Left to Tell

Soon, it will be upon us: the season of peace and joy! Will you embrace it  with your whole heart, finding a deep and beautiful sense of genuine peace and unblemished joy in the depths of your soul? Probably not. Unblemished joy is a rare commodity in a human race that is wounded by the effects of original sin. Our peace is disturbed and our joy is robbed when we hurt one another. It sounds simplistic, but it's true. We are wounded and so we wound one another.

We hurt each in other in a myriad of ways, yet few of us have a story of pain to tell like the one Imaculee Ilibagiza relates in her book Left to Tell. Imaculee Ilibagiza was born in Rwanda. Her life was dramatically transformed during the Rwandan genocide in 1994, when Imaculee and seven other women huddled silently together  in a cramped bathroom of a local pastor’s house , in constant mortal danger, for three months. While Immaculee hid, most of her precious family was brutally murdered at the hands of those who also hunted her. Miraculously, she survived and lived to tell a compelling story of forgiveness and profound relationship with a living God. She lived to tell a story of faith overcoming fear and grace allowing complete forgiveness for even the most heinous assaults on both body and soul.

When we live in pain and in fear, God can seem very far away. For Immaculee, living in a hell of imprisonment in that cramped bathroom, God was near, indeed. He dwelt in her soul and He comforted her, even as she heard brutal murderers just outside the door of her hiding place. Jesus said, "Mountains are moved with faith, Immaculee, but if faith were easy, all the mountains would be gone. Trust in me. I will never leave you. Trust in me, and have no more fear. Trust in me, and I will save you. I shall put my cross upon this door, and they will not reach you. Trust in me and you shall live."

So dramatic and chilling is Immaculee's story that it reads like a parable, an exaggeration to make a point, a story like Christ's own stories. Yet her story is real. And her point is that we will not achieve a peace of heart or a joy of soul unless we can forgive even the unforgivable.  A friend gave me the book a few weeks ago and asked me to read it and to let people know that Immaculee would be speaking November 3, 2007 at the Phases of Womanhood Conference.  The very next day, a different friend, halfway across the country, recommended the book for an entirely different reason.  It had to be a "God thing." I was supposed to read this book.

Even still, I admit that it took me a while to pick up the book. Who wants to read a firsthand account of the Rwandan holocaust? It sounded grim and dark and dirty. But this is a remarkable story of light and hope and grace. It really defies description.

After being a victim of the holocaust, losing her home and almost all of her family, Immaculee was at risk of becoming a victim again. Only this time, she was at risk of becoming the victim that many people of all walks of life become in the wake of all sorts of injury. She was at risk of becoming the victim of her own pain and bitterness. She was at risk of having all the energy of her life be negative energy. She was at risk of living a life that wasn't worthy of her survival in the hell of Rwanda. Instead she lives a triumphant life and she tells a triumphant story.

What is most remarkable to me is that Immaculee knows that she cannot forgive under her own power and she describes a specific incident of grace that allows her to forgive and to go on living after burying the dead. She sees clearly that her pain was inflicted by the devil who had entered the heart of her tormenter and who had "ruined his life like a cancer in his soul." God allows her to see evil  for what it was and then God does something even more extraordinary. He allows her to forgive and so to be released from the hold that evil can have on the victims of cruelty-- the evil of bitterness and fear.Her faith--a very childlike faith--brings her to this point of grace and it is God alone who allows her to forgive. In her forgiveness, she is completed. She experiences and she lives in peace and joy.

Immaculee's ministry is clear and obvious--she was left to tell. Left to tell a story of a woman's simple faith and her Lord's abundant grace. I really think this is a story God wants women to hear. He has obviously moved mountains to allow this remarkable woman to tell it.

Nutmeg is hosting a Blogging Book Club and the first meeting is today! We're talking about Left to Tell.

Geography meets Math

If the math gnomes, who are busy counting this week, were at all interested in sharing in our Monday Night Geography next week, then they'd think this book was a serendipitous find!Monday Night Football goes to visit Grandma in Florida next week. Most of us will settle for Geography and Counting with living books. Christian, however, has a Daddy trip scheduled and he'll fly down to stay with Grandma and hang out with Peyton Manning in Jacksonville. Mom's not too jealous;-). Our Florida studies will have lots of meaning this time around, since we've got pictures from our summer and since Christian will be on the lookout for things to bring home for a geography scrapbook.   I think we'll be counting seashells and wishing we were there...Anyhoo, just wanted to give you the heads-up on the counting book:-)

Worth Pondering

Fantasy and the Heart of the Child by Bryan Davis
HT Melanie

Little Nuggets of Wisdom

Sometimes, when we've been at something for a long while, we hit a bump. It's not burnout exactly. It's more like a fizzle. Willa has tentatively identified it as a bit of a midlife crisis. Whatever it is, I was ripe for it this summer. And, when I consider that I spent the whole summer out of my comfort zone, speaking, traveling, and packing a child to leave for the very first time, I am astonished to find that I'm not fizzling with my friends. Instead, God planted a seed in June that grew, little by little, over the hot, dry summer.

I found myself sitting with my nursing baby in a hotel room in Denver with my friend Kim and her nursing baby. Kim had just given a talk on notebooking. Donna Simmons had been very kind to furnish Kim with lots of samples of Main Lesson books to use during her talk. She'd also supplied Christopherus catalogs. And there, Kim and I set about reminiscing. We remembered the idealistic beginning of our homeschooling adventures. We began a conversation that lasted all summer and into the fall. Our enthusiasm for an arts oriented infusion of new life bubbled over and we started sharing it with friends. I spent hours in the car, driving from Virginia to Florida, back to Virginia and then to New York. Along the way, I talked to my favorite artist about his education, I chatted via cell phone about the things I was reading, and I listened to a lady named Donna Simmons (on audio downloads) discuss big ideas that pretty much fizzle-proofed me.

While life around me grew increasingly chaotic, I just kept reading Donna Simmons. In my head, I wrote post after post. Let's see, I wrote "CM and Waldorf," "Catholics and Waldorf," "Big Families and Waldorf," Learning Challenges and Waldorf," and more...

But I have these books that are littered with post-it notes and colored with Lyra penciled underlining. These are nuggets of wisdom from Donna Simmons and I do want to pass them along. Lots to think about here, lots to encourage and lots to inspire.

From the Christopherus Waldorf Curriculum Overview for Homeschoolers:

"This is why I'm not very keen on set curricula--I feel that no one can anticipate just what each individual homeschooler needs to make her homeschool work. And though many people initially take great comfort from 'having it all there,' the help can turn into a hindrance when family circumstances do not allow for the blocks or lessons to proceed as they're written down. What happens then is usually frustration which can lead to burnout."

"If, however, parents acquire curricula to have as resources and sources of inspiration, not something to follow the letter, then I think it can work wonderfully. So my advice is: get all the materials you can afford and be creative in how you adapt them to the needs of your family."

"To my mind, family is the number  one reason to homeschool.  I feel that for many people, homeschooling is the way for them to build truly healthy families which nurture healthy individuals. Within such a setting wonderful educational opportunities can arise and by working with Waldorf, which is concerned with each individual's health, we can watch our children and families flourish."

• First do, then understand
• Move from the whole to the parts
• The world is beautiful
• Make everything into a picture
• Everything done is imbued with rhythm
• Relate everything to practical life...

...To these is then added "From knowledge to understanding" as the children move up into high school."

"And so in our homeschools, we can use this wise approach to material by developing an overlapping rhythm whereby we tell a story, for instance, on the first day and then leave it to do other things, other material from the Main Lesson. The following day we ask the child to retell the story: this alone is an extremely valuable thing to do, strengthening both the listening skills and memory of the child. With the little ones, you'll have to help them along and gently steer them back on track: some children will that the story as a jumping-off point for their own story adventures! One will have to be sensitive and not crush such enthusiastic imaginings if this is the case, but one does want to encourage accuracy of recall. Older children should be able to retell material in some depth and their questions can form the basis for discussion. You may choose to pause before discussion and instead work artistically with the material at hand, drawing, painting, writing poetry or whatever seems right."

"One thing to caution against is fashioning your children's school days only in accordance with the needs of your eldest. It's tempting to do this, but it would be good to have regular 'kindergarten time' or even 'baby time' at intervals, too."

"Other families, especially those with larger families, might not find it practical to keep the children so separate. In this situation, I'd again recommend figuring out what would usually be done in a Waldorf  school and then see where children are easily combined and when it's best to keep them apart...to let go of a lot of expectations and just trust that the benefits of having a large family and being able to homeschool together outweigh the benefits of the usual Waldorf approach." (my italics)

From Kindergarten with Your Three to Six Year Old:

"Don't worry if everybody's doing everything and that there are so many of you that nothing seems to get done! Hold onto three three things:  1)the belief that the life you have chosen, including homeschooling, is best for all of you; 2) that each of your children will learn no matter what, even if the form the learning takes is a bit unorthodox; and 3) that having a big family is in and of itself a wonder thing and that, although it may mean all sorts  of compromises, the very fact of being in a large family is right and nurturing for each of your children."

"What I'm trying to get across is for parents to neither be so purist that a plastic farm animal will never be seen in their house nor to be so inattentive to the quality of their child's toys that they buy Barbie disco sets! Quality does matter, children are either nourished or dulled by their playthings. But, as always, one wants to look at the larger picture. If the child has a peaceful home environment, if she's not overstimulated by electronic media or 'educational' toys, if she has plenty of open-ended, creative playthings and is allowed to engage in meaningful work around the house, then a few plastic toys aren't the worst thing going."

"Your task is to find fulfillment in your role as homeschooling Mom...and homemaker and to ensoul your home with your love and peacefulness. Self-education and self-development are a huge part of a Waldorf teacher's vocation: it can be no less the case with homeschooling parent!...The point is for you to work on your inner development, cultivating the artistic, practical, intellectual and spiritual sides of who you are. Not only can such work bring you satisfaction and clarity in your own life, but it will better enable you work with your children in the holistic way we all wish for."

While I appreciate the beauty, the materials and some of the methods of Waldorf education, I am not a follower of Rudolf Steiner, his educational philosophy, or his religion. I am a practicing Catholic who is very clear in teaching the faith to her children. Please see this post for any further explanation of incorporating methods or materials that might also appear in Waldorf schools into your home. Take inspiration from what is good and what in in harmony with the true faith and leave the rest. If you can't discern, then leave it all alone.

Happy September Saturday to You!

September

Dear apple, on your branch,
please fall into my hat.
For if I take you off the tree,
They'll not be pleased with that!

Apples red and apples green,
please fall down upon the ground.
For if I pick you off the tree,
I cannot say how you've been found.

Apples here and apples there,
please fall into my hand.
My little sisters stand and stare
and wait for you to land.

Hips and haws and thistles tall
stand all around the tree.
All will soon be picked and stored.
Is there not just one for me?

Apples, apples, everywhere,
please let me have just one,
and just two more, please, tree,
then September will be done.
~ Elsa Beskow