The summer has gone by incredibly fast and here we are at the start of a new school year. This year I am trying a few different things. Over the summer I reread "Teaching the Trivium" by the Bluedorns. I am implementing these ideas mixed in with my Principle Approach notions. Because of the age differences of my children, I have decided to include all of them in the lessons that I can. History, Literature, Science, Language, and labs and projects will be done as a group. What is required of each will vary according to their individual abilities.

We are studying from the Fall of Rome to the end of the Middle Ages. Our major textbooks are "Story of the Romans" and "Story of the Middle Ages" from Nothing New Press. We are also going to read "God's Mighty Hand" from Little Bear, "Foxe's Christian Martyrs" and "Uncle Eric's Book of Ancient Rome" from Bluestocking Press. Other resources we will use are the Webster's 1828 Dictionary, Strong's Concordance or e-Sword, the King James Bible, "Kingfisher History Encyclopedia", "The Wall Chart of World History", and "Ancient History from Primary Sources".

For our Literature reads I mainly chose books from the Veritas Press catalogue. I had a few books, my friends had some for me to borrow, and others I bought or were donated to us. My family really enjoys G. A. Henty. Four of his books from this time period are our read aloud books for the year. It might be more if we finish early with these books. I have a dozen or so other books of various levels for my children to read or have read to them. During the read aloud times, I have various Middle Ages coloring books from Dover for them to occupy their wondering bodies and (hopefully) keep their minds focused on the story. We also crochet sometimes; it'll be their choice.

Language is a challenge as I have Actress the High Schooler, Pilot the Grade Schooler, Jet the Preschooler and Baby (still no blog nickname yet) the, well, baby. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!! The books we are using are:

Actress - "IEW Bible Based Writing Lessons", "Story Starters of the Middle Ages", "Grammar Made Easy", and "Poetry Daily Spark"
Pilot - "IEW Bible Based Writing Lessons" as much as he can do, Writing Road To Reading Phonics and Spelling Rules, Classical Writing Copy Book II, and McGuffey's 2nd Reader
Jet - WRTR, Classical Writing Copy Book II sharing with his brother, McGuffey Primer

We are also doing a little Latin using Latina Christiana and English from the Roots Up. All of them will participate, though just Actress will be required to do the work in Latina Christiana. They all will make the flashcards for ERU.

In Science we are all using Apologia Biology. Pray for me... and the kiddos for this one . The Modules will be read allowed and discussed. Pilot will only be required for definitions and ideas as well as the labs. Actress gets to do the vocabulary, questions, test, and lab work.

Actress is doing Pre-Algebra from a book I had lying around the house. I have no idea where it came from, but it is here anyway. Pilot is using Rightstart Mathematics and Rays Arithmetic. Jet is going to do Rightstart Mathematics.


I am also planning History, Art, Science, Music projects and field trips and other such fun things. I am hoping to add a little PE in the day to help focus our minds. For extra curricular activities, Actress is in Drama (what a shock, I know) and Pilot is in Gymnastics. Jet wants to do Gymnastics; we are just waiting for the right time.

We use notebooks for everything, so they actually develop their own work and keep it well (hopefully) organized.

If you notice, there isn't a separate Bible section. The idea is that the Lord is Lord of all subjects - He is our source and sustainer. The Bible is the basic text for all subjects. In reality, I have only figured out how to implement this into History. I would love to get it into all of the subjects, but my mind gets overwhelmed. My hope and prayer is that the Lord will open my mind to implement His Word into the work of all subjects. Little by little for now and daily steps will lead to more inclusion of His Holy Word into our hearts through His subjects.

So that is my goal for the year. We start on Monday.

My grandmother, whom we called Grammy, passed away last week at the age of 90 years. Her health and mind has been slowly failing over the last few years. We were fairly certain we wouldn't have her through the summer. Now she is in the summer of Heaven with her Lord.

I have now, with my parents, buried all my grandparents in a short 15 month period. This has caused me to reflect on the cycles of life - children, parents, grandparents. My grandparents didn't give me the idea of loosing one - they all left en masse. Those dear old people that my parents discussed with their siblings on how to care for, no longer need caring for. It is a strange liberation for them and yet a strange new emptiness. Now their focus goes to the estates and their brothers and sisters who remain.

My view of life has changed. The old people were always my grandparents - not my children's! When I was in junior high, my great-grandfather died. I had such a good time with the cousins I didn't see often. We stayed up late, ran around everywhere, never saw parents until we needed to eat. As a result, I slept through my grandfather's funeral. This was a dear sweet man who lived so long on lemon drops and Freedent gum (that was what he told us kids). When I got home, I felt horrible! It didn't dawn on me until just this past week on what that man meant to my Dad. This was his grandfather, who loved him and helped raise him. I explained this to my daughter and niece, trying to impart the wisdom I just then realized. It took me over twenty years to realize that my parents had grandparents that they cared for and had to bury. How it hurt my Dad to have to bury this sweet man while his daughter slept. My Dad was blessed as his two grandma's lived for over a hundred years. WOW!!

Though Grammy was always this white haired lady to the girls, she wasn't that for me. In all truthfulness, she wasn't a cuddly grandma. When my sister and I were little, we called her "grandgemother." Whatever image comes to your mind upon the hearing of that word is probably a correct evaluation of her as a grandma. She was a harsh woman. Yet now I see why. She was a ranching wife, with a political husband. Not an easy job.

Prior to her marriage, she was the first XIT Queen. Beauty isn't word enough for her. She was elegant and graceful. Her red hair flowing. This I remember, rich red hair falling down like a sunset water-fall. Just as quickly as it fell, it was swooped up into her ranching bun. I did love her hair. As she got older and the hair turned whiter, she did soften tremendously. I really enjoyed her then.

Though she didn't play with us as grandchildren, she did adore her great-grandchildren. My daughter always caused great smiles on her. When my boys came around, she found endless delight into watching them play. She really didn't get to know my baby as her alzheimer's set in fully by then. She did see him and acknowledge him as her grandbaby.

Her passing marks the end of that generation, in my family anyway. My children no longer have great-grandparents to love on. Really, this is what they want - both of the children and the great-grandparents. Now my parents are retired and at the age where they can just enjoy the grandkids. It takes a bit out of them to keep them for a long time, but the so enjoy watching the boys play and the girls walk around whispering as teens tend to do.

I have to realize that it isn't just my parents getting older. Though I love hearing, "You're not old enough to have a teenage daughter!" The truth is that I do and I am. What a joy can be in getting older and watching the generations go! My grandmother's memories of the Dust Bowl and World War II are gone into the grave with her. But her stories are passed down and added to with each generation.

This one was told at her funeral: During the Great Depression, my Grammy and her mom only had one nice dress. Being that her mom was insistent that they attend church, they took turns. One would wear the dress one week, then the other would wear the same dress the next. This really impressed me as my Grammy always dressed well - even when ranching. In fact, I knew her mind was too far gone when I visited her in her room and she was wearing a pink and black sweat suit top with nice poly-blend sea green pants. Ohhh she would have had a fit had she known!!! I realized from the story that my Grammy's grace and elegance weren't just in her taste for clothes, it was the fabric of her being. She is grace and elegance! I would love those traits from her. Of the many traits of hers I have, I'm not sure those two fell to me ...

The kids and I visited Grammy after the baby was born. My parents came with me because at this time Grammy didn't always know who I was. Though she always recognized my daughter. My Dad took this picture for me. I am ok with my kids remembering Grammy like this; I have older memories and now stories to share. (Obviously, the person who dressed her this day was fired!)
 

Last week, we welcomed our newest member to our family. The Lord has blessed us with another little boy. And we are amazed by him! I space my children out (not intentional, it just happens that way). I forget what it is like to have a new baby. The delight, the joy, the wonder!!!

He happens to be my smallest baby, so we have been enjoying taking pictures of him next to large objects. This is a Bolivian Pot my sister gave us for Christmas.

I am still considering his blog name, so for now he is new baby boy. The latest one to make my husband and I rich.

This post is in response of PrincipledMom's lessons on her blog. I will admit right now that I am not going to go into the depth that others might, and for good reason. My baby's due date is today and we are waiting on pins and needles for this little guy to make his appearance. Needless-to-say, I am very distracted right now. (Your prayers for us would be greatly appreciated; we are so anxious to meet our newest child.)

The Christian Idea of Man

Simply, we are created in His image - Genesis 1:26&27. God stated "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..." God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.

An image is a representation - we are representations of God. We hold His qualities and characteristics. We hold His likeness. Not one of us holds all of God, but we all hold some measure of attributes of God. I have a sister who is incredibly nice and patient. She works in the ER here in NM. The patients adore her. I believe she reflects and aspect of God during her work - one of loving people, even in unlovable situations. Not everyone has this, yet we all have some attribute.

God is infinite! In the myriad of characteristics we could hold, God has given each of us an individual and unique representation of Him. This means that each of us is an unique individual. I love this! We are created with independent value. Each of us holds aspects of God's character within us that He has picked out. We are valuable to Him; we hold intrinsic individual - independent - value.

Is this profound enough? We are individual. We have intrinsic value.

This leads perfectly into ...

The Purpose of Government

Government is to protect that individual with independent value in his/her Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness. These rights derive from God and individuals give the government the responsibility to keep them. Government is the servant of the individual! The people united, though diverse and unique, give the government authority to protect our God - given rights.

These rights are God given. Life is in His hands. John 1:4 "In Him was life; and the life was the light of men." God is the creator of life, we do not have that power. I know this little guy kicking inside me is not the doing of my husband and I (though, I know that God uses a husband and wife to bring children). God decides when that child will come and what that child will be and so on.

I am going to stop here for now. This study really does have me thinking about how our ideas of Man and Government reflect our nation. I am really pondering what is being said of our nation given our choices for the next president. Are we a nation governed by the people or are we a nation of people wanting to be governed?