Solar Eclipse

We had the coolest experience yesterday (Sunday, November 3, 2013).   We got (almost) front row seats to a solar eclipse!   I say almost front row because the best viewing point to see the sun totally obscured was apparently in Libreville, Gabon which is about 500 miles south of where we are.   Even so, we still saw about 90% of the sun obscured and spent several hours of this afternoon in an eerie dimness – the light was as dim as if it was clouding up to rain or as if the sun was already going down, but it was “sunny” (no storm clouds in sight) and only 3 in the afternoon.   Weird and fascinating.   You can check out more information about this particular eclipse here, and about solar eclipses in general here.  I happened to notice a snippet in the last World magazine indicating an eclipse would take place on November 3 with the best viewing area in equatorial Africa, and I’m so glad I did because this was such a fascinating thing to experience.

 

A few photos for you….

 

 

 

 

Checking out the box viewfinder that my hubby made.

 

 

Earlier progress above, and below about the peak of what we were able to see in our location (the peak was slightly more obscured than that, but this was the clearest photo I got.

 

 

Even the light shining  on the sidewalk was crescent shaped at the peak of the eclipse.

 

 





Family Reading #11

 

With the Littles

Some of the most frequently requested picture books lately have included anything Curious George or Eric Carle (especially Pancakes, Pancakes).   Our chapter book read aloud is More Milly Molly Mandy.  James (age 5) is starting to read a bit on his own and recently read Green Eggs and Ham out loud to me with only a little bit of help.

 

Michelle’s Reading (Age 8)

This girl is becoming a voracious reader.  She has just about finished the entire Little House on the Prairie series (she says these are her very favorites).  In between various LHOP books, she’s also enjoyed Ballet Shoes, The Moffats, and Sarah, Plain and Tall.   In her stack to read next are a couple of the sequels to Sarah, Plain and Tall, The Middle Moffat, and The Saturdays (another of my very favorite books growing up – can’t wait to see what she thinks of it!)

 

Featured School Book

We are both really enjoying An Island Story, which is a very engaging narrative history of Great Britain.  British history is studied in Ambleside Online not just because Charlotte Mason studied it (I believe this is the actual book she recommended too), but also because it is part of America’s story as well.   What was the heritage of our forefathers?   What were the influences that eventually led the colonists to separate from their fatherland?   What foundational ideas and values are rooted in this heritage?   American history really does begin long before the Mayflower.   In recent weeks we’ve read a bit about the legends of King Arthur, how the gospel was brought to England by Augustine (not the Augustine, this is another one), and have just reached King Alfred.

 

Bedtime Reading

I usually make a list of books at the start of the year to choose among for our bedtime readings.  Ginger Pye was on that list.  It was so dearly loved by all three of ours that we have actually deviated from the list to enjoy the sequel, Pinky Pye.  I never actually read any of Eleanor Estes delightful stories when I was growing up – I’m not quite sure how I managed to miss them?!  At least I get the chance to enjoy them now.

 

On Mama’s Nightstand

In the novel category, I am reading The Daisy Chain on the recommendation of many over on the AO Forum.  I’m having a little bit of trouble getting into it, but those friends who recommended it have encouraged me to stick with it - many found it slow to get started with, but were sad to see it end because of the ‘relationships’ they formed with the characters.   So…we’ll see how we go.

 

In the devotional category, I have been enjoying the studies and articles in Tabletalk magazine.  Our local small group Bible Study just started a study of Isaiah 40-66, so I have also picked up a commentary titled Isaiah: God Saves Sinners to help some with the historical background and discussion preparation.  I’m also enjoying Sinclair Ferguson’s In Christ Alone.  (Take a little taste here.)  Ferguson is a new-t0-me author, but I am really enjoying him.

 

In the self-education category, I am continuing to enjoy AO Year 4 and the 20 Principles Study (although I think we only have 2 principles left!!).  I’m also dipping in and out of Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics, which is an interesting look at the way math is taught in the States and in China.  The Chinese teachers take a more conceptual approach to mathematics, American teachers tend to take a methodical, computational approach, sometimes bypassing true conceptual understanding.  I’m gaining some interesting insights into some of the underlying concepts to basic mathematical processes that I never really understood – and I always got A’s in math, too!!   Let me tell you – home education means mama education as well.

 

So, what have you been reading, my friends? J

Wednesday with Words: The Constancy of Christ

These words spoke truth to me this week.  These comments are made in reference to Hebrews 13:8: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”:

 

“Christ is always the same.  Here at the end of his letter, the author echoes a theme from its beginning.  ‘To the Son He says:…You [remain] the same’ (Hebrews 1:8, 12 citing Psalm 102:27). But now he makes explicit what earlier was implicit.  The immutable One of Psalm 102 is none other than the incarnate One of the gospel.

 

The practical implication of this becomes clear when we remember that Psalm 102 is possibly the most eloquent description of depression and despair to be found in the entire Psalter.  The psalmist’s mental salvation lay in his rediscovery of the immutability of God.  Hebrews gives that truth flesh-and-blood dimensions in Jesus Christ.  You can trust Him, He is always the same.

 

Do not mistake the meaning.  This is not the immutability of the sphinx – a Christ captured once and for all in a never fading still photography.  This is the changelessness of Jesus Christ in all His life, love, holiness, grace, justice, truth, and power.  He is always the same for you, no matter how your circumstances change.

 

Say this to yourself when you rise each day, when you struggle, or when you lay on your pillow at night: ‘Lord Jesus, you are still the same, and always will be.’”

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                          ~Sinclair Ferguson, In Christ Alone (emphasis mine)

 

 

Guest Posts at Afterthoughts

My blogging break here will be continuing for awhile longer, but I did want to pop in and let you know that I had two guest posts appear at Afterthoughts as part of her 31 Days of Charlotte Mason series last week:

What Lessons Look Like (Day 22)

What is Copywork (Day 23)

The whole series has been fantastic, so be sure to take some time to look at the rest of the series too. Enjoy!  I look forward to sharing in this space again soon.

A Little Blogging Break

I have so many thoughts swirling around in my brain that I have been wanting to share in this space, but I am also coming to realize I am in a season of needing to more diligently apply some of the thoughts I've pondered about atmosphere and habit training.   For that reason, I think I need to step back from this space for a few weeks to give myself some time to re-establish some needed routines in our home.  So, if it's a little quiet around here, that's why!  I have a couple of guest posts that will be posted at Afterthoughts next week, and I'll pop in and let you know when those go live.  (And if you haven't checked out the first part of her 31 Days of CM series, don't wait until next week to click over, just go do it now!) Otherwise, I'll look forward to chatting with you next month, Lord willing!

Some Good Finds

Science: Each New Thing is Delight by Nancy at Sage Parnassus

            Great read about living books and science.  Be sure to follow her link to see more about their science narration notebooks – these are so inspiring to me.

 

CiRCE Podcast: Alissa Wilkinson on Teaching Writing, Writer’s Block, and Being Homeschooled from The CiRCE Institute

            Last week’s CiRCE podcast was another winner for me – I will be referring back to it.  Many of the suggestions for teaching writing that were given in the course of the conversation were very CM in nature, although CM terminology wasn’t explicitly used.

 

Good Behavior vs. Good Character: A Redemption Story by Dr Jennifer Spencer at ChildLight USA

            Why sticker charts and variations thereof don’t work. 

 

Charlotte Mason and the Latest in Educational Research from The Common Room

            This article is long, but worth the read – basically the methods CM outlined 100 years ago really ARE more effective than the methods you see typically used in classrooms.

 

The Habits Pendulum by Nancy Kelly at ChildLight USA

            This sums up some of the conclusions that I’ve drawn about CM style habit-training.  Glad to see someone so experienced and respected in the CM world confirm my thoughts.

Quotes Worth Pondering: A Generous Curriculum

A collection of quotes I am pondering as we study  Principles 9-11  as we continue on our way through Charlotte Mason’s 20 Principles…

 

Towards a Philosophy of Education (Volume 6), Charlotte Mason

“That children like feeble and tedious oral lessons, feeble and tedious story books, does not at all prove that these are wholesome food; they like lollipops but cannot live upon them; yet there is a serious attempt in certain schools to supply the intellectual, moral, and religious needs of children by appropriate 'sweetmeats.'As I have said elsewhere, the ideas required for the sustenance of children are to be found mainly in books of literary quality…”  (p.117)
 
“But we must keep to the academic ideal: all preparation for specialised industries should be taboo. Special teaching towards engineering, cotton-spinning, and the rest, is quite unnecessary for every manufacturer knows that given a 'likely' lad he will soon be turned into a good workman in the works themselves….Denmark and Scandinavia have tried this generous policy of educating young people, not according to the requirements of their trade but according to their natural capacity to know and their natural desire for knowledge, that desire to know history, poetry, science, art, which is natural to every man; and the success of the experiment now a century old is an object lesson for the rest of the world.”  (p.123-124)
 
“Time for a Story” from Dewey’s Treehouse

“See Charlotte Mason.

Charlotte Mason says, "I do not like your story.  Minds cannot eat sponges.
Minds are like hungry hippos.
Minds need a daily special hot beef sandwich with fries and gravy.
Minds need books full of ideas.
Minds need literary language.
Minds need to munch.
Munch, minds, munch."

But the teachers keep throwing sponges.
Some are different sizes.
Some are different colours.
See how interesting all the different sponges are!

"Still sponges," says Charlotte Mason.  "Minds need to munch."
 
“On Herbartian Unit Studies” from Afterthoughts
“First, I get concerned because this is not the way a good reader approaches a book…What I'm saying is that these are not natural questions to ask of the text, nor are they the most important questions to ask of the text. If this is how children are reared to view books, as objects to dissect the life out of, they will never learn great ideas from books--a sort of being too distracted by the trees to actually see the forest sort of situation. In other words, they will never be great readers…Second, and I already alluded to it, this is not the way to comprehension of a book's greatest ideas…A million rich conversations could pour forth from thinking the noble thoughts of the book, but unit studies tend to dwell on the minutia. All books have their interesting details, but the great thoughts--the Permanent Things--presented, transcend those details. In fact, many don't make the cut and aren't worthy of being preserved for generations because the author was too locked in the details of his own time; he failed to transcend and speak about the Permanent Things.”

“An Oyster and a Jewel” by Lynn Bruce at Ambleside Online

“Clearly, Charlotte felt that delivering predigested lessons with external flash and drama, a la Herbart, is not only unnecessary but stunting. She had witnessed that children truly learn when they get at the books themselves, when their minds are allowed the potent spark of communing with great authors' minds. Narration is proof--it not only teaches a child to analyze, organize, compose and express great thoughts in the buoyant wake of literary masters, but also reveals how a child makes his own connections, and how forcefully and directly his personality interacts with ideas, particularly those, as Charlotte said, "clothed in literary language."  But in order to teach a child this way, we must be willing to roll out the red carpet, so to speak, and then step aside. Give them the best books, and get out of the way. We must decrease, that they might increase. We must be servants, not masters, to their brains and spirits. This requires a certain restraint... wisdom... humility... and trust in the wiring that God gave them.”