The Curriculum I've Been Writing All My Life

Ever since I was a little girl, I've always had a mental filing basket for those gems that are so meaningful to me that I want to be sure to pass them along to my daughters. Certain books made such big impressions on me that I wanted to be certain they were a part of my girls' formation. As I grew into my vocation as a wife and mother, many more books went into that basket.

Now, I have a  daughter who is old enough and more than eager to start reading them. Last winter, when I went to pluck a tattered Montessori book off the shelf in our family library, I discovered it was missing. And so were all the other Montessori volumes customarily found there. They were  all downstairs on my daughter's nightstand, along with 20 and Counting and It's So You! The wheels started turning. At last, it's time to share all the treasures of my vocational library with my daughter.

Jennifer Mackintosh and I started talking with each other about how this unique curriculum would look all laid out beautifully. We were all too happy to begin to fit together the pieces of a young lady's education: one that would teach and inspire and equip our girls to embrace God's calling with wisdom, knowledge, and grace. We've just begun and we are happy to share an overview of the first year and details of the first couple months on Serendipity.

There are two different versions of the curriculum because we've taken seriously our commitment to tailoring for each girl. I expect that I will tailor again three more times for each of my daughters. Mary Beth is excited about how the treasures in these baskets will work with her real life--daily life spent with her siblings, moments beside me in the kitchen or marketplace, quiet mornings twice a week leading little ones to the Good Shepherd in a Montessori atrium, and many, many hours in a dance studio--to form her into a young lady. The future has a bright, rosy hue indeed!

Daybook~After the Little Vacation

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Outside My Window ...
it's a warm summer evening and children are running all around the yard.
 

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I am listening to...
children laughing and playing.
 
sandy face, salty curls
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To Live the Liturgy...
we began the week with our St. Anne's tea. Today was also the first day of Vacation Bible School which is all about the Mass. We'll be immersed in liturgy this week.
 

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To Fit and Happy...
I. must. start. walking. in. the. morning. Period.
  

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I am thankful for...
my friend who has generously loaned us her beach house for three days last week. We are so grateful to have had somewhere to go for a little getaway.
~

baby toes touch sand the first time
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I am pondering this quote...
Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, and the other is gold.
My father sang this to me all the time when I was little and we moved every couple of years. My children haven't experienced transient friends too much in their lives. We're about to get hit bigtime with it this week.

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From the kitchen ...
I'm on a kick where everything I make has ribbons of fresh basil in it

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I am wearing ...
Capris, t-shirt, St. Anne medal, twisted-up hair, diamond stud earrings, lipgloss, bare feet.
Fort Stephen 

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I am creating ...
a present for my new godson. 
 
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  On my iPod...
 The Good Stuff.
Mike saw Kenny Chesney in concert in Utah last week. He didn't even know one single song Kenny Chesney sings. He went for "work."
Is that even fair?
 
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Towards a real education ...
We've got some good things going for young ladies at Serendipity. I'll give this project a post of its own tomorrow, but let's just say we have some happy girls going into this year..
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I am thinking... 
how hard this summer has been so far. Bad news has crashed over us again and again like relentless waves. It was good to go to the seashore and let it roll out with the tide.
  Mary Beth stayed in for hours
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In the Garden...
Lots of basil.

 Around the House
I'm really re-thinking some rooms. I might give up my "school room" and make it a bedroom again. I'm waiting a few weeks until Mike has another day or two off and we can really think it all through.
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Sarah Anne this week...
At long last we have found something she will eat. Sarah Anne can both sign and swallow crackers. This is a big week for our little miracle. As I continue to celebrate the feast of St. Anne I am overwhelmed with feelings of gratitude to the grandmother of our Lord, who so graciously tended to my baby and me.

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I am reading  ...
about six books at once:-)

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I am hoping and praying ...
for my precious aunt who has been diagnosed with cancer. We are watching and waiting through the very trying time of testing and decisions.
 

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On Keeping Home ...
I thoroughly cleaned Patrick's room, top to bottom and inside out last week. It was a glorious feeling and now I am so on a roll...

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One of my favorite things ...
baby toes in the sand, the smell of salt in the air, little girl curls set with sea spray, boardwalk fries, boys building sand castles, fairy houses made of seashells
 
A bunny visited this fairy house shortly after we took this picture. Do you think he told the fairies about their new digs?

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A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:
My heart leaped a bit at this prompt. This is our very last Gracie week. I have known since the day she became a part of our lives that one day she would leave. I went into this with my eyes wide open and I knew this day would hurt. She's moving across the country and taking little pieces of our hearts with her. My children will struggle with this for some time, I'm afraid.
And
our friends behind us are moving the same day.
Some mourning and weeping in our little valley this week. 

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Picture thoughts 
 
    Beach Vacation

Be sure to visit Peggy for links to more daybooks.

Praise God! Luke Has Been Found!

Update in comments section at Facebook

Missing!

I received an email this morning from Susan Dillier. I read my mail at 7AM. Susan's post was time stamped four hours earlier. In the dark of the night, a mother held a vigil for her missing child. Susan asked me to post this:

6'2", 200 lb and 15 year old Christopher Luke Dillier is missing. Hegoes by Luke. Luke went along with his brother and mother, to his brother's violin lesson on Friday July 24, 2009 around 9 AM in the area of Coit and 635. He mentioned to his mother that he had forgotten something in the family's van and left the instructor's house to go out and retrieve it. He never returned.

If anyone has any information about his whereabouts, knows of any suspicious activity in the area, or has any other information, please immediately call 911 and relay the information.

Please keep Luke and his family in your prayers.

Luke is a sweet, loyal, intelligent young man - devoted to his faith, family and community. His family is desperate to have him back home with them.

Please send this link to all you can to get Luke's face out there to bring him home quickly and safely.

Please join me in praying for Luke, his family, and all the people searching so earnestly for him.

Seven Quick Takes

Jen has teased this so well that I couldn't resist this week:-).

1
Does everybody come home from vacations in beach houses and want to purge every last little bit of clutter from their "real" houses? And all but a few days' worth of clothes? It's so much easier to maintain a clean, orderly home in a vacation house with absolutely no "stuff." Sigh.

2
Charlotte hates shoe shopping. Me too. But my feet are small and still look like they did when I was a teenager. If I look down, I'd never know my body had aged at all. Still, I hate shoe shopping. I think my feet look the way they do because I steadfastedly refuse to ever put them into anything that isn't totally comfortable and supportive. No heels. No pointy toes. Nothing too tight or too loose. So, it's pretty much impossible to find shoes:-) And it's pretty pathetic that my feet are my best feature. When I was in high school, my friend Darlene's mom told me that if someone's checking you out and they get to your feet, you're in trouble.
 Whatever.

3
Are you going to the Family Centered Learning Conference tomorrow? You should. It's a rare thing to have an opportunity to go to a conference that promotes community.This one is all about the joy that is yours for the taking. Joyful community? Sounds like a good combination.

4
My godson is going to be baptized on Sunday. He's still a really little guy--just isn't packing on the pounds. It's a curious thing: neither is this godson. Two little guys concerning their mamas and their doctors and in need of weight-gaining prayers. One of them is John and the other is Ian (which is also John) and they both need to grow, grow, grow. Sure makes praying for them a simple thing.

5
We're all about St. Anne here this week. I've pulled out the prayer book from last summer and fall and chosen my favorite St Anne petitioning novena before her feast on July 26 (John's baptism day). We have  tea planned for the following Monday, when Gracie can be with us. And we're going to pray a thanksgiving novena along with Aussie Annie after the feast. I got a sneak peek at the prayer she found and it's really beautiful.

6
I drank no coffee while at the beach. I had no internet while at the beach. I was a kinder, gentler mommy. Now, is it coffee or wi-fi or both that I need to eliminate permanently? Not sure, but I'm definitely reconsidering my plan to take the laptop to Panera early in the morning to work on the book.

7
I'm reading Morning by Morning at Kim's suggestion. It's certainly an interesting read. And Kim definitely culled some inspirational quotes.I bought the book for home education inspiration.  On the whole, I found the book to be more about racism than anything else and I found it to be very unsettling and not so inspiring. Much fodder for conversation, though. A review could easily be a long post and not a "quick take" and opening comments would generate a lively discussion for sure. But I'm faint of heart when it comes to online conversations about controversial topics, so we'll just sneak in the quick take and say that the book will make you think. And I disagreed with author often.
Speaking of inspiration, Bridget's got a must-read post for new homeschoolers.

Visit Jen for more Quick Takes.