It’s almost Mother’s Day again, and again I’m not really sure what to do about it. The children found out, as they do about most holidays, and think they need to do some special something. Their father shrugs his shoulders and says “We love mommy everyday, not just one day.” Still, the children want to do “something.”

If the children were in school, they would at least get to make cards and tissue paper flowers and picture frames out of popsicle sticks.

Here, they get a disinterested response from dad and a mom who winces when her daughter says something about staying up late for “preparations.” Someone, it seems, should encourage them in their display of affections, but somehow it seems a little self-serving for me to plan the event and its execution. Can you picture it?

“You are making breakfast. You shall clean the kitchen. And you, you and you, uh, no fighting and try not to cry about anything. I’m going to take a bath and no one will interrupt because that is how I wish to be appreciated.”

I thought about taking the children to Michael’s for some of their little events, but this week has been hectic, what with having no car and then blowing a tire on the way to Lincoln and all. I’d tell you about the sinking feeling I had in my chest at being left in the car with five children as my husband threw the tire on his shoulder to walk the remaining ten miles into town, but that really belongs in a post of its own.

And really maybe he should be the one to get the cute little chalkboard mug, perfect for any teacher, homeschool moms (and dads) included. But it’s Mother’s Day. His day is next month. Or in September, if we want to go off the Australian calendar, but that is neither here nor there.

But then, I was sitting with Mouse in one of her gardens earlier this week. We were pulling two years’ worth of weeds and grasses from between the bulbs fighting for space and laying down layers of newspaper to tip the balance in favor of the flowers. It was sort of relaxing just sitting there and chatting about the different kinds of flowers and her long term plans for the garden, and I had a simple little idea.

For Mother’s Day, we could adopt this little garden. We could go to Campbell’s and each pick out a few bulbs or some seeds and have a little gardening party Sunday afternoon. It even sounds like something we could look forward to doing again next year. . .a sort of Mother’s Day tradition.

Of course, rain is expected.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Oh, and here’s a great little (free!) e-book for Mother’s Day craft ideas.

Driving into Olathe earlier in the week, I was greeted by a large flashing highway sign:

Fireworks illegal.  Happy Fourth of July!

All fireworks.  At one time, at least, that included sparklers, though the police seemed to have enough to do that one day without crashing barbecues to confiscate sparklers from children.

Last year, I and every other driver crossing over the border at Brownville got pulled over.  Police officers peered through the windows and inquired:

Are you transporting any fireworks?

Because just up the road a tad, over in Missouri, you can still buy things that blow up.  Way up.  They are illegal here, but according to the sign, at least, you can buy one and get three free.

Looking out for the public health and safety is certainly one of the jobs of local government, but does banning all fireworks really make things any safer?  When I was younger, we generally only fired off a few at a time before moving to another location.  Or drove outside city limits to set them off down some country road.  A friend of mine took his out to a nature center because, well, there just wasn’t anyone around.

Looking over some of the damage caused by fireworks so far this year, I’m struck by a few things.  Some people are just plain stupid.  No law is going to protect a seventeen year old kid who sticks a firework between his legs to muffle the sound.  Nor will it protect communities where kids are found to be driving about aiming them at people.  But there were a few grass fires started, as well.  And I think about my friend back in high school.

That “the laws don’t work” is not really a very good argument.  No laws really “work” or there would be no crime.  But do anti-fireworks laws and campaigns really do anything to make us safer over the holiday?  Or could they inadvertently encourage nincompoops like the teenager mentioned above?  After all, fireworks safety is rarely part of the discussion.

Granted it was put out by the American Pyrotechnics Association which has an obvious interest in the sale of and use of fireworks, but I think they make a good point about safety education.

The NFPA is a powerful voice when it comes to public safety education. They have done a commendable job educating the public on fire safety and burn prevention with their other programs like Sparky the Fire Dog and Risk Watch. The APA believes that if the NFPA joined forces along with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, National Council on Fireworks Safety and fire departments across the country in promoting safety tips for responsible consumer fireworks use, that message would have a significant impact in helping to further reduce the misuse of fireworks.  The Free Library

So what do you think?  How can communities best balance public safety with the public’s desire to blow things up at least once per year?

And will you be setting of fireworks this year?

Either way, I wish you a Happy Independence Day!

fireworks Fourth of July Independence Day anti-fireworks

This entry was originally published on Memorial Day in 2006 and then again in 2007 and again in 2008. I think it shall be an annual tribute to those who have sacrificed for our country. Happy Memorial Day!

I’ve always had a measure of old-fashioned American patriotism, and I was actually quite shocked when I realized citizens of other nations don’t necessarily share such sentiments about their own nations. But the summer of 1994 was the first time I remember feeling a strong sense of pride at my national heritage and the principles upon which our nation was founded. I was in a small suburb of West Berlin, just a brief walk from where the Berlin wall once stood. I opened up the Berliner Zeitung to find a full page spread thanking the American miitary as they prepared to withdraw from the American quadrant. America’s military presence had been continuous and visible since 1945, but we had never treated Germany like an occupied country. The harrassment, violence and even rape suffered by East Germans at the hands of the Soviet Union was unheard of in the American sector. Heartfelt memories of the Berlin airlift were shared. My friend’s parents told me of their fear when the Soviet Union first closed off Berlin. And tears welled in their eyes as they told of the arrival of the first packages. As America, an occupying military force, prepared its withdrawal, the people of Berlin thanked us for establishing and preserving their own liberty.

We are a nation founded on the guiding principle that “...all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…” our national symbols are symbols of liberty–the liberty tree, the statue of liberty, the liberty bell and the Declaration of Independence. We have long been a beacon of liberty to the world, proclaiming:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Freedom and liberty are part of our national heritage. They have deep roots predating European Christianity which were strengthened by the spread of the gospel through Europe and transplanted to our own shores. Here, the concept of Christian self-government guided many as they prepared to fight for independence, and later began to set up our government characterized by liberty for the people and limits against the powers of the state. The greatest threat to these institutions and to our own liberty are not coming from our foreign enemies nor even from the few within our borders who would seek to do us harm. Our strength is not in our history, nor in our symbols and certainly not in our military. Our strength is in our character. In our ability to reason. In our ability to take responsibility for our own actions and for the plight of our neighbors. It is in our ability to govern ourselves through Christ and not look to the state for solutions. As we raise our children, we must remember that we are primarily educating them for liberty.

I don’t remember a lot of specific lessons from elementary school.  Those I do stand out as something out of the ordinary.  Very often, they were craft projects made by enthusiastic hands for my mom for whatever the next national holiday was.  Sure, they consisted of a lot popsicle sticks, pom poms and pipe cleaners glued together in seemingly infinite combinations, but in my imagination they may as well have been the tools of a seasoned craftsman.

I remember those things.  Paper plate baskets with construction paper flowers for May Day, clothes pin reindeer for Christmas, heart shaped men with accordion-like arms and legs for Valentine’s Day.  I remember those things fondly.  They are some of the kinds of things I would like my children to remember when they grow up.

But now we are coming up on Mother’s Day, and something seems strangely narcissistic about setting children to making Mother’s Day crafts.  After all, I am both teacher and mother.

Children, today we are going to make these cute note holders out of rulers and clothes pins.  Don’t you think I’ll like that?  It will give me such a nice place for me to display the work I’ve told you to do.

I could leave it to dad, but he is not overly enthusiastic about holidays in general.  Of Mother’s Day, he simply says,

What?  You only honor your mother one day a year?  What about the other 364?

To which I say any mother has only so much room for potpourri sachets and picture frames made from twigs.  One Mother’s Day a year is just about right.

But I never get anything like that, and my refrigerator is not overcrowded with picture frames made from every material under the sun.  Sure, I get hugs and kisses (and occasional “attitude”) as well as numerous dandelion bouquets throughout the day.  And I obviously wouldn’t trade those for anything.  But a small part of me would like to give my children some of those same memories I have of school as I happily cut and colored and pasted bits and pieces to surprise my mom.

Hmm…Maybe I can just drop them off at Michaels for the rest of the week.  They have some cute projects for mom.

What do you do for Mother’s Day in your homeschool?

homeschool homeschooling Mother’s Day

Every year, Christmas seems to be thrust into the center of the culture wars as businesses determine how to promote their goods to us and we decide just how upset we are at being wished a Happy Holiday.  My concerns began with an email alert I received from the American Family Association regarding the lack of the word “Christmas” in Costco’s holiday, er, Christmas, marketing campaign.

TAKE ACTION

Send your email to Costco.

Let Costco know that you will exercise “your privilege” of shopping only at stores that recognize Christmas. Remind Costco that their competitors are vying for your business too, and you will shop accordingly.

So far as I can remember, I’ve never set foot inside a Costco, so my scathing emails and promises to “shop accordingly” would mean very little. Of course, they don’t need to know that, but that is what started my musing. That and being told to boycott. That sort of strikes at my rebellious nature and really isn’t the best way to get me to do much of anything…especially when it comes in the form of an email newsletter I can only assume I signed up for at some point.

Anyway, that led to the Naughty and Nice lists put out by The American Family Association and The Liberty Counsel.  And I just noticed this, but what am I to do with Barnes and Nobles? They made the AFA’s “Naughty List” and the Liberty Counsel’s “Nice List.”

I’m a rather conservative Christian. Perhaps a bit too conservative even for the AFA and The Liberty Counsel for as I look down the Nice List, I’m not impressed by well-meaning companies paying honor to my Lord and Savior.  Instead I see a list of companies who would very much like to replace any Christian meaning there may be in the season with the Almighty Dollar. The name of my Lord and Savior is slapped on sales, bath soaps, cookbooks, linens and toys, all to be delivered in time for Christmas in hopes of clinching a sale. I wonder sometimes what exactly Christ would say if he were to walk through the “naughty” Bloomingdale’s or the “nice” Macy’s.

How dare you remove my name from your holiday flyer!

Er, Christmas flyer.  That seems stranger yet. And a bit out of character. But as a Christian, I’m supposed to “take on the mind of Christ.” To be His light to a fallen world. And it really seems there are ways to do that which are much more effective than engaging in what comes across to me as a publicity stunt to garner attention to a cause outside of the mission of the Church.

No man will live or die, be saved or condemned based on the welcome phrases used at a place of business.  If I had my druthers, I would much prefer to have the name of Christ connected with missions to aid the poor, the widows and the orphans than to have it connected to boycott after boycott of issues which are little more than expressions of cultural dissatisfaction and do nothing to help those who are truly in need.

Edward Winslow wrote in A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth (1621):

Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, among other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massosoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed upon our governor, and upon the captain, and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.

By the goodness of God, we are far from want. In fact, we have never known want like that of the Pilgrims. Giving up their homeland, leaving for an unknown shore across an unfriendly sea, suffering disease and starvation to make an investment in their future. They sought a wealth few of us think on today. As the closing two verses of The Landing of the Pilgrims so eloquently say,

What sought they thus afar?
Bright jewels of the mine?
The wealth of seas, the spoils of war?–
They sought a faith’s pure shrine!

Ay, call it holy ground,
The soil where first they trod.
They have left unstained what there they found–
Freedom to worship God.

Freedom to worship God was the wealth they sought. And more than that, the freedom to educate their children. For in Holland, the Pilgrims did have freedom to worship God but they saw their children going the way of the world, adopting the Dutch culture. They wanted not only the freedom to worship God as they pleased, but to educate their children according to their conscience. It was for this they traversed a hostile sea, suffered disease and nearly starved.

It was this for which they were able to give thanks and for which I am most thankful this season.

Happy Thanksgiving!

If you post what you are thankful for this week, feel free to leave a link to share!

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A good Thanksgiving joke from two years ago.

And “An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving” by Louisa May Alcott.

I’m just curious.  Do you teach Columbus as the evil conqueror who brought disease, death and cultural annihilation to the New World?  Or as the hero and great explorer who discovered the New World and brought civilization to it?  Or something in between?

We studied Columbus a few years ago using predominantly his own journal which was rather interesting.  We looked at him as a man with great ambition, great opportunity and great faith who unfortunately became a wee bit obsessed with gold, corrupting all the potential of his mission.

We are actually studying how horses have affected world history at the moment, and this week we are supposed to be finishing up the Huns.  It would be a good time to begin our look at how horses affected the colonization of the Americas, but that is a bit too much jumping around on the time line for me.  For those interested however, he are some Columbus Day resources for the horse lover.

The Native Americans Columbus encountered feared the horse, making it possible for very few men to intimidate large numbers of natives.  This proved very important to colonization for obvious reasons.  Cortez was later quotes as saying, “Next to God, we owe our victory to our horses.”  Once the Native Americans got hold of horses, however, their cultures were changed profoundly, unsettling some of the “balance of power” between the tribes.  White Americans would later find some of these groups, such as the Sioux and the Apache, mighty warriors who could strike swiftly and fiercely upon their mounts although a few centuries previously their power would have been severely limited.

Some good information about the descendants of some of these first horses:

The Wild Horses of Shackleford Banks

An outline of some of this history (word document)

And the book we will be using when we get there:  After Columbus:  The horse’s return to America

Happy Columbus Day!

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Home School Talk will be canceled today due to the fact that the host has no voice.

homeschool homeschooling Columbus Day

Christmas of 1862 saw a nation wearied by war. The year before had been merry as young men trotted off to war expecting adventure, honor and the preservation of something noble. They went off as to a frolic, expecting quick victory. Over the course of that first year, however, their enthusiasm had been quenched as North and South stood at a seemingly unbreakable stalemate and few lives were left untouched by the horrors of modern warfare. Families were separated, rations were short and homes were destroyed. The cover of Harper’s Weekly reflected well the mood of the nation in Thomas Nast’s depiction of Christmas, 1862.

A woman prays near her children’s bedside as the same moon shines over a soldier on the battlefield holding a portrait of family. The third prominent element is the graveyard which would take in at least 620,000 Americans through the course of this war.

By this second Christmas of war, men felt alienated from the causes they had so valiantly left home to defend. Northerners felt this was Lincoln’s war. Southerners felt it was a rich man’s war fought on the poor man’s back. Mistakes had been made on both sides and both sides were settling in for a long battle, no longer sure of victory.

Out of this time, however, would also come a ray of hope. Not of quick victory nor even of better times, but a foreshadowing of healing. America would be one nation again. Forever changed, but one.

December 30, 1862 lines were being drawn for a significant battle near Murfreesboro, TN after months of waiting. The tension was high and both sides waited in “anxious suspense” as James Barnes of the 86th Indiana recorded. Just before tattoo, the Union bands struck up “Yankee Doodle” to lift the spirits of the men. As the last chord died, a southern band answered with “Dixie.” The cordial volley continued until the bands struck a common chord.

The night before the battle an incident took place such as history seldom records,” wrote Samuel Seay of the 1st Tennessee. “The opposing lines were so near to each other as to be within easy bugle-call. Just before ‘tattoo,’ the military bands on each side began their evening music. The still winter night carried their strains to a great distance. At every pause on our side, far away could be heard the military bands of the other.

“Finally one of them struck up ‘Home! Sweet Home!’ As if by common consent, all the other airs ceased, and the bands of both armies, far as the ear could reach, joined in the refrain.”

Men of the North and South lifted their voices in unison, extolling the virtues of home. The following day would see three thousand dead and fifteen thousand wounded as the Stones River ran red. While each man longed to be home, each was also fighting for an idea of home and of family they wished to see preserved.

Home! Sweet Home!
John Howard Payne
1791-1852

Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble there’s no place like home!
A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there,
Which, seek through the world, is ne’er met with elsewhere

Home! Home! sweet, sweet Home
There’s no place like Home!
There’s no place like Home!

I gaze on the moon as I tread the drear wild
And feel that my mother now thinks of her child
As she looks on the moon from our own cottage door
Through the woodbine whose fragrance shall cheer me no more.

Home! Home! sweet, sweet Home…

An exile from home splendor dazzles in vain
Oh, give me my low, thatched cottage again,
The birds singing gaily that come at my call,
Give me them with that peace of mind, dearer than all,

Home! Home! sweet, sweet Home…

How sweet ’tis to sit neath a fond father’s smile,
And the cares of a mother to soothe and beguile.
Let others delight ‘mid new pleasures to roam,
But give me, oh give me the pleasures of home.

Home! Home! sweet, sweet Home…

To thee I’ll return overburdened with care,
The hearts dearest solace will smile on me there
No more from that cottage again will I roam,
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.

Home! Home! sweet, sweet Home…

Merry Christmas, from our home to yours.

______

Sources: God Rest Ye Merry Soldiers, A true Civil War Christmas Story by James McIvor (2005) (Samuel Seay’s quote appears on page 102)

Ought it not be a Merry Christmas?

The Advent season is almost upon us. “Advent” means simply, “important arrival” and of course refers to the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. According to Webster’s 1828 dictionary, it means,

A coming; appropriately the coming of our Savior, and in the calendar, it includes four sabbaths before Christmas, beginning of St. Andrew’s Day, or on the sabbath next before or after it. It is intended as a season of devotion, with references to the coming of Christ in the flesh, and his second coming to judge the world.

One of the special things about celebrating Advent in particular is that it can help keep the focus on the Christ, and how the world groans awaiting for His return. Interestingly, the season of Advent seems to have more significance in Germany, where a plethora of activities take place and a number of songs specific to Advent are known as well as the most common Christmas carols. Now that Advent calendars are getting more commercialized and can be found containing chocolate and even legos, they are spreading in popularity even here in the United States. There is one available online…and you can’t peek, so begin visiting on the first advent to see what each new day brings. Dawn of Day By Day Homeschooling is even offering a secular advent calendar on her blog.

Last year, we started a new tradition to bring some more focus on what the coming of Christ means to the world. After learning about the Jesse Tree, we decided to try it. The name comes from Isaiah 11:1, “a shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots.” It is essentially a walk through scripture to prepare the heart for the coming of Christ and give focus to the season.

In 1599, the words to a beautiful folksong, Es ist ein Ros entsprungen, were first published in Cologne, Germany which began with a paraphrase of the beginning of Isaiah 11. The English version is also good, and the site provides the melody. We will be learning this song this season, and we may learn the first verse in German as well.

We started making ornaments out of Sculpey clay which turned out very nice. It is a simple process and my children enjoyed it. We fell behind, however, and did not finish them all. If you are interested, here is the post about the process of making these ornaments. We got the images used from this site which has a simpler story to follow, suitable for younger children.

And from around the web:

Palm Tree Pundit shares her Advent Jesse Tree. And the origins of her family tradition sound like a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.

Cultivating Home is trying to faithfully post a story and craft idea each day. And you can listen to O Come, O Come Emanuel while you read.

And, last but not least, a long time virtual friend of mine is hosting Eleanor Zweigle’s free Advent study using the inductive method. I have not looked at it, yet, but PrincipledMom is also using it.

Related Tags: homeschooling, Advent, Jesse tree, ornaments, Sculpey, Christmas

Edward Winslow wrote in A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth (1621):

Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, among other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massosoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed upon our governor, and upon the captain, and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.

By the goodness of God, we are far from want. In fact, we have never known want like that of the Pilgrims. Giving up their homeland, leaving for an unknown shore across an unfriendly sea, suffering disease and starvation to make an investment in their future. They sought a wealth few of us think on today. As the closing two verses of The Landing of the Pilgrims so eloquently say,

What sought they thus afar?
Bright jewels of the mine?
The wealth of seas, the spoils of war?–
They sought a faith’s pure shrine!

Ay, call it holy ground,
The soil where first they trod.
They have left unstained what there they found–
Freedom to worship God.

Freedom to worship God was the wealth they sought. And more than that, the freedom to educate their children. For in Holland, the Pilgrims did have freedom to worship God but they saw their children going the way of the world, adopting the Dutch culture. They wanted not only the freedom to worship God as they pleased, but to educate their children according to their conscience. It was for this they traversed a hostile sea, suffered disease and nearly starved.

It was this for which they were able to give thanks and for which I am most thankful this season.

Happy Thanksgiving!

If you post what you are thankful for this week, feel free to leave a link to share!