Hail and Well Met!

Our second year of attending the Shrewsbury Renaissance Faire was an even greater success. The temperature was perfect, all three boys did most of their own walking, the crowds weren't bad, and the jousting tournament was excellent! (Oh, and no bee stings this year!)

My favorite part of the faire is people watching. A huge number of festival-goers come in full dress (in addition to the extensive staff in costume).




We sat on hay bales, watching various performances.

Singing.



Dancing.

The boys were enthralled with a little girl spinning wool.

They each were allowed to try their hand (and foot) at spinning.

Did I mention that the jousting tournament was excellent? Much more organized and professional this year.
Skills course, full jousting, sword fighting, the works!
The colors were vivid on this bright, sunny day!

We headed home. Tired and hot, but happy and satisfied with a day well spent!

Mystery Location

Guess where we went today!

The Outing

We had one of those 'mom desperately needs to get out of the house for a while' days. The kids jumped in the truck, and we drove back roads through the countryside until we were starving. Burgerville was a must. Sweet potato fries are in season along with end-of-the-season blackberry milkshakes. I made sure we had the camera along so that the boys could take a few photos of mom.


It was a perfect day for visiting the play structure near our old home. Levi wanted to know where all the kids were. He has no concept of being in school all day. I've tried to explain it, but...

I'm going to pay for this all weekend. How long has it been since you played on the monkey bars?



Happy weekend, everyone!!

In Sync

We are reading In Search of a Homeland: The Story of the Aeneid for our historical literature. For our music studies this year we are reading (and listening) about opera and ballet music, stories, and performances. I picked up a DVD performance of the opera Dido and Aeneas. I just love it when things come together like that!!


Levi also read through the first three books in Tales From the Odyssey by Mary Pope Osborne. This series retells selected stories from Homer's Odyssey. These chapter books also include information about Homer and the Odyssey, a map of Odysseus' journey, and a list of the names, pronunciations, and sketched pictures for the main gods and goddessess. They are a terrific introduction to the Odyssey as read-alouds or can be read alone by the child reading beginning chapter books.

Swallows and Amazons

Swallows and Amazons was a bright spot in our summer reading. At 350 pages, it took us a while to complete, but Levi never failed to request the book at bedtime and 'just one more chapter, please!'

It took me a couple chapters to get my head into the book at the beginning. I am a very visual person. So much of the story was filled with sailing adventures along with the sailing terms. Having only a smidge of sailing experience myself, I had a hard time picturing what the children were doing. Levi didn't seem to mind at all, and by the middle of the book we had gotten into the swing (or the sail) of things. I added daily to my vocabulary of sailing, pirate, and adventure words.

Swallows and Amazons was first published in 1930. It is obvious from the very beginning when the mother of four children lets them sail alone to a nearby uninhabited island to set up camp for an indefinite period. The children are polite, responsible, courageous, resourceful, and highly imaginative. Anyone outside of the little world they create becomes a native. An antagonistic adult is a pirate. When a child is left alone on the island, she becomes Robinson Crusoe.

The four children meet two girls who quickly become part of their world. Pirate battles, treasure hunts, raging storms, and other various adventures ensue. The author creates a story in which every child should want to take part. Quintessential summer reading!!

Back in the Saddle

On the menu today, a few thoughts from around the blog world to share with you as many of us are getting back into the swing of school, lessons, and learning. (Okay, maybe some of you are more firmly in the saddle than I, but still...)


From Behind Every School Kid over at Blue Yonder (Loving this blog!):

...I have a few butterflies too. I think whether you are waving goodbye to your little ones as they board the big yellow bus, or you're stirring Irish porridge as your homeschooler comes sleepy-eyed into the kitchen, fully expecting you to walk with him down this day's learning path, a little worry comes with the territory.

Will he have what he needs?
Will the world be kind to him?
Will he grow to love learning?
Will he be a good friend?
Will he handle adversity well?
Will he remember who he is?
Will he learn and laugh and carry my love with him?

From Making Children Salt and Light over at Prairie Prologue (addressing the argument that Christian children should be in public school to be salt and light to non-Christian children rather than in private or home schools) (be sure to read the whole post over at Prairie Chick's blog):

It seems to scoff in the face of the months (in our case years) of careful examining, analyzing, observing, praying with blood, sweat and tears home schooling parents have spent before making their decision. It treats a very difficult choice that some of us believe to be our duty and calling in order to raise kids who truly are salt and light, with almost a superiority and a snub nosed reaction that implies "how will your kids ever learn to persevere? how can your kids ever be a testimony? how will they ever learn to mature in their faith and life if they aren't sent out on their own?" These implied comments cut to my very soul and wound. Because our first and foremost calling and ambition (and indeed part of the reason we choose to homeschool) as parents is to:

1. teach our kids to persevere (just because they aren't in public school doesn't mean they don't have ample opportunity to be taught this)
2. teach our kids to be a testimony (public school is not the only place people can testify), first and foremost they must have the foundation and faith and fruit that produces good testimony.
3. raise mature, thoughtful, independent, free thinking adults (why on earth sending them to public school would be neccessary to accompish this is beyond me. They have ample opportunities every day in life to be challenged and tested and spread their wings. )

Jennifer at Planted by Streams has shared wonderful photographs, ideas, and recommendations from their first homeschooling year (1st grade and pre-K) in the last week or two, but I love the photos of their school room. Isn't it just beautiful?!

Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people may be engaged in.

~Abraham Lincoln

Just a Few More...

...because I can't stand not sharing these!

A Family in Need

By now, many of you may have read in the blogsphere about Stephanie and Christan Neilson. They are a young couple (with four small children) who recently were in a plane crash and badly burned. The blogging community is banding together with auctions and other events to raise money for their recovery.

Kim at Today's Creative Blog is hosting an incredible auction with many wonderful items up for bid. Jewelry, paper goods, art, and more. Please check it out if you are interested in supporting this family!

For anyone interested in donating cash to their recovery fund, click the link below.

Monet Estelle

I got down on my knees and begged my bff to let me take pictures of her daughter. I'm starving for girl subjects around here, and Monet is a gorgeous girl, blonde ringlets and all. Oh, please, oh, please!!

We had an absolute blast, and I'm thrilled with the way the photos turned out. Char, can you believe I have them posted already? I wanted to play around with the editing all night, and it was torturing me not to post what I've finished. Here is a peek:

The Harvester

I will start with this warning: The Harvester is not the book to pick up when you are in a cynical mood. Nor when you are in the mood for a gritty novel. Nor when you are dissatisfied with your life in general, or your husband in particular. If you are looking for a book that will be mind expanding, this book would not be the one.

However, if you are looking for an escape, a perfect romance, a perfect man, an ideal, or a celebration of nature, The Harvester may be just the book.

I'm not sure I want to admit it right at this moment, but if I picked books solely for enjoyment factor I would have a huge stack of romances on my night stand. I read romance books (fairly innocent, such as Christian romance novels by Grace Livingston Hill and Janette Oke) one after another in middle school and into high school.

I have worked hard to stretch myself in my literary tastes, reading books not only for enjoyment factor , but for expanding my mind and enlarging my world. Gritty novels still rarely appeal to me. I continue to prefer novels with emotional closure.

When I choose love stories now, I try to read older novels (The Harvester was written in 1911), preferably with some redeeming value. E. P. Roe's From Jest to Earnest or George MacDonald's romances leave me feeling like I've come away from a theology course.

Gene Stratton-Porter's novels are often very idealistic and The Harvester is no exception. From the introduction by Mary E. Gaither:

The reasons for Porter's popularity are not hard to discover. In addition to the dedicated love for nature, her novels consistently present the themes of courage, strength of purpose, idealistic vision, successful battle against odds, and emphasis upon spiritual as opposed to material values.

So, if you are in the mood for a story that gives more than lip service to romance (truly one of the most romantic books I've read in a great while), and presents a world of nature and idealistic values, pick up The Harvester, and sit back and enjoy yourself.

pg 219

Now there are a number of things a man deeply in love can think of to do with a woman's white hand. He can stroke it, press it tenderly, and lay it against his lips of his heart. The Harvester lacked experience in these arts; yet by some wonderful instinct all of these things occurred to him.

pg 290

'You see,' said the Harvester, 'this is a question of ethics. Now what is a guest? A thing of a day! A person who disturbs your routine and interferes with important concerns. Why should any one be grateful for company? Why should time and money be lavished on visitors? They come. You overwork yourself. They go. You are glad of it. You return the visit, because it's the only way to get back at them; but why pamper them unnecessarily? Now a good housekeeper means more than words can express. Comfort, kindness, sanitary living, care in illness! Here's to the prospective housekeeper of Medicine Woods! Rogers, hand those ruffled embroidered curtains.

pg 292

'That's the bedrock of all the trouble on the earth,' interrupted the Harvester. 'We are a nation and a part of a world that spends our time on 'seeming.' Our whole outer crust is 'seeming.' When we get beneath the surface and strike the being, then we live as we are privileged by the Almighty. I don't think I give a tinker how anything seems. What concerns me is how it is. It doesn't 'seem' possible to you to hire a woman to come into your home to take charge of its cleanliness and the food you eat--the very foundation of life--and treat her as an honoured guest, and give her the best comfort you have to offer. The cold room, the old covers, the bare floor, and the cast off furniture are for her. No wonder, as a rule, she gives what she gets. She dignifies her labour in the same ratio that your do. Wait until we need a housekeeper, then gaze with awe on the one I shall raise to your hand.'

pg 396

'Poor girl,' said the Harvester. 'That bed should be softer.'

'It should not!' contradicted the Girl. 'It should be much harder. I'm tired of soft beds. I want to lie on the earth, with my head on a root; and I wish it would rain dirt on me. I am bathed threadbare. I want to be all streaky.'

Get In the Photo!

This one is for Donna over at Quiet Life. A while back, Donna challenged moms to get in the photo! She reminded us that we need to have pictures of ourselves even if we don't like what we see. Our kids already know what we look like. Grin. I felt properly chastised. I have very few pictures of myself with my boys. The few I have I don't care for.

Donna shared her photo strip from the booth at the mall. I can't tell you how many times the boys climb in the photo booth while we are on our way somewhere else, important, I'm sure. I grab them and drag them along, telling them to stop dawdling. After Donna's post I was determined to stop and actually get photos taken the next time we were at the mall.

Do you know how hard it is to get four people (particularly with three squirmy boys) stuffed in the photo booth, read the directions, have everyone show up in the picture, and get everyone (little boys, again) to look at the camera rather than the photo screen? I don't know what I pushed, but at some point the directions changed to Spanish, so all the count-downs were not in English. That was particularly humorous.

Any way you look at it, we made a memory. And it was fun. And we have something to show for it.

I'll be looking for more opportunities to Get In the Photo! with my boys.

Joyful, Joyful

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee,

God of glory, Lord of love;

Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee,

Opening to the sun above.

Melt the clouds of sin and sadness,

Drive the dark of doubt away;

Giver of immortal gladness,

Fill us with the light of day.

A Little Conversation

I'm neck deep in cleaning and organizing today, trying to get the school room in shape so that we can get back to business. Since I have no time for a thought-provoking post, nor breath-taking photography to share, I thought I'd put you all to work. You don't mind, do you?

I have a few random questions. Feel free to answer one or more in the comments or on your blog (but be sure to put a link in the comments!).

::Name one place you would like to see before you die.

::Is there a foreign language you wish you knew or would like to learn?

::What social issue concerns you the most? What is your favorite soapbox?

::What do you think your mom would say was the biggest challenge you presented her with?

See you in the comments! (I'll post my answers in the comments later today if you're curious.)