It's Time to Get Out in the Dirt

It really is time to get after that garden again.  Every year, I have grand plans that seem to wilt in the heat and humidity of Virginia summers. We had beautiful, productive gardens in our last two yards, but this particular plot of land is rather unyielding despite my  feeble efforts.  Or maybe it's because of my feeble efforts and huge gaps in my gardening knowledge.  I dunno.  This year Christian, who is nearly 14, is bursting with garden and landscaping ideas.  And when Christian gets a bee in his bonnet, he is persistence personified.  This time, that could be a good thing, especially considering he is big and strong. Strength and persistence.  Good gardening virtues, I think.  Maybe he'll keep me going. We're going to begin with this treasure of a tip, unearthed in Lissa's Bonny Glen.  She doesn't live too far from me.  If it works with her Virginia dirt, it will work with mine, right? In the meantime, as if to hold me accountable for all my springtime plans and promises, my children have begun Blossoms and Bees, an online nature journal.  You can track our progress and our pitfalls there.

Workbooks? In my home?

So often, one of the first questions that inquiring minds ask is what home educating moms do when they are sick.  There is no substitute teacher.  All the lovely plans of narrations carefully keyboarded by a patient Mama, long walks in the woods acquainting each other with flora and fauna, and messy, joyful artistic endeavors at outdoor easels are tossed aside in favor of a plump pillow and a steady stream of chamomile-peppermint tea.

I've spent seventeen weeks and five days with that pillow and tea (but who's keeping track, right?).  The first ten weeks or so, things moved along quite nicely.  We had been in a great rhythm and the children even planned and executed some very lovely Charlotte Mason days.  They spent about a week at the Rabbit Trails forum and put together a rather impressive snowflake unit.  They plugged away at notebook projects.  But then...

...somehow, the order started drifting away and chaos crept in.  They figured out that if I went to bed a few moments after eating,I wasn't going to resurface any time soon.  And I broke the cardinal rule of home and school management:  Don't expect what you don't inspect.  And so, my home and our lessons began a sure slide into disarray.

How to right the ship?  Well, I determined to redistribute chores on the chore chart and to begin a new unit.  I was sure we'd all be invigorated.  Problem is, invigoration and motivation were never my problem.  My problem was physical limitation.  I can want to take all the hikes in the world. I can want to do a unit that requires my constant attention. But the spirit is willing and the flesh is nauseous and dizzy.    I think God had a plan.

At the beginning of this school year, our family gladly volunteered to watch the one-year-old of a dear friend while she went to college. Her story is told here. For the first week, Gracie could not be consoled. She fussed. She cried.  She wanted everyone's attention, all the time.  I was despairing.  I didn't want to bail out of this arrangement.  I didn't want to sacrifice our home education either. I wanted Gracie to be a part of our days at home and I was confident that was God's will too.  Our lives were inextricably intertwined.  But how did God want me to incorporate it all harmoniously and productively?

I did something I'd never done before.  I placed a huge order for boxed curriculum. It came.  I didn't open the box for days.  It seemed like I was denying everything I'd always wanted to believe about education at home. I didn't want someone else's plans.  And I really didn't want workbooks.  But I was pretty desperate.  So we broke open the box and we discovered some real gems there.  We discovered that delight-directed learning and living books could co-exist along with basic, faith-infused workbooks and lesson plans. Mom learned a valuable lesson.  Funny thing was, Gracie had stopped crying before we even opened the box.  It turns out she was cutting four teeth that first week and just as soon they were in, she was all giggles and grins.  But we now had workbooks.

And oh what a blessing they have been since January!  I can stay completely still and horizontal and still help a child with a worktext.  We're still making progress.  And when we slipped into chaos, I drew up list and made a promise to check progress with those texts. I miss the lapbooks and the hikes.  I'm longing to do something impulsive and creative, but I'm glad for the blessing of the books in the box. We've read a whole lot of books up in my big bed, played plenty of board games, begun family blogs with lots of journaling, and been pretty faithful to the workbooks and somebody else's lesson plans.

I have found great comfort and encouragement in this poem about workbooks, written by the eldest girl in Alice's lovely Cottage. Clearly a child who could write such a delightful, sophisticated poem has had a an education that might have included workbooks but certainly wasn't limited to them or by them.  Wonder of wonders: workbooks can co-exist with real education! If Alice's children can know and "love" workbooks ;-) and still have the rich and varied education I know they have, mine can too!

After the fast, the FEAST!

We awoke this morning to a chorus of Alleluias!  The stone was rolled away; He is alive!

And, after the fast, of course, we must feast.  The table is set.

We discussed the menu on The 4Real forum, but the children and I tweaked it a bit today.  To see pictures and more recipes, visit Kitchen Comforts.

A Somber Hush..

...until tomorrow.

For the Bonny Bairn and Her Mama

It's early Good Friday morning and all my thoughts and prayers are actually on new life.  My dear friend,Lissa is in labor at last!  Please take a moment to pray for her and her wee bairn today.  Updates on "the news" will be posted by the girls in the Cottage. Here is a beautiful novena that my daughter and I will make a nine hour novena for Lissa today.  Won't you join us?

NOVENA IN HONOR OF OUR LADY OF LA LECHE

PRAYER

Lovely Lady of La Leche, most loving Mother of our Savior, Jesus Christ and my Mother, please listen to my humble prayer. Your heart knows my every wish, my every need. I trust, dear Mother, that you will shelter me beneath your protecting mantle, like what you did to your Son. Intercede to Him that I may have the courage and the strength to overcome whatever difficulty surrounds me. Give me the grace to be faithful to you always and may you be my shining inspiration now and forever.

Our Lady of La Leche, pray for us.

LITANY OF OUR MOTHER OF MOTHERS

Lord have mercy on us Christ have mercy on us
Lord have mercy on us Christ hear us
Lord have mercy on us Christ graciously hear us
God the Father in heaven have mercy on us
God the Son, redeemer of the world
God the Holy Spirit
Holy Trinity, one God
Holy Mary Pray for us
Chaste daughter of the Father
Chaste spouse of the Holy Spirit
Chaste mother of the Son of God
Vessel of election
Throne of the Divine Majesty
Tabernacle of the Divine Word
Chalice of the Divine Life
Mother of God
Mother of the infant Christ
Consecration of womanhood
Hope of Christian womanhood
Model of Christian womanhood
Blessed in your motherhood
Inspiration of holy motherhood
Consolation of motherhood
Protector of motherhood
Blessing of all Christian motherhood
Exaltation of motherhood
Sanctification of motherhood
Queen of the most holy family
Queen of chaste family life
Queen of mothers
Mother of happy delivery
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world…………Spare us, Lord
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world…………Graciously hear us Lord
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world…………Have mercy on us

Our Lady of Happy Delivery………Pray for us who have recourse to you.

Let us pray:

Cherished Virgin, heaven’s queen, chosen before all women to be the mother of the Son of God, Mary, my mother, who in your maternity so sanctified the state of holy motherhood, imploringly I come to you, humbly I beseech you, confidently I trust in you. I know, that by your powerful intercession, you can help me in my need. In you I take refuge dear Virgin. Poor and needy, I turn devoutly to you and place all confidently in your hands. Accept my humble trust, hear my petition and come to my aid, dear Mother of mothers.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord
Be it done to me according to your Word.

Mother Mary, please bless Lissa's baby. Make Lissa physically and emotionally strong and fill her with abundant love and patience to be able to bear and to nurse her baby girl well. If the baby should have pain and other difficulties, you shall be her consolation. Give them both hope. In the midst of any difficulty, please help her to be cheerful. Thank you for giving this baby to Lissa.