Memory Work

I feel crappy today. Too little sleep, and I think I'm getting the kids' cold. This week is fall break, due to the fact that Hubby took Monday and Tuesday off of work, and everyone's been sick. Some fun break. :)

I've spoken before about recitation being a great time saver for us, but I've never really outlined how we do it. This is what our recitation looks like, for Mary. Ian follows along, and knows a surprising amount of Greek and Latin, but I'm still working out how to add things in for him, so it's still mostly play time.

1. Latin-Prayer, Song, amo, -o, voco, sum, mensa, -a -ae, servus, -us -i, donum, -um -i, then ten random vocabulary words. (Currently learning the Lord's Prayer and Adeste Fideles.)

2. Greek-Previously learned verses, new verse, blepo, -o, eimi, anthropos, -os, doron, -ov, then five random vocabulary words. (We have about 7 verses memorized in Greek.)

3. Bible-Previously learned verses, new verse, books of the Bible, memory work on current story, 5 random previous memory work items. (We have about 20 verses memorized, and are nearly done with the Books of the Old Testament.)

4. Greek Myths-Current memory work, 5 random previous items.

5. Math-Current fact family (we're starting division), 10 random multiplication, subtration, and/or addition facts.

We need to add in a poem per month, but so far I've been to lazy to do it. The whole bit takes 15-20 minutes on a good day, but up to 30 if there's a lot of dawdling. I stop after 30, even if we aren't done. This covers grammar, bible, history, music, and math. Add in a little reading, and it's the instant 1 hour school day for those days when you normally wouldn't get to anything (co-op day, sick day, field trip, life got in the way, whatever.).

I certainly wouldn't make it the sum total of a child's education, but it is a good way to make sure the basics get covered every day.

We're from the government and we're here to help

Interesting article here, about the opposition to the National Animial Indentification System (NAIS), complete with government rebuttal.

My husband has a shirt with the slogan, "We're from the government and we're here to help." Below is a British soldier bayoneting a Minute Man. We bought it as a chuckle, since we reenact British and have an odd sense of humor. However, it has never been more apropos than today, when I read the above article in the USA Today.

I'll pick the article apart, but first the ending line. "As for arguments that the program is unconstitutional and a violation of privacy, 'I can't counter that,' Hoenig says. But he tells the farmers, 'In an emergency, you're going to be coming to people like me for help. So give us the tools we need to do our job.'"

Did you hear that? He admits that the program is unconstitutional and an invasion of privacy. But, we shouldn't care because, to paraphrase, he's from the government and he's here to help. Thanks for that bayonet, I needed it.

1. "Once potentially affected animals are found and identified, state veterinarians would be able to inoculate them, quarantine them or do whatever would be necessary to stop the spread."
   
   Whatever necessary includes killing uninfected animals, with no compensation to the owners. It has happened before, and there is nothing stopping it happening again.
   



2. "Clifford says the USDA this fall will begin an education campaign to try to persuade farmers to go along with premises registration. He says a lot of the opposition to the program is based on �misinformation� on the Internet, including that every chicken would need an ID under its skin and that every time someone took their horse out for a trail ride, they'd have to call the state. Neither is true, he says."
   
   Sure, it's not true *now*, but trail rides were going to be included in the plan, until horse owners freaked out about it. So, they dropped that part in hopes to placate them. And, it is technically true that every chicken does not have to be tagged. However, the only way to avoid tagging each and every animal is to have "lots" of animals that are always together. They have to be born the same day, brooded for the same amount of time, kept in the same pasture at all times, sent in to eat and sleep at the same time, taken to the vet together, etc. If they are ever separated they immediately have to be tagged and registered seperately. For the small producer, they effectively will have to tag each individual animal.

And, let's remember that the program isn't mandatory, unless you live in states where it is.

Sugar Rush

Last night was our trick or treat. Most of the families on the road don't celebrate Halloween at all, so we went into town for our candy. The boys did not go, due to massive attitude problems most of the day. They are currently begging Mary for some of her candy.

"What?" you ask, "A Christian home-schooler that does Halloween? Impossible." Yep. We are, as I often say, freaks. Even among the freaks, we are freaks. Let me share my All Hallows' journey:

When I was little my parents were average secular Joes, and we, of course, did Halloween. I became a Christian well before my mother, and never had a problem with it, although I had a few friends who did not partake. Then, when I was a teenager, my mom got saved. She had been into everything from crystals (largely harmless) to divination (potentially harmful), so she hit Halloween hard. No decorations, and she did give out candy, but it was complete with Jack Chick tract.

It was a fundamentalist church, and they used to have an All Saint's party, where you could dress up as your favorite Bible character, but too many parents were sending their kids as Satan (likely because it's a commercially available costume, but still in extremely poor taste) and they stopped doing it. So, my brother had to beg to be let to go out. Generally, he was, since Mom knew he didn't share her convictions, but it was still after a long lecture about it and days of asking.

Mom was leaving her pagan past in the dust. For her it was a good choice, because it was a temptation to go back to her old ways. So, I have no problem with those who turn off their porch lights and go out to dinner, or whatever. For some it is the choice between sin and sanctity.

However, that said, for the vast majority of Christians, Halloween is not a sin/sanctity choice. It is an opportunity to engage the culture. I remember one Halloween as a teen when I went to a friend's costume party and they had a Ouija board. I convinced them not to play with it, but if I hadn't been there, they might have contacted who knows whom.

Every Christian holiday incorporates pagan aspects, or is held on a pagan date. Christmas is the date of the Saturnalia. The Christmas tree is a Germanic Pagan symbol of eternal life. The word Easter is an Anglicization of a Germanization of a Middle Eastern godess, Asteroth. She's the one Gideon was told to tear down the poles of, which verse is often used to decry the use of Christmas tree, oddly enough.

We take the bits of truth from the pagans and use them in service to the Truth, Way, and Life. Halloween is no different. Halloween is a contraction of the term "All Hallow's (Saint's) Eve." The day before All Saint's Day. The Pagan name for the day is Samhain (pronounced Sa-wain), and it is the Pagan New Year's. They believe the veil between the living and the dead to be thinnest on this day. So, the early Christians took the day and redeemed it for a Godly purpose. Instead of trying to contact lost loved ones via divination or necromancy, we celebrate their lives and speak with them through God. The truth the Pagans know is that there is an afterlife, and that we should celebrate it. The fullness of that truth is that Jesus prepares a place for us in His mansions, if we accept it.

Paul exhorts us to not do anything we believe to be sin, and not to cause a brother to stumble, so fighting about Halloween is very unseemly. However, he also says we can eat food offered to idols, because we know the idols have no power over us. Halloween has no power over us, so eating a little candy offered to idols is not sin.

This year, many of the candy giver-outers were amazed at the size of my 9 year old's candy bucket. It was, in their opinion, too small. When I further told them that we go home when it's full, they couldn't believe it. And here is the true danger of Halloween for the average Christian, the sin of gluttony. When we teach our littles to go out and get as much as possible, rushing around to get to every house, we are not teaching them moderation. When we let them eat all their candy over the next day or so we are not teaching them self-control.

Done properly, Halloween is an excellent time to teach our children thankfulness, moderation, self-control, and generosity. It is a chance to meet our neighbors, to forge relationships that might eventually lead to their salvation and/or our edification. I would advocate Christian parents going with their children as they trick or treat, whatever their age, just so we can teach those lessons. Walking around with your glow stick, a literal light in the darkness, is there anything *more* Christian than that?

Happy Dance!

I am very excited to report that we have.....

Dum, dah, dah, dah....

DSL!

Finely the sticks gets into the 20th (let alone 21st) century. It will be much easier for me to post from here on out, so I should be more regular than I've been in the last couple weeks.

So, yay for me!

Shameless Promotion

I've finally gotten enough work done the retail site for the farm that I'm ready to post it on the blog. It's still very much in progress, but the calendar is active. So, please head over there, especially if you are local to central Ohio. I'd love to see you at a show!

What is the world coming to?

What follows is pure, unadultarated rant. There may or may not be cogent musings on the state of society, children, and/or the family.

Hubby's best friend is getting married in December. We've known about the wedding for almost a year, and since before most people. My daughter has been very excited about it, since this friend is one of her favorite adopted uncles. We've been very excited about it, and Hubby is going to be the best man.

I talked to said friend's mother today, ironing out some of the details. She dropped a BOMB on me. It has been decided that children will not be allowed at the wedding or the reception. None. Not even 18 year old high schoolers. The flower girl and ring bearer are going to leave the sanctuary after they do their thing. The reasoning? Children are disruptive and a wedding is a sacrament.

And, here's the clincher, as far as I can tell, this is all at the request of the bride's mother. That's right, the groom thinks its a bad idea. The bride is indifferent. But, the mother-of-the-bride and the church-supplied wedding planner both think it's a great idea.

I cannot even begin to express how angry this makes me. If they don't want my children to be a part of their ceremony, then they don't want me either. We are a package. It's not even technically a formal wedding, it's at 5:30. Miss Manners (and I know because of what uniforms the military authorizes for what time of day) says that formal weddings have to start no earlier than 6:30 and that's pushing it. 6:00 is formal for cocktails, and 7:00 is formal for everything else (weddings always start on the bottom of the hour, funerals at the top).

And, okay, kids are disruptive, but high schoolers? What the heck? I could see the argument for the 10 and under crowd, *maybe*, but how many highschoolers do you know who would disrupt a wedding?

And, the grooms family is all Catholic. I've never seen a Catholic church with more than a cry room, and they believe Jesus Christ to be physically present in the sanctuary, for Pete's sake. I'm pretty sure the kids on that side know how to behave in church.

And, what kind of way is it to start a family by excluding children? It's just sympomatic of our society, though. Children are an encumberance. And, children don't know how to behave in church, because most of them have never been. Add that to parents who have no clue as to what acceptable behavior is, and it almost makes a sick kind of sense.

And these people are professing orthodox Christians, I mean, the wedding planner is on the church staff! What is that saying to the world about the value of children? I don't even know what to say. I could just spit nails.

3 year olds are interesting people

This morning I was sitting in my bedroom, talking to Ian. Alex walked in from my bathroom, carrying an old toothbrush.

"Mama, look what I found!"

"Yes, that's yucky."

Alex looks at it, "No, it's not."

"Yes, sweetie, it's old and yucky and I don't use it anymore."

"Oh." He climbs into my lap.

"What's your favorite color?" I ask. We had been talking about colors and numbers as I got him dressed.

"BLUE!"

"What color are your eyes?"

"BLUE!"

"Come here and let me see them, they might be turning green." My and Ian's eyes both turned green between three and four.

"No they're not!"

I look in his eyes, "I don't know, they might be."

"Your eyes are gonna turn RED!"

"Why, am I evil?" Evil is his new favorite word. Nothing is bad right now, it's all "evil."

"Not yet."

"Am I going to turn evil later?"

"NOOOOO! Here, let me brush your nose!" He whips out the toothbrush and begins scrubbing my upper lip. Then he starts on my arm. "Take off your glasses, I wanna brush your eyebrows, they have hair on them!"

3 year olds are interesting people. :)

Stewed Apples

This morning I made stewed apples for breakfast. Oooh, oooh, was it yummy. This is a very versatile dish. You can eat it alone, like we did, or do any number of things:

• mix into hot cereal
• serve over ice cream
• spoon into precooked pie or tart crusts
• serve over shortbread, shortcake, or bread pudding
• mix with saurkraut and cook a pork roast in it (which is super good, tangy, tart, and sweet)
• serve with cream or whipped cream (hot or cold)
• you could probably also mix it into bread for stuffing or dressing, but I've not tried it yet.

Here is the recipe:

8-12 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1/2 cup water
1/2-1 cup brown sugar, sucanat, turbinado, etc. (honey may be used, but gives a different taste use no more than 1/2 cup, unless you like it really sweet)
1/2-1 cup raisins
1/2-1 cup walnuts
1 TBSP Cinnamon

You simply chuck it all together into a pot and cook it until the apples are slightly mushy and the liquid is thickened. If necessary you can add a pinch of cornstarch, arrowroot powder, etc to thicken, but don't use much. You could also put it into a crockpot and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or overnight.

I used Jonathans in mine; they are especially tart, so if you use a sweeter apple you may find you can use less sugar (or none at all). If you like it a little tart, but don't have any tart apples on hand, you can add 1 TBSP apple cider vinegar. Also, if you use sucanat you may find you have to add more water, as it is dryer than other sugars.

This will make 1-2 quarts of stewed apples, so you can freeze it to use later.

A tip for keeping the apples from browning-submerge them in a bowl of cold water. They will float to the top, but if you give them a dunking every time you add apples, they will stay fresh.

Apple Picking (or the lost art of creating)

Yesterday Mary and I went apple picking. We picked 1/2 bushel that I am getting ready to turn into jelly and apple butter. I was shocked by the number of people who paid for 1/2 peck bags for each person in their family and then only filled each half way.

I can remember going apple picking with my mother. It was a big day that we looked forward to all September. We'd go to the orchard and pick 2 bushels. It would take us most of a Saturday. Then over the next week I would help mom create all the wonderful pies, dumplings, apple butter, apple sauce and so on. It felt so good to know that the food going to my table was mine. I had seen those apples go from tree to finished product. I had pride in our food, because I had worked so hard on it. It reminds me of a commercial I used to see on Nick at Nite. "It's Shake and Bake and I helped!"

That's something I want to pass on to my children, their connection to the things in our life. I want them to be intimately involved in the process of creating. I want them to have that pride of a job well done. I want them to understand the work that goes into making something, and the spiritual nourishment that is derived from the creative process.

Mary and I were talking about how man is created in God's image the other day. One of the ways we are like God is in our capacity for reason. We are more than the sum of our chemical processes. But, another and equally important aspect of the Divine in our nature is the desire to create. To look at something we have made and say, "It is good."

I hadn't put all this together until I started listening to those half-bag families. They were there not to create, but simply to get in touch with Creation. For them, the $7 a person they were spending was worth it just for that. So many of the children didn't know where apples came from until that day. And one of the moms came up to me and said, "Wow, you must have something special in mind with all those apples." I told her what I was going to do with them and she was amazed.

I couldn't help thinking how few apples I was bringing home than in those by-gone days with Mom.

I feel a bit better

I've been slogging through with a nasty cold the last couple of days. Of course, Hubby had it for all of 3 hours (he does that), and the kids were down for a day, but Mama still isn't feeling all that well. I was glued to the couch from about noon Tuesday until this morning. I got up a few times to do stuff, but not much got done.

Mary was helpful, she kept things tidy and helped me get the meals ready (as well as doing some worksheets), so things aren't completely nuts, but I do have quite a bit to catch up on, so I won't be around for a day or two.

Have a good rest of the week!