Tuesday, July 29, 2008

1930s Marital Scale

73

As a 1930s wife, I am
Superior

Take the test!



Some of the questions were hard to answer because things have changed so much.

I scored higher than I thought I would. I haven't felt very much like a superior wife at all these days!

I need to work on a few things:

Doesn't want to get up to prepare breakfast. (Sometimes I do, most times it is everyone on their own!)

Dresses for breakfast. (Used to do this daily, then got sloppy about it.)

Good sense of humor--jolly and gay. (See below about whining and complaining.)

Has pleasant disposition in the morning--not crabby. (I am not usually crabby and I am sometimes pleasant, but most often I am just quiet. I think. I need to pay attention to how I am appearing to others.)

Neat housekeeper--tidy and clean. (Could be better!)

Often whining and complaining. (I have gotten into the very bad habit of complaining)

Puts cold feet on husband at night to warm them. (I really don't think he minds; he invites me to.)

Well, that's enough. Plenty to think about!

The Narrow Road

Out of the 20 (some sources say there were 19) kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, there were zero good kings.

Out of the 20 kings of the Southern Kingdom (Judah), there were eight good kings. (Not perfect, just good. Still sinners.)

That's one in five.

(My info is from my study Bible and something I remember from the Walk Thru the Old Testament seminar our family took years ago.)

Homeschool plans and planning

We primarily use Ambleside Online for our homeschooling. AO is a Charlotte Mason-based plan. Here is what I am planning for this school year (August 2008 through May 2009).

I will use the AO Year 5 (1800 to 1920 up to WWI) recommendations for my 12-year-old seventh grader for:

History and History Tales
Natural History
Geography
Science
Tales and Literature
and Free-time Reading

and AO Year 3 (1400 to 1600) for my 10-year-old fifth grader for the same subjects.

In addition, I will add in the TruthQuest commentary for History, using Age of Revolution II (US/Europe, 1800-1865) and the first part of Age of Revolution III (US/Europe, 1865-2000) for AO Year 5 and Renaissance/Reformation/Exploration (1400-1600) for AO Year 3.

I have come up with my own poetry rotation from AO's suggestions and the girls will study the same poets. This year we will study Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Alfred Lord Tennyson and Emily Dickinson.

For Language Arts I will use:

KISS Grammar, the Third Grade Workbook. We worked through the Second Grade Workbook last year.

For studied dictation, we will use (for the first time!) Spelling Wisdom from Simply Charlotte Mason, Book 1 and Book 2.

The girls will also be expected to give oral narrations, write some narrations and do copywork.

The Bible Study Guide for All Ages will be what we use for our Bible Studies. We are in the second volume and will go into the third volume sometime during the year.

We will have what I call our fine arts rotation, which includes studying a composer and his or her music, an artist and his or her artwork, a play from Shakespeare and a life from Plutarch (Our Young Folks' Plutarch) for each term (there are three terms per school year). We will learn a hymn a month and I hope to incorporate awareness of and attention to a habit a month, also.

I hope to use a plan I developed for Nature Study out of the Handbook of Nature Study, which is different from what AO recommends. (That is, the order of study is different. AO also recommends the Handbook of Nature Study.)

Math: We will stick with Developmental Mathematics, with some enrichment thrown in (DIME Blocks, for one and Hands-On Equations for another).

For Foreign Language, we will use Rosetta Stone for Spanish and The Latin Road to English Grammar for Latin for the older daughter.

They will continue with violin and some piano.

Okay, that is what is planned. We'll see what really happens!

For example: we have had the same Plutarch's life for, oh, a year now! (Cringe...) We have it scheduled for once-a-week. We don't get much done at each weekly time period (there is so much to review and the language is so dense). We skip weeks.

Another example: I have had The Latin Road to English Grammar for two years now and hoped to start it last year with my older girl.

A third example: we almost always get behind in our history and literature readings. I am hoping that won't be such a big factor this year.

The last three years we have had some major interruptions to school and I am hoping that we do not have them this year.

Also, I really need to look after my own needs of exercise, good food and some personal time so that I don't use school time for other things (including reading the posts on the AO yahoo groups and blogging!)

To Do:

Plan the year, incorporating the TruthQuest readings.

Make a loose daily/weekly schedule.

Look at last year's math and the placement tests and order the math booklets.

Begin Latin so that I am ahead of my daughter.

Double check that I have the books we need.

Print the KISS Grammar Third Grade Workbook.

Print out the poetry selections from the AO website.


We begin on August 25th!

Friday, July 18, 2008

1000 Gifts

1000 gifts. I have not been numbering them, nor have I been very good the last few days about noticing them. And it shows. In my attitude. A bit of irritability, with a dab of self-pity stirred in. Not appealing!

If I keep coming back to these things, perhaps the habit of praising and noticing will become stronger.

Recent gifts:

  • Mission trips for junior high youth (JUMMP)
  • Like-minded souls, especially when I am feeling different, alone or unsure
  • God's Word, which tells me to be a God-pleaser and not a people pleaser
  • Communion and kneeling in prayer at the rail
  • Prayer teen(s) at VBS this week
A focus on praising God and the discipline of noticing gifts from God makes me a different better person.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Century Chart of English History

We're discussing the Charlotte Mason concepts of history chronology on the House of Education yahoo group. The specific concepts that interested me are the century chart and centuries chart.

In an article that Katie referenced on her blog, (the article is here), we were a little confused by the description of the chart for English History:

Later, we should make such a chart on a larger scale, and with room for ruling and marking important events. We use charts coloured for various periods of English History--e.g., the Roman occupation, the various Royal Houses. * The four periods of five centuries each, form good divisions for Modern History. In the first line we have, roughly, from Augustus to the fall of Rome, and in England the period of Roman occupation. In the second line we have the period of barbarian settlements--tribes are changing into nations. In the third line we have, speaking roughly, the Mediaeval period. In the fourth, Modern History.

I cannot upload it here, but I may post it in the HEO yahoo group files. (I cannot remember if members can post there.)

Edited to add: We can, and I did! It is in the files section of the HEO yahoo group under Century Chart of English History.

Edited to add: I am attempting to use Scribd to add the document.