Poetry Friday: Hopkins With a Twist

Reader Alanna Boudreau shared with me her version of Pied Beauty -- a poem I love -- set to music that she composed. Alanna has a lovely, haunting voice and I find that I can't get this out of my head.

You can find it here.

~~~~~

The Poetry Friday round up is at Life Is Better With Books.

Quiet, by Susan Cain and The Blue Castle

At the end of May I was so bold as to blog about a summer reading list. This is because I thought I'd actually have time to do a lot of reading this summer.

I was tragically mistaken.

However, I have finished a couple of things on my list:

The Blue Castle, by L.M. Montgomery.

The cover makes it look like a cheap romance novel. Do not judge this book by its cover. Funny, sharp, delightful, and a perfect summer read for Montgomery fans.

And I can only hope that this person, who gave it a one-star review on Amazon, has repented of her evil ways.

~~~~~

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain

I love this book.
I love this book.
I love this book.

Now, go away, because I have expended all my introvert energy in reporting to you on this book and I need to recharge.

Also? I would love to meet Susan Cain, except, really, I wouldn't love it because we would both be thinking the same thing: "You're lovely and all, but I'd rather be home reading."

Things worth discussing about Quiet:

• The relationship between solitude and creativity
• The ways in which work and school environments can undermine creativity while trying to foster it
• The biology behind introversion and the nature vs. nurture discussion
• Parenting "high reactive" children 
• Staying true to one's nature 
• When and how to step outside your introverted nature -- why and how that works  

And plenty more. I have at least three pages of notes on this book but -- again, tragically -- not enough time to blog about it today. But soon.

Have you read Quiet?
Are you an introvert?
What did you think?
If you're an extrovert, are thinking, "Hey! Karen! Why do you love reading so much?"

Ramona Is (gulp) Ten Years Old

The last time someone turned ten around here was six years ago and apparently it was a pretty hectic week.

The past couple weeks haven't been like that -- not hectic-bad, just hectic-busy. Not the kind of busy that makes me cry out in dread, "Oh, no! What fresh hectic is this?"

No, it's just the usual summer-busy-stuff ... horseback riding and the water park and dinners with friends and good-byes to a beloved priest and insurance paperwork and writing a book and thinking about homeschooling plans for fall, and complaining about the heat ... the kind of stuff that reminds me that summer isn't really all that lazy or hazy, just crazy. And fast.

So, anyway, Ramona recently turned the corner into the double digits.

My baby was three years old (and Quimby-ish) when I started blogging.

Gulp.

She's still Quimby-ish, in the way that Ramona in the books remained Ramona, but more so. Deliciously more so. You know?

That's all I can manage right now as far as reflecting on my three beautiful daughters and this inexplicable thing they keep doing called aging. It's right and its good but it's weird. But somehow I'm happier every year and I love to see the people they are turning into.

Another Giveaway -- This Time It's From Daria Sockey

Go visit Daria at Coffee and Canticles (hey, two of my favorite things side by side -- coffee and prayer) to see the beautiful book on night prayer that she's giving away.


All you have to do is leave her a comment -- she'll announce the winners next week. 

From the Inbox: Stuff to Be Shared

A great little book: Sense Nonsense, by Francisco J. Garcia-Julve -- full of aphorisms, and sometimes seemingly paradoxical musings from the author.

A few examples from the book (and some of these remind of some of my favorite quotes from George Macdonald):

Apart from all others, the problem with wanting to be ourselves is that we don’t really know who we are.

***

You need not strive to be yourself. You can’t help it! If you don’t believe it, try to be somebody else.

***

We cannot help being ourselves, but we can renounce ourselves. If we don’t, it’s only because we renounce renouncing ourselves (and very gladly too).

***

Each of us has three different personas: the one we think we are, the one others think we are, and the one we really are. Maturity is bringing them to coincide.

***

If we are parted with God, it’s because we prefer ourselves to him.

If you like sense that sounds like nonsense but isn't, you'll love this.

~~~~~

My friend Karl sent this video: What Happens When You Take Your Kid to Schola Practice.

~~~~~

From pal Sarah Reinhard: 

We are looking for writers for the New Evangelizers blog.

If you're interested in sharing your faith and specifically things that tie into New Evangelization, especially how to Know Your Faith, Live Your Faith, and Share Your Faith, we'd love to hear from you. 

Contact Sarah Reinhard at blog @ snoringscholar(dot)com or leave a comment on this post at her blog.

~~~~~

Celestial Magazine, an online Catholic magazine with the tagline, "Fortifying the Hearts of Women" has launched. It looks lovely! Find out more here. 

~~~~~

MyConsecration.org offers an app for making a Total Consecration to Mary. Find it at their website.

~~~~~

If you haven't read any of the conversion stories at Why I'm Catholic, you should head over there. I hope to get my story added there one day soon. 

~~~~~

Finally, have you checked out the new webcomic from Melissa Wiley and Scott Peterson? Into the Thicklebit reminds me that my life has often felt like a webcomic. 

~~~~~

You Find What Works and You Do It, Part IV

Part I
Part II
Part III

The next question:

Do you have set subjects that must be tackled by the laws of the state? If not, what plan did you follow for coming up with his coursework or are you using a curriculum like Kolbe or Seton?

No, I've never used anything like Kolbe or Seton, and yes, in our state we do report on the areas of language arts, math, science, social studies, and health. These are all a part of daily life and homeschooling, so I know we're covering them and my documentation makes that clear. In our first year of homeschooling, I made a simple form for monthly record keeping. Though I've tried other forms and methods, I always come back to this simple one because it matches our state requirements neatly and allows room for my own notes (and of course, I always add pages to this -- one form doesn't cover an entire semester, booklists, etc.) Notes eventually become a narrative transcript on all things read, studied, discussed, learned, mastered, and experienced. Here's my humble little form:

I've also always used the Living is Learning Curriculum guides because they're helpful for ideas, projects, and looking for gaps.

As for deciding what would be included, I covered a bit about our process in Part II -- assessing strengths, weaknesses, gaps, areas of interest, and -- sometimes, the bottom line -- beloved books we want to be sure our children read. Books about homeschooling high school, blogs, discussion groups,  and local friends were also invaluable resources along the way as we made decisions about what to do and what to cover.

The best way to give you an idea of what we ended up with for high school is to give you the outline of Anne-with-an-e's narrative transcript:

History and Literature (We included an explanation of how these are interwoven and are not necessarily separated into different "subjects" in our homeschool, and we included booklists and details covering ancient/early Church through the Renaissance, British/European, Shakespeare, American and Modern, biographies , poetry, travel and experiential learning, history and family heritage projects.)

Drama, Music, Art (Listed classes, experience, choirs, etc.)

Foreign Language (Spanish at community college, various exposure to Latin, self-taught ASL.)

Religion/Discussion/Living Our Faith (Included a booklist, a description of the kinds of discussion we regularly have at the dinner table, experience, activism, etc.)

Science (booklists, lab work, hands-on learning, veterinarian shadowing experience, etc.)

Math (listing of curriculum used)


If you have homeschooled high school and would like to chime in, I'd love to hear from you. I also want to put together a list of blogs that have discussed homeschooling high school kids.

Poetry Friday: Richard Wilbur

I have posted about Richard Wilbur, oh, about 111 times. But not for awhile. So, today, perhaps my favorite poem in the world about writing. And daughters.


The Writer
by Richard Wilbur

In her room at the prow of the house
Where light breaks, and the windows are tossed with linden,
My daughter is writing a story.

I pause in the stairwell, hearing
From her shut door a commotion of typewriter-keys
Like a chain hauled over a gunwale.

Young as she is, the stuff
Of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy:
I wish her a lucky passage.

But now it is she who pauses,
As if to reject my thought and its easy figure.
A stillness greatens, in which

The whole house seems to be thinking,

(Read the rest of the poem here, at The Writer's Almanac.)


The round up is at A Teaching Life.

And the Winner is ...

Ramona just hit the "Generate" button at Random.org, and the winner is #138,  Maureen M., who left her comment last night at 9:09 p.m.

 Maureen M., please email me with your mailing address and I'll send your book out!

Last Day to Enter to Win a Copy of Style, Sex, and Substance

Comments will close at midnight (central daylight time) tonight -- I'll be picking a winner first thing in the morning. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post!

A perfectly charming way to start my day

With this article:
Thinking Too Much About Chalk.

Thanks for the link, Atticus.

You Find What Works and You Do It, Part III

Part I is here.
Part II is here.

 The next question:

"What do you think you might do differently for Ramona as she enters high school?"

Actually, we're already dealing with differences -- for Betsy, who's a junior this year. (Hey, I'm suddenly reminded of a great book series.)

The main difference is that we'll take greater advantage of early enrollment at the community college than we did with Anne. Now that we've got some experience with that whole thing, we're starting a bit earlier for Betsy.

Another difference is that because Betsy and Anne have always been the best of pals and do so much together, Betsy has been able to do certain things (such as writing and directing a play) earlier than Anne did. There are advantages to being a younger sister!

Other than that, it will be very similar: extensive reading, loads of discussion, writing (Betsy has written three novels, and perpetually has numerous short stories going, but she's decidedly not a fan of essay writing), math, living our faith.

Betsy will, as Anne did, do some prep for the ACT test. If your child knows for certain that she will attend community college before transferring to a four-year institution, the ACT test isn't really a necesssity* -- by the time she transfers, her transcript will do the talking.  We decided to go ahead and have Anne take the test, however, because we didn't want to close doors prematurely, just in case she did decide to apply and/or attend somewhere else. So, the ACT scores were helpful when she applied to Benedictine, and ended up being helpful with a scholarship (though, for community college, COMPASS test scores can also be used on scholarship applications.)

And I have to admit that I'm not yet even thinking about Ramona entering high school.

I'm gonna stay in denial about that one a little longer.

Part IV is here.


* 2018 Update: This varies from college to college. Always look into the requirements of the schools your child is considering. When Anne transferred to a nearby state college, they did not require an ACT score in addition to her community college transcript. By the time Betsy transferred to the same college, an ACT score was a requirement, even if one had an associate's degree from a community college. I don't understand the reasoning behind that requirement, but there you have it.

Poetry Friday: "Too present to imagine."

Do you even have to ask? After today's post, the only choice for Poetry Friday is Robert Frost.

I chose this one because the older I get -- the longer I am married, a mother, a teacher, a writer, a friend  -- the more I understand this rearview mirror of life, the way that, "The present is too much for the senses,/Too crowding, too confusing-/Too present to imagine." It is only in looking back from that favored future vantage point that the past makes sense, that the past becomes real and immediate and necessary.

And it's from that still, small spot in the future that I can see my present steadily arranging itself, and I can trust that the crowding and confusion are falling into place.

Carpe Diem
by Robert Frost

Age saw two quiet children
Go loving by at twilight,
He knew not whether homeward,
Or outward from the village,
Or (chimes were ringing) churchward,
He waited (they were strangers)
Till they were out of hearing
To bid them both be happy.
"Be happy, happy, happy,
...

But bid life seize the present?
It lives less in the present
Than in the future always,
And less in both together
Than in the past. The present
Is too much for the senses,
Too crowding, too confusing—
Too present to imagine.

Read the entire poem here, at Poets.org.

The Poetry Friday roundup is at Check It Out.

You Find What Works and You Do It, Part II

Part 1 is here.

Today I'm taking a look at this question:

"What did you think high school would look like for your oldest and how that has become a reality?"

I'm not sure I had any idea what high school would look like. (I apparently once told my daughters, "We'll deal with that when we get to it.") But that lines up neatly with not really knowing what my life will look like from one year to the next. I like to make plans, but I'm always open to the changes that I know life will throw our way.  And I know that living a deliberate life can certainly be compatible with flexibility and surprises.

What we did know was that we wanted to consider the following as Anne headed into high school:

• Anne's strengths and interests
• Her goals (personal, spiritual, educational, vocational) 
• Her gaps/areas of complete disinterest/weaker areas
• My strengths as a teacher 
• Atticus' strengths as a teacher 
• Outside resources (such as job shadowing or community college classes) 
• What an education means, what it is for: in high school, in college
• The reasons we started homeschooling in the first place 

Atticus adds: "As Robert Frost said, we must have 'the courage to start with insufficient knowledge.'"

And so, with insufficient knowledge, we started.

What we knew:

Reading and discussion have always been at the center of education in our house, so (as I always have) I made booklists:

• books I love
• books Atticus loves
• books Anne loves
• books Anne will love once she reads them
• books everyone should read
• books no one should have to read but everyone does
• books about history
• books about our faith
• books about science
• books about culture
• books about art
• biographies
• poetry
• Shakespeare
• books that defy categorization

I knew I wanted Anne to start keeping her own list -- she kept track of everything she read (which was very helpful down the road at transcript time.)

I knew that we would write (and we've had a weekly writing group with friends since Anne's sophomore year.)

I knew that we would probably use some stuff from The Teaching Company. (Budget note: you can often buy these on sale, or find used copies that are very inexpensive.)*

I knew that we would make use of a math curriculum (because I don't unschool Algebra well. I'm too busy hating advanced math to live it/learn it joyfully and my daughters inherited the anti-math gene from me).

I knew that I would continue making use of Living is Learning Guides -- for ideas, checklists, and resources.

I knew that we would use the community college* (via the early enrollment program), especially for foreign language classes.

I knew that I would be grateful for homeschoolers who blazed the trail and inspired me.

I knew that I would read books about homeschooling through high school. My list:  College Prep Homeschooling, Homeschooling the Teen Years, Homeschooling: A Family's Journey,  Homeschooling Through High School.  I can't say any single book is the book to get but I did take away helpful bits and pieces from each of these. (These days, I would add A Little Way of Homeschooling, but not my chapter -- I didn't have high schoolers when I wrote that, but other contributors did.)

I knew that I would take notes and keep records. I have always kept lots of notes on what we do, no matter how off-the-beaten-school-track it seems.

~~~~~

That's what we knew going in. And my half-formed vision did come into focus, did become the reality. I had a vague idea that high school would be a continuation of the ways in which we've always approached education at our house. For the most part it was, with various periods of panic, doubt, terror, or fatigue. Punctuated with happiness and delight, and saturated in gratitude that we kept going. 

I still have insufficient knowledge, and I'm still tweaking the process -- I'm guessing I won't have this whole high school thing perfected until sometime after Ramona's graduation. Too late for my own girls, but then I can pass my sufficient knowledge on to my daughters, in case they homeschool their offspring. Then they can say, "Mom, everything you did is old and out of date! This is insufficient knowledge!" 

And I'll say, "Yes! It is! Now go read some Robert Frost to your children."

* We ended up using Teaching Company courses for some American history, neurobiology, and math. Anne took courses at the community college and did a great job with Spanish I and II.

Part III is here.
Part IV is here. 

"You Find What Works and You Do It" (On Homeschooling, High Schooling, and Other Terrifying Things)

I was emailing a friend the other day about books on homeschooling, unschooling, and things in between. 

It is, after all, that time of year thou may'st in me behold, when curriculum catalogs, or none, or few, or many, do hang about the house.

On a related note, I recently heard from a blog friend (well, not that recently, and I'm sorry, BlogFriend, for taking so long to get this post started!) and she had the following questions:

• What did you think high school would look like for your oldest and how that has become a reality? 
• What do you think you might do differently for Ramona as she enters high school? 
• What would you do exactly the same? 
• Do you have set subjects that must be tackled by the laws of the state? 
• If not, what plan did you follow for coming up with his coursework or are you using a curriculum like Kolbe or Seton? 

Those are great questions begging for a series of blog posts. And of course, I'm hesitant to answer them because -- as my sidebar notes -- I'm not an expert on anything. But I can tell you what's worked for me. The other reason I'm hesitant to answer is that not only does every family have its own style and needs, but every child within a family is different. "An Edmisten Education" won't look exactly the same for Anne, Betsy and Ramona.

But, all those things add up to the same short answer that I offered in an email the other day: "You find what works for your family and then you do it."

But short doesn't always equal easy. Finding what works is challenging. But it's unavoidable. Sometimes you just don't know what works until you try it, tweak it, throw it out, and try something new. That's just part of the journey, dear Homeschooling Mom, not a failure on your part.

Tomorrow I'll tackle the first question (What did we think high school would look like, and how has that become a reality?) but for today, I'll just summarize a little bit about where we are right now:

Anne-with-an-e just graduated from Green Gables Homeschool.  She applied to and was accepted at a great Catholic college, and even got a lovely scholarship. It was encouraging to me that an Edmisten Education got her there. She ultimately decided, though, to spend at least her first year of college (possibly two, we'll see) at home, getting her Gen Eds out of the way. This feels like the right choice all around, and everyone is happy with it.

Betsy Ray just finished her sophomore year of high school, so I'll be talking about her in this series, too.

Ramona just finished 4th grade. (Wait, what? Isn't she three years old?!)

So, next year I will be homeschooling only two students (and I assume I may occasionally have to prod a college student to get her Psych homework off the kitchen table.) That's where we are at this moment.

Tomorrow I'll begin the nostalgic look back on our foray into Homeschool High School.

An actual photo of our homeschool: 

Or not. 

Find Part II here.
Find Part III here.
Find Part IV here. 

Karen Edmisten Considers a Freebie That Really Matters: A Style, Sex, and Substance Giveaway

Update: Ramona just hit the "Generate" button at Random.org, and the winner is #138,  Maureen M., who left her comment last night at 9:09 p.m. 


Maureen M., please email me with your mailing address and I'll send your book out! 

~~~~~

(Update, 7/14/12): I'm popping back in to address questions and comments: 

*You are never too old for this book.
*Yes, the tablecloth came from Walmart, even though I kind of hate Walmart.
*Liz - no cheating. I've taught Ramona better than that.
*Marc, here's your holla, whoop-whoop.
*Yes, a Lutheran can win.
*Ellie, only one cup per day? I am sad!
*Cherie and Jessica, don't worry -- I won't count your duplicate comments.
*Rebecca, the bookplates were shipped around the country from writer to writer. The box included chocolate because Hallie's perfect that way.
*It's not an e-book version -- it's paperback and the bookplate will be included.
*Jen, yes, someone said coffee.
*Sarah, I will remember not to leave my tablecloth outside too long.
*Kati, who is your sister-in-law?
*Corita, I'm sorry your commenting was such an ordeal!
*Sue, yes, checking out my blog is a great idea!
*Joy, I love that you're analyzing our handwriting. I am a classic introvert.
*Bridget, you'll have to brave Walmart yourself to find the answer to that question.
*Trena, yes, one must be careful with one's search terms.
*knit_tgz: I don't think that's odd at all.
*Anne, I will pick a winner using a random number generator, discounting duplicate comments. (In the past, I have chosen winners using strips of paper, but I put the names in a coffee cup, not a hat, and I didn't even know I could spin comments on the iPad.)

******

You know Hallie Lord's book?

You know how the book trailer was banned on YouTube? (Because we Catholic women are outrageous and must be banned.)

You know how Hallie and other contributors (such as Simcha, Jennifer, Rachel,  Rebecca, to name a few) have hosted various giveaways?

You know how I contributed a chapter to the book, too?

Add up all my "You Know"s and you know what I'm getting at?

Leave a comment on this post and you'll be entered in the drawing for a copy of Style, Sex and Substance: Ten Catholic Women Consider the Things That Really Matter.

It will include this bookplate:

Signed by all ten writers!

Your comment can be anything -- you can say, "Hey," or "Me!" or "I like coffee" or "Where did you get that tablecloth?" or "Why did you all sign in straight lines like that? Does Ocd run in this group of writers?"

This post will be open for comments until Tuesday night, July 17th. See you in the combox!

7/18/12: Comments closed.

Rounding up

Betty Beguiles is rounding up posts on love songs. I sent her a link to this post, from my archives, about the day that a secular Christmas song became "our song." Maybe I'll actually get to a post of love song links, too, but for now this will have to do.

~~~~~

Haley is having a contest -- stop by her blog for a chance to win a book from Catholic Family Gifts.

~~~~~

Baby love: If you haven't seen Jennifer's gorgeous new baby, go over there right this very minute. And then take a look at this one -- Sisters. This is the stuff that's important, people. 

~~~~~

Speaking of babies, Melanie's is looking good.

~~~~~

Quinn Cummings. Period. 

~~~~~

Kate Wicker, with a little about dry shampoo, and a lot about blogging and writing and life. 

Guest posting at The Snoring Scholar

I added my two cents to Sarah Reinhard's "Looking Closer at the Hail Mary" series, and my post is here.

See the whole series of reflections here.

~~~~~~

And have a happy 4th of July!

(You can find me getting cranky over all the neighborhood noise, as usual.)

Head to the Bonny Glen for a Bonny Giveaway

Lissa is hosting a giveaway -- a free, 3-month subscription to Lesley Austin's Wisteria and Sunshine blog. But "blog" is such a wan word for Wisteria and Sunshine, really. The site is a haven, a stash of ideas, an isle of peace in the frenetic blog world. The focus is on home, and simplicity, and clearing out the various stripes of clutter in our lives but it's also about books, and discussion, and finding kindred spirits.

I have Lissa to thank for introducing me to Lesley -- when I first started reading Lissa's blog (what now seems like a hundred years ago), she mentioned Small Meadow Press. I popped over there and was immediately smitten. And, like Lissa, I have sweet touches of Small Meadow around my house. I loved Lesley's creations and was so sad to see Small Meadow Press close.

But Wisteria and Sunshine has brought Small Meadow back to me, in a new and more expansive way. Go visit Lissa and leave her a comment for a chance to win a subscription and experience the loveliness of Wisteria and Sunshine.

Bits and Pieces of Our Days

Saturday night movie with Atticus: Everything Must Go. On Netflix, you can find it listed under comedies. That's comic. Not a comedy. Will Ferrell is seriously good, movie is seriously touching. Netflix also calls it "Understated" and that is accurate. Don't watch it if you're looking for a fun date night -- watch it when you want to see a character study, a reflection on letting go, a brief portrait of human interaction and friendship.

*****

Atticus sent me this link -- it's two little girls explaining why one (the five-year-old) cut the other's (the three-year-old's) hair. So cute. I especially loved that they hid the hair under the radiator and that they justify the haircut by saying that everyone does something like this once in their life, or three times, or two. Or three.

*****

The girls attended Totus Tuus recently at our parish, and we also had the fun of having the team (eight college kids/young adults) over for dinner one night. A fun week for the girls, and so lovely to see these sweet, faith-filled young adults give their summers to this work. Avery, Amy, Andrea, Colleen, Ben, Nicholas, Jake and Dan -- you guys will permanently be in our prayers.

*****

Did I mention that Betsy is driving now? Did I mention how weird that is? Atticus said that when he watched her drive away the other night, all he could think about was the Christmas when she was three and a half years old. For reasons I don't remember, we stayed home for Christmas that year, and no one was able to come visit, so it was just the four of us. Betsy got a new baby doll set -- baby, cradle, high chair. A humble little set that I remember costing about $15. She played with it all day long. Anne-with-an-e spent the whole day playing in the Little Mermaid tent that Santa left. Atticus and I spent the day listening to Christmas music, napping, eating, watching the girls play, and sighing contentedly to one another. We both remember it as one of the loveliest Christmas days ever.

And now two of my three girls drive away.

In five years, we'll start teaching Ramona to drive.

Did I mention how weird that is? Good. But weird.

*****

Did I mention that teaching my daughters to drive might be the single scariest thing I've ever done in my life?

No, strike that. The scariest thing is actually letting them drive away by themselves after you've taught them to drive. Scary. But good.

*****

More vacation pictures:

Girls on a plane

Platypus on a plane: 

Girls about to head into Hogsmeade: 

Girls at The Three Broomsticks: 

Hogwarts!

Ramona and friend, chatting near dolphins at Sea World: 

At the delightful Seuss Landing: 

Daytona Beach: 

The ticket that Atticus won at Disney World, in 1987. 

They told us it was good for one all-day admission and that it would never expire. 

Mickey Mouse was true to his word: