homeschool daybook: Madame Riviere! Texas! untold gambol and mischief!

October 18, 2011

Back to the books today:

• reading the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 13 and journalling

• reading a few pages from chapter 3 in Evidence That Demands A Verdict (while we're still in a bit tedious section on the historical reliability of the New Testament, Natalie is very engaged with this reading.)

• Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, Texas and Mexico, 1835-1848.  How appropriate, right?!?  Natalie created a three-level outline and added important dates and names to her timeline.  

• She's plowing away at Uncle Tom's Cabin with a rather long chapter 9 today ("In Which It Appears That a Senator Is but a Man")  I'm reminded the power of reading to enlarge our vocabularies.  For example: Mrs. Bird, looking the very picture of delight, was superintending the arrangements of the table, ever and anon mingling admonitory remarks to a number of frolicsome juveniles, who were effervescing in all those modes of untold gambol and mischief that have astonished mothers ever since the flood.

• She did another math workbook page and is creating a "lesson plan" to teach me some of the algebraic concepts she is learning.  This ought to be interesting.  Believe me, you should wish to be a fly on the wall.

For the remainder of the afternoon, we spent a good chunk of time talking about how we want to learn art this year.  Really, there are three levels we want to interweave:  art appreciation, drawing/painting/sculpting and plain old fun creative projects.  For the first layer, art appreciation, Natalie is reading through the historical era of 1850 to present day in The Story of Painting by H.W. Janson.  I want Natalie to hear the story of artists' lives as part of the whole civilization.  So to hear about the work of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780–1867) in the context of the Napoleanic wars and the tumult of revolutionary ideals means something more than just a dry reading of a list of names in a textbook.  She is adding entries to an art appreciation journal, names of artists, art movements and specific works of art.  Today we spent a short time studying one of Ingres' works, Madame Riviere (1806).

We noticed the style of her dress as compared to the previous Baroque and Rococo-inspired billowy women's apparel.  We noted the balance of the photo and the attempt at realism (look at that sash!).  We discussed what it would mean to be a painter in the same era that the art of photography was growing in popularity.  

she caught me!

For the second layer of our art curriculum, Natalie will be practicing her skills of drawing (first term), painting (second term) and modeling/sculpting (third term).  For now, we are using the book Drawing On the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards.  Natalie spent an hour and a half sketching with pencil her self-portrait, her hand, a face of a friend from memory.  I think she had fun, but it's hard to relax when our efforts don't match the image in our minds.  I'm hoping the techniques she learns will help her gain confidence, but if any of you have a suggestion for a different method please do comment!

The third layer of our art curriculum is just the random, fun and creative project.  Last week she made posterboard signs.  In a few weeks she's going to learn some cake decorating skills from her aunt.  I'm hoping to make some thrifty, nifty Christmas gifts together.  

It was a good day.  More to share tomorrow!

Monday Mix Tape:becoming part of Christ Church

Welcome to Monday Mix Tape, in which I pretend I'm Ira Glass.  You know, I choose a theme and share with you several variations on the theme from the worlds of art, faith and culture.  To keep up the fun little facade of making a weekly mix tape, I label each of these finds as "track 1". "track 2" and so on (and just like the stack of mixtapes you've got hidden in a box in your attic, you never know when you might see some love song from Journey or Lionel Richie show up here).

This week, I'm moving off course from my reflection in the spiritual disciplines to share week full of stories and pictures and songs and poems and lessons from our first two months becoming part of Christ Church Austin.  I've been saving up reflections and they're starting to spill over; I thought it best not to wait any longer.  For this week's mix tape a random selection of words, images and songs that represent our welcome into this new church family and a few of the artists we've met so far.

track 1: photograph

Our son, Alex, was baptized this weekend.  Our friend Heather captured this moment and I can't stop looking at the photo.  Hopefully I'll have a chance this week to write more of the details from an eventful and delightful weekend.  In the meantime, there's this photo to speak much more eloquantly than I of this crammed-with-heaven earth.

track 2: new music

We've enjoyed learning several new-to-us worship songs from the gifted worship team at Christ Church.  Here are recordings of a few:

*for a free chord chart for this song, click here*

track 3:  links

I've had the privilege to befriend a couple of bloggers at Christ Church.  

• I've told you about  my new friend Micha.  She blogs at mama:monk
• Last week, at our first Christ Church writer's gathering, I met Meghan who blogs at Spicy Magnolia.
• And though I haven't yet met the missionaries supported by Christ Church, I have begun following at least one missionary family's blog.  The Hines family are missionaries to Uganda and they blog at The Hines Family.
• Lastly, our Rector, Cliff Warner, updates the Christ Church blog weekly here.

track 4: bands

Since this is Austin and all, I have a feeling I'll find more musicians playing out solo or in bands, but for now I've only met one.  Mark Fisher is part of an indie / Celtic & folk band, Raising Jane.  I'm looking forward to hearing the music they've been busy recording over the past few months.  In the meantime, you can listen to samples here and purchase music on the band's facebook page or at their website. 

Here's a sneak peek of the album they've been recording.  The song is titled Siulil a Run and is sung in both Gaelic and English.  

Siulil a Run by Mark Fisher 3

track 5: film

I haven't met them yet, but know of their work.  John and Rachel Nehme arrived at Christ Church not too many months before us, having moved to Austin to work with a group of people making a documentary called Trade In Hope.  The film's purpose is to tell the story of American children being sold for sex and to raise awareness of what we, the viewers, can do to put an end to sex trafficking.  Recently Trade in Hope raised funds through Kickstarter and met their goal!

The trailer:

secret bonus track: dance

There's a long story behind this performance.  In brief, we'd been told that the rector at Christ Church (and Brian's new boss) could break dance.  It's not that I thought people were lying, it's just that I couldn't put the picture of him from what I'd seen in church and the picture of him break dancing in my imagination at the same time.  At the close of the annual retreat talent show, Brian put him on the spot.  The worship pastor found the right music and the whole room began chanting "Break Dance Cliff!"  I'm rather impressed with his willingness to jump right in.  While you're watching the video, please notice his son at the back of the stage performing beat box.  

linking today:

Love it!

homeschool daybook: current events with the real teacher in the family

October 17, 2011

This is Natalie's first Monday to spend some of her morning work with Dad.  Brian read to her from chapter 3 of Evidence That Demands a Verdict.  This chapter covers the historical reliability of the New Testament and should be great fodder for conversation!  

On Mondays, Brian will be teaching Natalie current events and government. Today Brian gave her a foundation for the study of current events. As a primer for the upcoming presidential election news coverage, Brian gave Natalie some samples of presidential campaigns and some questions for her to research about challenging reelection campaigns in our nation's history.  I loved sitting inside listening to them talk together.  

Here's a pop quiz for all of you:  What U.S. president served one term in office, was defeated for reelection but returned four years later as president?  (hint:  on his way out of the office, the out-going first lady turned to the White House staff and said, "Don't be sad.  We'll be back.")

For the rest of her day, Natalie did some independent work in her math and grammar workbooks.  She also continued reading in Uncle Tom's Cabin.  

To end her day she went with Brian to Planet Fitness and ran on the treadmill.  The girls like to go with Brian whenever they have the chance.  I love watching their relationship with him.  

That's all for today.  Back to the books tomorrow!

homeschool daybook: the roar on the other side, canonical controversies, negro spirituals

October 13, 2011

A bullet list today because we're right busy 'round here!

• finished reading out loud chapter 2 of Evidence That Demands A Verdict.  This chapter was a bit tedious -- all the details determining canonicity of the Old & New Testaments -- but still highly valuable learning.  Also, did you know that the word canon comes originally referred to a reed used as a standard of measure?  Not me!
• reading out loud the introduction to The Roar On the Other Side: A Guide for Student Poets by  Suzanne Rhodes.  I'm so excited about this book!  I'm hoping to do all the assignments right alongside Natalie.  

• Natalie read chapters 5-8 of Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.  I'm proud of the way she's working through this book.
•  I've been trying to find audio recordings of authentic Negro Spirituals and have had the hardest time.  Today I found a website linking to amazon recordings.  Unfortunately, most of them are no longer available on Amazon.  I found one recording and played samples of the songs for Natalie to listen to as she read Stowe's novel.  I was surprised how many songs on that album were songs I'd been familiar with from other sources: Give Me Jesus, This Little Light of Mine, I Want Jesus to Walk With Me.  I should have known it, I guess.  The website I found included a list of book titles so hopefully I can find something next time we go to the library.
• I guess we're a little bit heavy on the reading side of things this week, because Natalie also finished reading out loud to me Romeo & Juliet (Michael Rosen and Jane Ray).  I can't help myself wishing, even though I know better, that everything would work out OK for these two young lovers.  Natalie enjoyed reading all the poetic language and may or may  not have been heard quoting Shakespeare randomly throughout the day.  

• Natalie continued reading about the origins of theater from the History of English Literature for Boys and Girls by H.E. Marshall -- the Shepherds' Play(s)
• she completed lessons 3 & 4 in her grammar workbook, Our Mother Tongue: A Guide to English Grammar -- adjectives and adverbs
• she completed her final 2 math workbook pages -- inequalities and rational numbers.  It's fun to watch her communicate back and forth with Alex in notes written on her workbook pages.  (he's grading her math projects for her).  Also, today we finally figured out how to access her online textbook via the school district. The website includes hands-on math ideas and practice pages. So helpful!
• for science, Natalie read pages in both the Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia and the Eyewitness Book of Time & Space on the history and science of maps and mapping.  She wrote a one page summary of the Mercator projection map created by Gerhard Mercator in the 1500s and the challenges in creating accurate maps.  I think tomorrow I'll have her watch one of my favorite Allison Janney scenes from the West Wing on this very subject!

If you're thinking Natalie had a lot of work to do today, you'd be right.  This was on her own initiative, however.  She wanted very much to get most of her work done by Thursday so that Friday could be a light day.  We'll be baking cookies for our church retreat and she has one or two small assignments remaining, but I've got to hand it to her -- she got it done!

*linking to  Read Aloud Thursdays*

is God like a greased watermelon? (a re-post)

Continuing to meditate this week on the practice of spiritual study as a way to gain not just knowledge but faith,  wisdom, humility and transformation.  Way back in the early days of this blog, June 2006, I asked a question that I seem to be asking still:  Is God like a greased watermelon?

Here's the re-post and a few links to other posts asking the same question again (it also seems I couldn't find a way to wrestle without using metaphor after metaphor):

Did you ever read Waking the Dead by John Eldredge? In his first chapter he compares our ability to see God and really "get it" spiritually on this earth like a pilot trying to fly in the fog. He talks about the fact that while we are on this earth it is most days that we are unable to get a clear visual -- we are more often flying in the fog than we are in the clear. But -- the moments that we do experience, where we 'get it' (it feels like we can almost literally see God's face and can hear him speaking to us about who we are and what our life holds) keep us energized for all of the rest of the foggy days. It keeps us hungry to follow Him and to be hopeful for eternity with him.

I have personally found that I struggle with making an idol out of those moments. When I experience them, I usually behave like Peter when Jesus took him and James and John up on the Mount and allowed them to see him full of glory and talking with Moses and Elijah. It's hard not to do that, but it is not growth and quickly turns into idolatry. Boy, it is tough, though.

It strikes me that God loves our pursuit of Him so much that He sometimes seems to playfully hide from us (picture peek-a-boo or hide 'n seek with your kids and all of the giggling that goes along with it and the joy of being found by them) in order to keep us moving forward and unable to make ourselves God because we figured him out (picture Eve wanting to eat the fruit in the garden so she could have the same knowledge as God).

It seems that God chooses to be more like a greased watermelon than a bird with clipped wings in a cage. Even those this often leaves me feeling frustrated, I wouldn't want to serve a God who could be caught-- by me or anyone else.

other links:

• On Wrestling Watermelons, April 2007
• Authentic Experiences, December 2008 

*linking with the imperfect prose community today.* 

homeschool daybook: history timeline, Romeo & Juliet, the quippy Abe Lincoln

October 12, 2011 (we've been in Austin exactly two months today!)

Keeping our opening routine consistent with individual reading in the Gospel of Matthew (today chapters 8 &9) and then morning prayers and a few more pages in Evidence That Demands A Verdict. 

Then we move right into history.  Today Natalie created a timeline for the years 1850 - present day.  She also read from Kingfisher Encyclopedia on the Industrial Revolution, wrote a three-level outline and added important dates to the now-prepared wall timeline!

Natalie pretty much chose the rest of her schedule today and covered the following projects:

• math workbook pages; currently Alex is grading her on this subject.  I'm going to ride that free train as long as possible!

• reading through the first  part of Abraham Lincoln's life in Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman.  I worked nearby while Natalie read and every once in awhile she'd share a piece of especially information.  Like this anecdote (which I'm pretty sure my grandmother used to rehearse for me):

 When called a two-faced man during a debate, Lincoln replied, "I leave it to the audience.  If I had another face, do you think I'd really wear this one?"  

•  reading out loud Act 1, Scene 5 - Act 4, Scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet from the gorgeously illustrated book by Michael Rosen and Jane Ray

Lots of reading today so that means lots of writing to do tomorrow.  Stay tuned!

from the book pile, 2011: A Timbered Choir by Wendell Berry

I've been working my way through the tower of books teetering off the antique writing desk that serves as my nightstand.  Working my way through reading and working my way through the thoughts and learnings each title provokes.

When I first started this blog in 2006 one of my goals was to nurture a forum that kept me accountable for the cultural goods I consume.  Of course, I didn't really know then to articulate the goal in those terms.  The truth dawns gradually: as in in worship so as in culture -- I did not make it, but it is making me.

Having also gotten quite clear with the truth that I will never be a professional book reviewer, I've let myself off the hook and changed up the way I document my reading.  Hope you enjoy!

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23. A Timbered Choir: The Sabbath Poems 1979-1997

Author:  Wendell Berry

Genre: Poetry

Published: Counterpoint Press, 1998

General Impression:  The word love is overused, but what do we have left trying to describe the deep affection I have for Wendell Berry's poems?  Actually, I feel a bit twitterpated with every single thing I've ever read of Mr. Berry's:  the essays I stumble on across the internet, his poetry, his fiction.  Ironically, I almost never got to know the work of Wendell Berry.  Several years ago, before I'd been properly introduced to his work, a friend who'd actually written her Ph.D. dissertation on the work of Wendell Berry described him to me as a contrarian.  As it turned out that friendship took on a contrarian flavour all the way around and, sadly, that scared me away from Wendell Berry as guilty-by-association.  Thankfully, I overcame all those negative presumptions and started reading.  As grace often does, the more I became acquainted with Berry's writing, the more I forgave and enjoyed the memories of that ill-fated friendship as well.

From what I can understand, this collection of poems were written as a response to his practice of Sunday morning walking meditations over a period of two decades.  In order to truly hear Mr. Berry in his poetry and his prayer, I read --out loud-- each poem as a chapter of a book.  So for one evening, I read, for example, the six poems included from the 1990 collection.  I do not know why the number of poems included from each year vary.  For example, 1979 is made up of twelve poems and 1986 only one.  Was Mr. Berry more prolific or more skilled in one particular year over another?  Also, interesting were the themes that hid out like little secrets from one year to the next: mournful years where it seems many friends and neighbors passed away, angry year when war and technology butt up against the authors personal theology and sociology, pleasant years of farming and family fulfillment.

Ecclesiastes 3 as a framework for this collection of poetry:  

To everything there is a season.

A time to be born... (The ewes crowd to the mangers; their bellies widen, sag.... 1991 II)

and a time to die...(Now you have slipped away...1996, I)

a time to plant...(The seed is in the ground...1991, V)

and a time to pluck up that which is planted (The summer ends...1984, IV)

A time to kill, (What hard travail God does in death...1980, I)

and a time to heal; (Great deathly powers have passed...1980, III)

a time to break down, (Who makes a clearing makes a work of art...1983, IV))

and a time to build up; (The crop must drink...1984, III)

A time to weep, (Now you know the worst...1995, V)

and a time to laugh; ("You see," my mother said, and laughed...1997, IV)

A time to mourn, (Not again in this flesh will I see...1985, I)

and a time to dance; (The year relents, and free...1983, II)

A time to seek, (One day I walked imagining...1989, VIII)

and a time to lose; (No, no there is no going back...1993, I)

A time to keep, (The sky bright after summer-ending reign...1989, VII)

and a time to cast away; (The fume and shock and uproar...1985, IV)
A time to tear apart, (We have walked so many times, my boy...1982, VI)

and a time to sew; (A gracious Sabbath stood here while they stood...1985, II)

A time to keep silence, (I go among trees and sit still... 1979, I)

and a time to speak; (They sit together on the porch...1994, IV)

A time to love, (Our household for the time made right...1982, VIII)

and a time to hate; (Hate has no world...1993, IV)

A time of war, (The year begins with war... 1991, I)

and a time of peace; (Cut off in front of the line...1990, VI)

From the work of one poet to another, the body of work surveys creation, fall, crucifixion, resurrection.  This is work wholly written.

The poem from which the title was drawn:  

Slowly, slowly, they return

To the small woodland let alone:

Great trees, outspreading and upright,

Apostles of the living light.

Patient as stars, they build in air

Tier after tier a timbered choir,

Stout beams upholding weightless grace

Of song, a blessing on this place.

They stand in waiting all around,

Uprisings of their native ground,

Downcomings of the distant light;

They are the advent they await.

Receiving sun and giving shade,

Their life's a benefaction made,

And is a benediction said

Over the living and the dead.

In fall their brightened leaves, released,

Fly down the wind, and we are pleased

To walk on radiance, amazed.

O light come down to earth, be praised!

                                  --1986, I

More Wendell Berry poems that have inspired me:

• On the Subject of a Place: An Essay
• Monday Mixtape: I Shall Not Walk Alone

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