Anyway, the next phone call his father said he sent money to help fix our air conditioning. We have thus far collected $300 in an envelope for AC repair, so we didn't really need money for it, but for whatever reason his father took this problem to heart. He sent money for the children's education funds, but he doesn't otherwise send money. This is a new thing.

About the same day he wrote the check, we had prayed earnestly at morning devotions and lunch prayer about the $76 we owe for our two sponsor children. We usually pay it at the first of the month, but that couldn't happen this month. The AC money from Grandpa was God responding to our prayer on the very day we prayed it. I had great faith and I wasn't worried (this learned from experience only), because if you seek first His kingdom, your daily bread and your tithes and offerings will be provided for. Not so all your wants, but that is part of God's chiseling of our hearts and minds--that we wouldn't crave so many things.

The rest of the AC money will go to the fuel pump repair on the van. God is so amazing always--especially when we give him the chance to be amazing.

I wish we could meet all our obligations ourselves, but if that were the case we wouldn't see the hand of God in our daily lives, and we wouldn't pray for our daily bread. Being low-income is bittersweet, but without choosing it I wouldn't be able to homeschool.

In the kitchen...

It's roast chicken tonight with sweet potatoes and steamed veggies, and homemade chicken noodle soup with honey cornbread tomorrow. Other plans this week are navy bean soup, shepherd's pie, chicken enchiladas, and spaghetti casserole. 

I am wearing...

long jean skirt, nylons, long-sleeved pretty fitted tee, and a sweater. The house is still cold around lunch time.

I am creating...

chaos with the spring clothing switch. It would be done by now, if not for all the books I've enjoyed reading lately. There's a pile for Goodwill, a pile for a child at church, a pile that will fit the kids in a couple months, and the remaining clothes that need to be washed or rinsed and hung up in the closets. Right about now, it always seems ideal to dress as the Indians do, with a couple leather dresses or loin cloths. We spend too much time with clothes around here, partly because I like the kids to be clean, and our yard is full of mud this time of year. I make them change when we go somewhere, and that only creates more laundry.

I am going...

no where until the van is fixed.

I am wondering...

if anyone actually reads all my ramblings. Daybooks are usually short and sweet.

I am reading...

A Noel Piper (the famous John Piper's wife) book entitled Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God, which a woman from church gave me, and a book entitled King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry, a Newbery medal book that is part of the boys' curriculum this year.




I am hoping...

to be done with the clothing switch today.

I am looking forward to...

a living room cleared of all clothing.

I am learning...

something new everyday about being a mom.

Around the house...

the carpet needs vacuumed, the floors need sweeping, and then there's the clothing and dishes. I had headaches Saturday and Sunday so only laundry, dishes, bathrooms, and cooking got done.

How is your day going, my friends? How can I pray for you?

Kindergarten Teacher Resigns Over Testing

Washington Post image

This filled me with tears. A veteran Cambridge, Massachusetts teacher resigns after the district piled on the assessments year after year, starting with No Child Left Behind. More and more was required of her, taking her further away from the children's needs.

Washington Post : My Job Is Now About Tests and Data--not children. I quit.

Below is a copy and paste of her resignation letter, but click on the link above for the whole story.

February 12, 2014
I am writing today to let you know that I am resigning my position as PreK and Kindergarten teacher in the Cambridge Public Schools. It is with deep sadness that I have reached this decision, as I have loved my job, my school community, and the families and amazing and dedicated faculty I have been connected with throughout the district for the past eighteen years. I have always seen myself as a public school teacher, and fully intended to work until retirement in the public school system. Further, I am the product of public schools, and my son attended Cambridge Public Schools from PreK through Grade 12. I am and always have been a firm believer in quality public education.

In this disturbing era of testing and data collection in the public schools, I have seen my career transformed into a job that no longer fits my understanding of how children learn and what a teacher ought to do in the classroom to build a healthy, safe, developmentally appropriate environment for learning for each of our children. I have experienced, over the past few years, the same mandates that all teachers in the district have experienced. I have watched as my job requirements swung away from a focus on the children, their individual learning styles, emotional needs, and their individual families, interests and strengths to a focus on testing, assessing, and scoring young children, thereby ramping up the academic demands and pressures on them. Each year, I have been required to spend more time attending classes and workshops to learn about new academic demands that smack of 1^st and 2^nd grade, instead of Kindergarten and PreK. I have needed to schedule and attend more and more meetings about increasingly extreme behaviors and emotional needs of children in my classroom; I recognize many of these behaviors as children shouting out to the adults in their world, “I can’t do this! Look at me! Know me! Help me! See me!” I have changed my practice over the years to allow the necessary time and focus for all the demands coming down from above. Each year there are more. Each year I have had less and less time to teach the children I love in the way I know best—and in the way child development experts recommend. I reached the place last year where I began to feel I was part of a broken system that was causing damage to those very children I was there to serve.

I was trying to survive in a community of colleagues who were struggling to do the same: to adapt and survive, to continue to hold onto what we could, and to affirm what we believe to be quality teaching for an early childhood classroom. I began to feel a deep sense of loss of integrity. I felt my spirit, my passion as a teacher, slip away. I felt anger rise inside me. I felt I needed to survive by looking elsewhere and leaving the community I love so dearly. I did not feel I was leaving my job. I felt then and feel now that my job left me.

It is with deep love and a broken heart that I write this letter.

Sincerely,
Suzi Sluyter

Hitty Her First Hundred Years - Newbery Medal 1930

The Newbery Medal, the most prestigious American children's book award, was awarded to Hitty Her First Hundred Years in 1930.

Grade level Equivalent: 8.1

Lexile Measure^®: 1180L

Overview: Hitty is a doll of great charm and character. It is indeed a privilege to publish her memoirs, which, besides being full of the most thrilling adventures on land and sea, also reveal her delightful personality. One glance at her portrait will show that she is no ordinary doll. Hitty, or Mehitable as she was really named, was made in the early 1800s for Phoebe Preble, a little girl from Maine. Young Phoebe was very proud of her beautiful doll and took her everywhere, even on a long sailing trip in a whaler. This is the story of Hitty's years with Phoebe, and the many that follow in the life of a well-loved doll.

I've begun reading this to the children after breakfast and lunch. Not only is it a living history book, spanning one hundred years starting in the 1800's, but the prose is charming and engaging and the characters lively and expertly developed. Your child's vocabulary will be enriched, her imagination engaged, and you, dear reader, will be charmed beyond belief at this delightful story, the first of its kind. My boys are not amused thus far, but the book promises lots of adventure, even on the high seas and in India, so I think they'll be smitten, as I am, in no time.

There is a newer version reworded by Rosemary Wells, which I encourage you to avoid. Reading the original prose is always better.

Rachel Lyman Field (September 19, 1894 – March 15, 1942) was an American novelist, poet, and author of children's fiction. She is best known for her Newbery Medal–winning novel for young adults, Hitty, Her First Hundred Years, published in 1929.

Field was born in New York City, and, as a child, contributed to the St. Nicholas Magazine. She was educated at Radcliffe College. Her book Prayer for a Child was a recipient of the Caldecott Medal for its illustrations by Elizabeth Orton Jones. According to Ruth Hill Vigeurs in her introduction to Rachel Field's children's book Calico Bush, published in 1931, Field was "fifteen when she first visited Maine and fell under the spell of its 'island-scattered coast'. Calico Bush still stands out as a near-perfect re-creation of people and place in a story of courage, understated and beautiful."

Field was also a successful author of adult fiction, writing the bestsellers Time Out of Mind (1935), All This and Heaven Too (1938), and And Now Tomorrow (1942). She is also famous for her poem-turned-song "Something Told the Wild Geese". Field also wrote the English lyrics for the version of Franz Schubert's Ave Maria used in the Disney film Fantasia (film). Field married Arthur S. Pederson in 1935, with whom she collaborated in 1937 on To See Ourselves.

Field was a descendant of David Dudley Field. She died at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, California on March 15, 1942, of pneumonia following an operation.

Rachel Field also wrote a story about the nativity of Jesus Christ titled "All Through the Night".     source

Do you have childhood memories of Hitty, and have you ever owned a Hitty doll?

2nd image

Musings On Education (A Thomas Jefferson Education review)

The Simple Homeschool site recommends a book entitled A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver DeMille.

Having seen it on the site for a couple years, I finally purchased a used copy from Amazon and began reading. While it's fairly smooth reading, it didn't take me long to notice that the book was never professionally edited (even my 2nd edition copy). It's essentially a self-published book printed by the still-unaccredited university the author founded (George Wythe College).

If you research this author on the web you will find that he has a couple degrees from diploma-mill colleges that are now defunct. His only real degree is a BA from BYU. While I found the book very inspiring and even life-changing--I'll explain why in a minute--it's not well-researched and it makes a few seriously flawed statements (you should learn Spanish, for example, by reading Don Quixote in the original language), though it contains outstanding quotes to reflect on as well. The author clearly has a worthwhile vision.

An ambitious entrepreneur, Oliver DeMille is expert at creating websites and businesses (with his friends) that look official and impressive, but have little substance. He co-authored another book, LeaderShift, which is listed as a NYT bestseller, but only because the authors manipulated the market, as is common now, by arranging for bulk orders. Any book can appear on a bestseller list if many copies are ordered in the same week, but the appearance will quickly wane, while still allowing an author to claim himself a New York Times Bestselling-author. Forever. While this is legal and becoming more common, it's unethical. Entries on bestseller lists now come with an asterisk if bulk orders were reported.

So why did the book inspire me? Why do I claim it is life-changing? It encourages every parent, student, and teacher to be well read in the classics, and to discuss the classics together and write about them. I was so inspired that I've read more books in the last two weeks than I have in the last 6 months. (That's why I haven't appeared on this blog much lately.)

What positive change has come from this? My mind is filled less with mundane, laundry-related thoughts; I'm thinking intentionally more of the time. The difference is a legacy-living daily existence, rather than a get-through-the-day mentality. Great books, or biographies about great people, pull our minds up from our floor-scrubbing.

Don't get me wrong: scrubbing the floor and having a family to scrub it for, is a blessing. Serving others is worthwhile and lofty, but we need inspiration in our days. (I don't mean Facebook or any other time waster we deceive ourselves as being worth our time.) I mean inspiration from the Bible and from Great Books.

It's true, knowledge can puff us up and make us snobby, so we'd do well to balance all our reading with plenty of Scripture, which humbles us before God. (1 Corinthians 8:1 ...Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.)

Classics, by their timelessness, lofty ideals, and picture of the human condition, remind us of our place in time and history, and they push us to make our lives matter. We honor God by using our time wisely--by seeing our lives as a gift from Him--and yet so often we think nothing of wasting time.

Not only am I reading more myself, but I'm asking my boys more questions about their reading, requiring more of them in terms of analysis, comparison, and articulating how a book can impact their lives.

I've always believed in the power of good literature, so many of Oliver DeMille's assertions affirmed my own educational philosophy. Still, I haven't been an avid reader since becoming a mom of four, and now, thanks to this book, that is changing. The book fired me up as a learner, teacher, mother, and citizen.

Mentorship versus teaching is a big part of the book. To mentor effectively, the parent/teacher must continue her own education so as to inspire her students. Inspiration is the goal--creating lifelong learners--and the classics do that beautifully. Great Books inspire us.

Do I think my children are likely to become societal leaders if they are classically-trained, as the author asserts (even promises)? I don't know what God's plan is for my children's futures, but I believe they're certainly more likely to become leaders if they are exposed to good books and biographies, and if they are taught to think, rather than just regurgitate.

Public schools (conveyer-belt schools, he terms them) prepare the nation's youth to take jobs/go to college someday, with some propaganda thrown in. What's missing are well-trained minds to lead our country forward. Brick-and-mortar schools don't emphasize thinking, evaluating, leading, and inventing.

DeMille acknowledges that public schools can have some very good teachers, but asserts that most teachers are mediocre, teach-to-the-test types who fail to inspire students to pursue knowledge for knowledge's sake. Rather, public schools push students to learn just enough to get a good job. Leadership, statesmanship, entrepreneurship--needed so that our country and its freedoms survive--are neglected.

It wasn't until I started teaching my boys with Sonlight's curriculum that I realized how deficient my own education had been. My public-school teachers primarily used textbooks, except in an honors english class I had in highschool, which was superior to a college-prep course but still not ideal. In college I chose a Renaissance-inspired school at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD's - Revelle College), but even it did not classically train me, though it came close, forcing me to take calculus and physics as well as the humanities. I'm learning so much more now, as a homeschool mom, than I ever have before. And what's more, my learning is inspiring me!

When my older son saw me so absorbed with Jane Eyre earlier this week, he commented, "Maybe I should read that book. It must be good if you love it this much."

If you've been wanting to homeschool and your husband is resistant, I highly recommend DeMille's book to inspire you and your husband toward what could be (even as inspiration to supplement your child's public education). Despite DeMille's questionable credentials, he's hit on something good here, along with John Taylor Gatto's (Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling of America). Gatto's is a well-researched, well-written book.

Dumbing Us Down Overview: With over 70,000 copies of the first edition in print, this radical treatise on public education has been a New Society Publishers’ bestseller for 10 years! Thirty years in New York City’s public schools led John Gatto to the sad conclusion that compulsory schooling does little but teach young people to follow orders like cogs in an industrial machine. This second edition describes the wide-spread impact of the book and Gatto’s "guerrilla teaching."

John Gatto has been a teacher for 30 years and is a recipient of the New York State Teacher of the Year award. His other titles include A Different Kind of Teacher (Berkeley Hills Books, 2001) and The Underground History of American Education (Oxford Village Press, 2000).

How would you evaluate your own education? Did it train you to think, and were you inspired toward life-long learning?

Thankful Thursday 4/24

 

Psalm 107:1 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!   

 

Peter, age 12

~ my flowers

~ God

~ trees

~ my pine tree

~ my garden

~ my siblings

~ the love of my family

 

Thanksgiving is good, but thanksliving is better. -- Matthew Henry

 

Paul, age 10

~ my cousin's Easter party

~ loving mother, father, siblings

~ chocolate

~ paints and construction paper

~ that I'm doing well in math

 

 “He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.” -- Epictetus

 

Mary, age 7

~ my brothers

~ my cousin's Easter party

~ my sister

~ my mom and my dad

~ that we have a beautiful tree in front of our window to look at

~ warm clothes

~ that my mom loves me and she always tucks me in

 

“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” -- William Arthur Ward

 

Beth, age 5

~ my brothers

~ my sister

~ ballet dress, ballet shoes, ballet DVD's from library

~ that I can learn to do ballet every day

~ my dollies

~ that I love God and my family

 

Momma

~ Africa missionary stories I read recently: David Livingstone, Mary Slessor

~ Jane Eyre, which I reread earlier this week

~ the way excellent books expand the mind and horizons, and give us a better sense of our place in history and time

~ Beth, who still gives and needs lots of cuddles

~ Mary's determined, inspiring mind

~ Peter's appreciation of God's glorious creations

~ Paul's steadfastness and desire to better himself

~ a strong, loving husband

~ the Lord giving us life, and meaning to accompany it

~ the joy that comes from knowing God

 

What are you thankful for, friends?