A Garden Recap

Well, the August rain has left us high and dry, making September the hottest month of the summer.  It seems like a good time to talk about the garden.

This spring my good husband doubled the size of our vegetable garden.  So as not to give you too large of an impression, here's a good indication of the new size:

April garden prep

We've got heavy, clay soil so he added a lot of amendments, most notably a truckload of composted horse manure.

Here's the same garden on June 1, looking nice and orderly planted with tomatoes, peppers, green beans, cucumbers, zucchini, lettuce and eggplant.

In less than a month, the horse manure was working its magic and our tomato plants were laden with fruit (the zucchini in the background is struttin' its stuff too).

Those tomatoes deserve a closer look.

By July, we were seeing red, and soon we had harvested enough tomatoes to can.

Besides tomatoes, we had a bumper crop of peppers, zucchini, green beans, okra and egg plant.

 Only the cucumber plants failed to produce.  We planted three different plants two different times, but none of the plants thrived.

Now, it's September and the garden is looking ragged, but everything is still going strong except the lettuce, beans and zucchini, which have been pulled up.....

...to make room for the next generation:

Our Curriculum: Part 2 - Writing, Spelling and Grammar

Writing:

For writing, we'll continue with Writing With Ease ("WWE").  Level 3 for the boy and Level 1 for his sister.

When doing Level 2 with my son, I took a beautifully composed, cohesive program and completely mangled it.  You see, I had heard on-line complaints that the dictation exercises were just so hard.  Since All About Spelling ("AAS") contained dictation too, I decided to avoid the heart ache and skip the dictation sections for WWE and rely on AAS.

But then it slowly dawned on me that writing a simple sentence using a controlled set of words like, "The snake is in a coil" (an actual sentence from AAS Level 2) is a far cry from writing a dictated passage from WWE.  Here's a sample from that program:

Gold!  Gold!  It was almost as if someone had cried, "Fire!  Fire!"  Thousands of people rushed west to hunt for gold.

That's a whole 'nother ball game!  Both are useful exercises, but each has a different focus.

So, after going through the program sans dictation, we went back and added all those exercises interspersing with narration exercises from Story of the World.  The extra practice was good, but it sure took a long time to get through WWE Level 2.

I'm happy to have begun Level 3 and Level 1 for each child, respectively.  A fresh start is always good, and this time, there will be no shortcuts!

Spelling:

All About Spelling Level 3 and 4 for him and Levels 2 and 3 for her.

Grammar and Other:

Classical Conversations Cycle 2 memory work, which focuses on memorizing parts of speech and various definitions and lists for both.

Michael Clay Thomas' Island Level for grammar, poetry, vocabulary and extra writing for him.

Poetry memorization through the Institute for Excellence in Writing's Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization for both.  We've started the Level 2 poems.

All of these, except the Michael Clay Thomas ("MCT") series, are tried and true programs for us.  Not having taught these subjects prior to teaching my kids, I feel all of it is somewhat a roll of the dice, so I'm anxious to see how it all turns out.

See Part 1 here.

The Month in Books - August

Saving Leonardo by Nancy Pearcey

This book is another reminder that I've got to slow down and digest books.  I'm too anxious to get to the next one to fully absorb the one I'm reading.  This is yet another book that deserves a more careful reading than what I gave it.  It is an enlightening overview of the history of postmodernism.  It also explains how various philosophies impact culture, including books, movies, and art.


The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

It seems each book we read together is declared 'the best book we've ever read.'  This title usually lasts right up until the next one starts.  However, I think this one is going to reign supreme for a while.  I think I enjoyed it just as much as my son.

It is an intriguing mystery tackled by a group of young, gifted secret agents.  It's one in which the reader gets wrapped up in solving clues.  It's a page-turner that appeals to any age.


The Bridges at Toko-Ri by James Michener

This was our book club selection for the month.  I silently groaned when I found out the author, because I think of James Michener's books as thorough to say the least.  This one is different.  I easily read it in a couple of evenings.  I'd like to claim otherwise, but it was only coincidental that we read this book about fighter pilots in Korea during the 60th anniversary of the Korean War armistice.  The book was doubly meaningful to me as my dad is a Korean War veteran, and the movie made from it was the first movie my father and mother-in-law saw together.  One theme of the book was the "forgotten" nature of the war.  It explored the frustration of the soldier's families that American lives went on unaffected at the same time brave men were dying to end the communist threat.  This would be a good book to accompany a future study of the Korean War.


Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

I try to be careful what I read.  I'd like it to meet the criteria in Philippians 4:8.  However, I do not always do the good I want as you'll soon see.  Always on the look-out for good fiction, I quickly reserved this book from my library based on the review here, one of my favorite blogs.  This one was good in the sense that I couldn't wouldn't put it down and read nearly all of it in one sitting.  But, it is not good in the Philippians 4:8 sense as it is very bawdy, and as a result, I would not recommend it.

Itches and Inertia

We travelled the 300 plus miles to Missouri this weekend for a dose of grandparents and cousins.

While I was there, I caught an itch, similar to hers.  My itch is a dissatisfaction caused by comparing myself, an object at rest, to my mom, an object in motion...always...always...always in motion.

She cooked (no, 'let's just eat out tonight'), straightened, laundered, hulled, swept and wiped all weekend long.  Of course, I pitched in, I just didn't maintain her pace.

Her bustle is in contrast to my nose-in-a-book, head-in-the-clouds, hand-folded state of being.

I've inherited so many of the physical traits, even the temperament, of my mother.  Why, oh why, did I not get that crucial trait of busy-ness?  I'm merely a sloppy charicature of her and her hard-working ways.

I have an itch for a different kind of inertia....more like my momma's.  One that doesn't rest until it gets done.  One that says 'no' to the inclination to quit for now.  One that's a little more thorough and complete and attentive to detail.  One that's a little less beholden to good enough.    

Incidentally, the kids got an itch too, but theirs came from the chiggers.

August Rain

Today as my boy and I worked on fractions, we stopped and listened.  It was rain beginning to spatter on the window pain.  For an hour or more, the rain fell and the thunder gently rumbled.  I love these kinds of days.

They've been frequent this year--so unexpected yet so welcome.

Since I moved here twelve summers ago, I've come to dread August.  It's just so hot.  And dry.

Not so, this year.

Even in April, I noted in my journal that we were getting daily temperatures in the fifties, when normally, by then, we are usually well into the seventies.

I remember the weather man in June warning us not to get used to it, the heat and the dry would come with the summer.  I suppose in weather (as in investing) past performance is not an indication of future results.

The weatherman was wrong.  Throughout the summer, the days have stayed down right temperate.  Sure there have been waves of heat but they're gone as soon as they come.  When the heat leaves, the rains come.

The rain is particularly welcome because we have suffered through a draught over the past years, and this state has been a dry and thirsty land where no water was.

With the extra moisture, the humidity has increased.  When I go on my morning jaunt, my body turns into a human condenser and sweat drips from my elbows.

But I'll take it!  I'm a farmer's daughter and I'll celebrate each August raindrop in famine or in plenty.

Our Curriculum: Part 1 - Cursive

I'm going to go subject by subject to document our curriculum for the 2013/2014 school year.  I'm starting with cursive even though it really isn't its own subject.

I'm starting here because it's a hot-ish topic.  The buzz began when a witness for the prosecution in a certain sensationalized criminal trial admitted before the viewing public that she could not read a piece of evidence because she did not know how to read cursive.

I'm confident she's not the only one.

It seems cursive is no longer a priority in some schools, in part, because there simply isn't time to teach it and because it is not considered so important when communication these days is primarily done with a keyboard.

My husband and I have had the discussion before.  Is cursive relevant in an electronic world?  To me it's an emphatic, "Yes!"  No respectable signature was ever printed.  Cursive is what love letters are made of.  It's how your mom writes messages to you in greeting cards.  It's the print medium of the Declaration of Independence AND the Constitution!  Turns out, it even helps your brain.

No, for me, it wasn't a decision about whether or not to teach my kids cursive.  It was a matter of what font.  This:

or ****THIS****:

Okay, for now we're settling for the more standard version.

Right as I was pondering how to teach cursive, Classical Conversations came out with their PreScripts line.  I ordered all four books as soon as they were available because my kids were at or nearing the cursive age and because the books tied in with our memory work.

It's going well.  My son started in the second book, Cursive Words and Drawing, which features scripture, this past spring and is two-thirds of the way done.  It's still a laborious process for him, though.  He's getting faster copying the passages, but it's very tedious to both of us for him to use cursive in his other work.  We both give a sigh of relief when I let him switch back to print.  I need to develop the guts to have him go cold-turkey off the printing.  I just can't decide at what point that will be.

I'll have him finish this book but will start him on Cursive Sentences as soon as possible because it incorporates this year's history sentences.  I also like the accompanying art lessons in this book, which feature art from our Classical Acts and Facts History Cards.  I'm looking forward to entwining penmanship with history and art.  And, truly, the timing of this products release could not have been better.

As for my daughter, I'm going to start her on PreScripts Cursive Letters and Coloring next year when she's in second grade, but we'll do the coloring sheets this year because they correspond with our current-year memory work.

The Month in Books - July

Here are the books I finished in July:

The Art of Civilized Conversation:  A Guide to Expressing Yourself With Style and Grace by Margaret Shepherd

Turns out that there is a difference between civilized conversation and the other kind.  I've been guilty of relying on sarcasm and gossip to prop up weak conversational skills.  This book has made me more aware of what I say and how to be more gracious saying it.  As I was reading, this Bible verse kept jumping into my mind; it sums up civilized conversation as described in the the book quite nicely:

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.  Ephesians 4:29

The book is full of do's and don'ts for a variety of social situations.  It is really quite thorough and would be a good reference to have on the shelf.  

Killing Kennedy by Bill O'Reilly

This was my book club's book for the month.  In July, we traditionally read a book of a political nature.  It was very fast-paced, sticking mostly to documented facts and leaving out the speculation.  It was a simple account of a very complex time.  

Letters to a Young Scientist by Edward O. Wilson

I read this after hearing an interview with Wilson on NPR.  I listened to the interview on the heals of reading Anthony Esolen's Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child.  Being a fan of Esolen's book, I was taken in by the similarity of their messages regarding the importance of unstructured, contemplative time for children.  I was also smitten by Wilson's voice, which reminded me of my Great Uncle Martin's.

Not being particularly young or a scientist, I am not the intended audience for the book.  I'm also what Wilson calls an 'ideologue.'  Alas, I believe in creation, and the book is heavy in evolutionary content.   I recall reading somewhere that people tend to read books with which they expect they'll agree.   Here's an article expressing the viewpoint that it can be a good exercise to read opposing viewpoints.

I did in fact benefit from reading the book even though I believe in Biblical creation. I gathered some ideas for teaching science and obtained insight into how real scientists approach experiments.  I was inspired by Wilson's enthusiasm for his profession.  He is over 80 years old and still passionate about his life's work (ant research).  I also plan to pass along some of his advice to my children whether they end up to be scientists or not because it applies across disciplines.