Our Book of Centuries

Actually, we have four of them, one for each of the four younger kids.  I've had a couple of wall timelines over the years, but they never lasted long, the first because we moved and it just never got put back up again, and the second because the pictures kept falling off the wall.  I wanted to do a timeline book, but you know how they say that the perfect is often the enemy of the good?  It's true.  I couldn't figure out how to make one that would be absolutely perfect, so I put it off for years.

Finally, I just decided the heck with it.  All I need is a notebook they can glue pictures in.  So I bought four 1 1/2" 3-ring binders, the heavy-duty kind with D-rings because I like the way the pages lay, and a package of 8 1/2 by 11 cardstock.  Just before I started punching holes in the paper, I decided it would be nice to have lines on one side of the two-page spread, so we could write things in chronological order, so I ran the sheets through my printer, copying a sheet of notebook paper onto one side of each.

Note that "A.D." is in its proper place BEFORE the year.

You can just barely see the lines on the left page, but they show up well enough in real life to serve my purpose.

For each two-page spread I labeled the top and bottom outside corners of the left page with the first and last years of the century.  As you can see, this is the page where we write down the person or event, along with the correct date.  Generally, we have people listed by year of death.  On the right hand page the pictures are placed higher or lower depending on where they belong in the century, but it's pretty subjective.  The header names the century, and the number in the top right corner is just to make it easier to flip through the book when looking for a particular century.  That note is present on all the pages, even where we haven't added any information yet.  We fill in the other stuff as it comes up.

The early part of the book, up to 1500 B.C., has five centuries per two-page spread, but I think I could have gotten away with a millennium each, because there's not much of anything recorded before then.  The earliest date we have recorded is 4004 B.C., which is the date of creation according to Bishop Ussher, but there's a note that current creationists date it at c. 5000 B.C.  We don't get into the whole old earth/young earth debate until the kids are a lot older.

We've been using these for about three years, and the pages are still pretty sparsely populated.  Ideally, we'd add figures once a week or so, whenever a noteworthy person or event comes up in our reading, but we really only do it once a month or less.  Still, this is better than what I was doing before.

Here we are late Saturday afternoon, adding figures of Mozart, whom we studied last school year, Homer, the Trojan Horse, George Washington (whom we studied ages ago), Hannibal crossing the Alps (we're reading about Fabius, the Roman dictator who fought him, in Plutarch's Lives, but this was a funner picture), and Tennyson (our current poet).

Mike is not doing timeline stuff.  He's doing Computer God stuff.

The advantage to adding figures months or even years after studying them is that the kids can tell you what they remember while we're doing it, so it all works out in the end -- even if it's not perfect.

I'll Take the High Road Commission

~Ogden Nash, 1902-1971

In between the route marks     And the shaving rhymes,     Black and yellow markers     Comment on the times.     All along the highway     Hear the signs discourse: MEN S L O W WORKING ; SADDLE C R O S S I N G HORSE ·     Cryptic crossroads preachers     Proffer good advice     Helping wary drivers     Keep out of Paradise.     Transcontinental sermons,     Transcendental talk: SOFT C A U T I O N SHOULDERS ; CROSS C H I L D R E N WALK ·     Wisest of their proverbs,     Truest of their talk,     Have I found that dictum: CROSS C H I L D R E N WALK ·     When Adam took the highway     He left his sons a guide: CROSS C H I L D R E N WALK ; CHEERFUL C H I L D R E N RIDE ·

Back to school

This is my first post of 2013 and the post that will knock my last back-to-school post off the front page!

We've had an unusually long summer break. The kids visited their grandmother in Arkansas for a month, I went to CiRCE's conference in Baltimore, and accompanied my husband (just the two of us, alone for several days -- first time in nearly twenty years) to his 30 year high school reunion in Florida.  I also got to visit an out-of-state friend I haven't seen in more than a year, and another out-of-state friend I haven't seen in eighteen years.  This is the first summer we've ever had where I really felt like I had a vacation -- not just a break from school work.

We were all eager to start back, but I usually ease back into the routine with a half-day schedule for the first week, so as not to shock the system. My system, that is. So this week we've been having our Morning Time, which takes about an hour and a half. Here's the MT routine:

Prayers and Bible
We use the "Daily Devotions for Individuals and Families" from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, which I blogged about here. Most years we get our Bible readings from the Lectionary, which gives us a Psalm, and an Old Testament and a New Testament reading, but this year I decided to read straight through a few books. We're currently reading the Gospel of Luke, generally reading from one paragraph mark [¶] to the next. The Prayer Book has all of the Psalms, marked so that they can be read responsively by the half-verse, but it's a modern translation and we always used the King James Version for our memory work and the kids were wanting to read that version, so we're reading straight from our Bibles.

Poetry
Currently reading a collection of Tennyson's poetry which I bought from Eighth Day Books at the conference. I've read his Idylls of the King and a few of his shorter works, but this book contains several I'd never read before. The first poem in the book is "The Mermaid," which starts off sweet and light and takes a dark turn at the last, which I didn't see coming. One of the main benefits I get in reading poetry aloud is that it forces me to slow down and really notice what's happening. If you're reading in your head you might not notice that the poet has changed from words that are quick and light to slow, heavy words. When you're reading aloud, those words take longer to pronounce so you're forced to slow down -- you can feel the change in tone. (And of course, reading poetry aloud and discussing it with your kids is good for them, too. Have I mentioned before that I'm getting an education by home schooling my kids?)

Plutarch
The last biography we read was Pericles; this time we're reading Fabius.  I use Anne White's study guides found at Ambleside Online.  This year I'm reading from Plutarch every day instead of once a week.  We have so many unexpected interruptions that it usually takes me a year to read one life, instead of the expected twelve weeks... which is dumb, but there it is.

Homer
Something new this year.  I've had these books for years and have used them as an afternoon read-aloud at least once in the past, but it was before my younger children came along.  I'd recommend you get this version if at all possible -- Rosemary Sutcliff's retelling is beautiful and of course Alan Lee's illustrations are gorgeous.  We're reading a chapter a day and I pause occasionally to let one of the children narrate.  After reading our chapter we talk about whatever interested us in the day's reading.

This retelling of the Trojan War begins with the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, who become the parents of Achilles, and tells how the angry, uninvited Goddess of Discord showed up and spoiled the festivities, so the story is told in chronological order.  Today I finally got to the part nine years into the war where Achilles is sitting on the beach raging about Agamemnon's bad treatment of him, so after our reading and discussion I took out the grown up version translated by WHD Rouse, and read the first page.  It begins, "An angry man -- there is my story:  the bitter rancor of Achilles, prince of the house of Peleus, which brought a thousand troubles upon the Achaian host.  Many a strong soul it sent down to Hades, and left the heroes themselves a prey to dogs and carrion birds, while the will of God moved on to fulfillment."

They thought it was exciting to start in the middle of the story and wanted me to read more, but it was time to send them...

Outside
This has always been a vital part of my children's upbringing, just playing or loafing.  Of course, they have chores now, but this outside time is meant to be leisure time.  When we're doing a full day of school work, I try to give them at least half an hour during this break before calling them in for lunch and their individual studies.

That's it.

Like I said, everything up to the outside time takes about an hour and a half, not because the readings take that long, but because we meander and talk so much.

Things to be added next week
Morning Time is also when we do our memory work, going over what we're currently memorizing and reviewing what we've already accomplished. That usually takes five or ten minutes.

MT is also when we listen to particular pieces for our Composer Study and Artist Study.  In previous years I've done Prayers, Poetry, and Memory every day, and have had Plutarch, Literature, Music, and Art on separate days.  As I said, I'm planning on doing Plutarch and Literature daily this year, and I'm also doing something different for Music and Art.  I've subscribed to Professor Carol's Circle of Scholars so that we can take her Discovering Music course, which "takes you through the history of music, the arts, and Western Culture from 1600 to 1914."  I'll probably need to drop Plutarch and Homer on the day we're doing Discovering Music.  We'll see.

And of course there's all the individual work that the children do, but that's another post for another day.  Or year. ;-)

Old Applejoy's Ghost

Frank Stockton is one of my favorite storytellers and this is one of my favorite of his stories. It is a Christmas story set some where in America -- where isn't specified but given the description of a colonial Christmas, I've always pictured it happening in Virginia. Enjoy!

Illustrations by Ben Wohlberg

Old Applejoy's Ghost, by Frank Stockton (on Project Gutenberg Australia)

Bach's Cantata 140: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme

Also known as "Sleepers Awake," this cantata was composed in 1731 for the 27th Sunday after Trinity, which was on my birthday that year making this my new favorite piece of music. :-)

Fun Stuff

[This is an edited repost of my last entry. I've tried all the HTML I know to turn off the autoplay on the Flash video I posted and it's not working. If you have any ideas, please pass them along. In the meantime, I've stuck that sill Elf Yourself video at the end of the post after a break so it won't turn itself on whenever anyone loads this page!]



Pretty fun

Make-a-Flake snowflake maker.

Musical fun





Silly Fun


Elf Yourself!

Click below for my video:

Thinking about Advent

I was just looking over my old posts on Advent and came across a link to an article I read years ago when we were first learning about Church seasons: The Christian Season of Advent: Anticipation and Hope. In it he explains what Advent is, describes the Advent wreath and the significance of the candles, and lists lots of hymns appropriate to the season.

That article is part of his series on the Church year, Seasons of the Church Year, which is a great resource. Check it out.

Greatness

It’s October and that means I’m thinking about Alfred the Great whose feast day is on the 26th.  We’re enjoying our tradition of reading Chesterton’s The Ballad of the White Horse, my favorite long poetic work, which is about Alfred – the only English king to be called “the Great” – and his struggle to stop the Danish invaders. This is not a retelling of historical events in verse, but an epic poem of the legendary Alfred, portraying the eternal conflict between Christian faith and pagan nihilism.

It is layer upon layer of truth and beauty, and greatness. I think this is our fifth time to read it, and every time I find a new gem, which is one reason it’s so important to be deeply familiar with a few great works.

The passage that stands out the most to me this time is from Book II: The Gathering of the Chiefs. In Book I, Alfred had a vision of Mary in which he asked whether he would succeed in driving out the pagan invaders. She refused to answer him, saying only that it would get worse and he must be brave. In Book II, Alfred has been to Eldred, a chief who is of Saxon descent, and Mark, of Roman blood. He now comes to Colan, who is Welsh and Irish, representing the pre-Roman Britons. I’ve shared before the passage where Colan is introduced to us. Here is Alfred’s encounter with him:

Lifting the great green ivy
    And the great spear lowering,
One said, “I am Alfred of Wessex,
    And I am a conquered king.”

And the man of the cave made answer,
    And his eyes were stars of scorn,
“And better kings were conquered
    Or ever your sires were born.

“What goddess was your mother,
    What fay your breed begot,
That you should not die with Uther
    And Arthur and Lancelot?

“But when you win you brag and blow,
    And when you lose you rail,
Army of eastland yokels
    Not strong enough to fail.”

“I bring not boast or railing,”
    Spake Alfred not in ire,
“I bring of Our Lady a lesson set,
This—that the sky grows darker yet
    And the sea rises higher.”

Then Colan of the Sacred Tree
    Tossed his black mane on high,
And cried, as rigidly he rose,
“And if the sea and sky be foes,
    We will tame the sea and sky.”

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Look at that again:

“But when you win you brag and blow,
    And when you lose you rail,
Army of eastland yokels
    Not strong enough to fail.”

After we finished reading Book Two, I went back and read that passage over again to my children. It is said that if you want to know what something is, one thing you should do is learn what it is not. Alfred does not respond in anger, but humbly accepts the rebuke and proves proves his greatness by stating that he’s planning on continuing the fight, even if it ultimately ends in defeat.

If you read yesterday’s post, you’ll know that I need these lessons myself as much as, if not more than, my children.


~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 


The Ballad of the White Horse is available online for free at Gutenberg.com and for Kindle, but I highly recommend the hardback by Ignatius Press, especially if you’re going to be reading it over and over again, which of course you should. This copy is elegantly laid out, uses a simple and beautiful font, and is generously illustrated with woodcuts by Robert Austin. The introduction gives a brief historical note on the events in the poem as well as some discussion of the poem itself, and contains a photograph of the actual white horse, which is cut into the turf on the side of a hill and filled with chalk – it’s nearly 400 feet long and its age is unknown. When the Romans asked the Britons about it, they said that when their people first arrived it was already there, and the people who were there before them did not know who had made it. This copy of the book also has a lot of end notes with helpful and interesting tidbits, but there are no notes in the text itself, so you’re not distracted by them while reading.

Also helpful is Benjamin Merkle's biography, The White Horse King (also available for Kindle).


~*~ ~*~ ~*~


Previous entries on Alfred the Great:

Alfred the Great post from the 26th of October, 2005; history, prayers, and lots of cool links; don’t miss it!

Three selections from Poetry Month 2008:
The Way of the Cross (Mary’s answer to Alfred, when he asked whether he would prevail over the enemy)
The Great Gaels of Ireland (where Colan is introduced)
The King’s Laughter (from the episode of the old woman and burnt cakes)

All my posts where he’s mentioned are filed under the Alfred the Great label

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

I'm an Amazon Affiliate.  If you click through the links to The Ballad of the White Horse and buy it, I'll earn a little bit for advertising on my blog.

First post since Blogger forced me into the new layout

I'm trying to write about my beloved Ballad of the White Horse and let me just say how much I hate this new interface.  I can't find anything.  The HTML editor doesn't behave like it used to -- I really dislike using the "Compose" mode.  Blogger is despicable, I loathe Google, I hate most of the world right now, and I wish people who make arbitrary and capricious changes would go to the devil.

There.  Indulging in a little railing makes me feel better.  You'll laugh when see which passage I'm writing on.

Mid-Term Break

Six weeks of school = time for a break!

Yesterday I slept late then went to visit a friend and her new baby. Today I’m taking my son shopping for baseball pants. This week I also need to make some phone calls, get caught up on housework and book-keeping, and think about the next six weeks. And there’s the post I’ve promised to write for Ideas Have Consequences. Plus I’m reading two books on mathematical thinking and have signed up for a free online class on the same topic.

Mozart is our composer this term, so I need to remember to play something each day. I don’t like background music, so Listening to Music is always an event for me. Also, we have half a chapter of Stories of the Old Dominion left over from last week that I need to read to the kids, plus we should catch up on our timeline books.

The garden needs end-of-season care. I hope to go down to the river for a walk – we haven’t been there since the spring. It’s a half-hour drive a longish walk just to get there – from the parking lot you have to walk through about a quarter of mile of woods down a steep and winding path – but it’s so beautiful and quiet and we nearly always find fossils.

Also, I’ve had Drawing for Children for more than a decade but have never used it because it seemed so overwhelming. But a couple of weeks ago I was looking at it again and suddenly it occurred to me that I don’t have to do a drawing lesson every day or even every week. Just once a month would be more than they’ve ever had, so I’m hoping to get to that this week using lessons from Donna Young (recommended by Brandy), but, um, my week “off” is starting to look pretty busy.

And so naturally instead of doing any of that I’m sitting here typing a blog post and experimenting with a different color scheme for the blog. And I just spilled coffee on my white shirt. :-p