Tue 1 Nov 2005
November
By Elizabeth Coatsworth
November comes
and November goes
with the last red berries
and the first white snowsWith night coming early
and dawn coming late
and ice in the bucket
and frost on the gateThe fire burns
and the kettle sings
and Earth sinks to rest
until next spring
I posted this last year but it is too pretty a poem to miss.
Tue 1 Nov 2005
Ok, I am going to tell you how I do my twice yearly clothing exchange. First I will ask my dear mother to avert her eyes. For many years I had numbered bins in our attic. People would always comment on how organized I was.
( Perhaps you are wondering why people were in my attic?
Well, we had always lived in the most unusual houses and my dh was always showing people through the entire house. At one particular house, our attic beams were numbered and put together with pegs. That meant whenever we had company we had to clean the entire 5 floors and attic.
Finally, when we moved here we convinced my dh that other people didn’t show us their entire structures. Since this house is only 75 years old, he stopped the grand tours.)
When it came time to go through the clothes it took several days of sorting through the nicely numbered and ordered bins. Organization is supposed to help a person be more efficient; there had to be a better way. I know moms who spend a month sorting through clothing. That makes you a slave not a free-woman. Read Galations !!!
Quite possibly this system will only work in a household of mostly one sex. Emily keeps her off-season clothes in one bin in her closet; terribly easy to switch.
Ok, so instead of sorting sizes, I now keep all clothing in bags or bins, unsorted. It doesn’t hurt at all if some of Emily’s clothing gets found along the way, either.
When it comes time to do the bi-annual switch I get every box, bag and bin of clothing in the house and begin sorting. Each child gets a pile using the: this-looks-like-it-will-fit-insert-name method or the go-try-this-on method.
There is a Goodwill pile & an off-season pile. I quickly sort the clothes into piles. When that sorting is done, the children then bring me their current clothes selection. I quickly sort through those, throwing out the ugly, giving away the outgrown and piling up the rest. The new season clothes go into the laundry, drawers or get hung up, accordingly. The old season clothes get stuffed into bags or bins. The bags/bins are put back into the attic, the goodwill stuff is carted off ( and it usually contains the most clothing of all), the floor is vaccumed and the job is done in one Saturday morning. It is still a big mess and not a fun job but at least it is over. I can’t bear the thought of tripping over extra clothing for weeks on end. I do keep one khaki bin in case we need a new pair during the interim, but for the most part it is easier to go to Goodwill or the second-hand shop if I need something, than to make a hobby out of clothing.
If you find this post incoherent, as I do, please feel free to ask clarifying questions. :help_tb:
PS I want to mention there are many benefits to this method. You never have lost bins of clothing that turn up 2 years after you need them. You sort through all the clothes in the house twice a year which keeps there from being a backlog of unneeded clothing gathering dust in the attic for years on end.
Wed 2 Nov 2005
Our Family Hymns
Table of Contents:
1. A Mighty Fortress
2. Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed
3. All Creatures of Our God and King
4. All Glory, Laud and Honor
5. All Hail the Power of Jesus Name
6. Amazing Grace
7. America the Beautiful
8. And Can it Be
9. As The Deer
10. Be Still My Soul
11. Be Thou My Vision
12. Beneath the Cross
13. Blessed Assurance
14. Blessed Jesus At Thy Word
15. Boundless Salvation
16. Brethren We Have met to Worship
17. Bringing In The Sheaves
18. Brother’s Keeper
19. Christ The Lord is Risen Today
20. Come Thou Fount
21. Come Ye Thankful People Come
22. Coram Deo
23. Count Your Blessing
24. Crown Him With Many Crowns
25. Dwelling in Beulah Land
26. Face to Face
27. Fairest Lord Jesus
28. Faithful Men
29. For A Thousand Tongues To Sing
30. Glorious Is Thy Name
31. God Leads Us Along
32. God Our Help in Ages Past
33. Great is Thy Faithfulness
34. Hallelujah What a Savior
35. Higher Ground
36. Himself
37. His Sheep Am I
38. How Firm a Foundation
39. Immortal, Invisible
40. In the Sweet By and By
41. It Is Well With My Soul
42. Jesus Shall Reign
43. Joyful, Joyful
44. Just As I Am
45. Lead On O King eternal
46. Leaning on The Everlasting Arms
47. Low in The Grave He Lay
48. Marching to Zion
49. May The Mind Of Christ My Savior
50. May The Mind of Christ My Savior
51. More About Jesus
52. My Anchor Holds
53. My Country Tis of Thee
54. My Hope is Built
55. My Jesus I Love Thee
56. Near The Cross
57. Nearer My God to Thee
58. Now Thank We All Our God
59. Onward Christian Soldiers
60. Our God Reigns
61. Pass Me Not
62. Praise God For the Body
63. Praise Him, Praise Him
64. Rejoice The Lord is King
65. Rock of Ages
66. Sacred Head
67. Savior Like a Shepherd Lead us
68. Softly and Tenderly
69. Soldiers of Christ Arise
70. Sound the Battle Cry
71. Spirit Of God Descend Upon My Heart
72. Springs of Living Water
73. That Will be Glory
74. The Church’s One Foundation
75. (O)The Deep, Deep Love of Jesus
76. The Star-Spangled Banner
77. There’s Power in the Blood
78. These Things are True
79. To God Be The Glory
80. Trust and Obey
81. Unbounded Grace
82. We Gather Together
83. What a Friend We Have in Jesus
84. When I Survey
85. Whiter Than Snow
86. Wonderful Grace of Jesus
87. Worship the King
88. I Sing The Mighty Power of God
89. Thine Is the Glory
90. Gloria Patri
91. O God Beyond All Praising
92. From All That Dwell Beneath the Skies (Tune: All Creatures)
93. Psalm 46C
94. Psalm 148
95. Beneath the Blood Stained Lintel
96. Eternal Father Strong to Save (Navy Hymn)
97. Great Is the Lord Our God ( Tune: Soldiers of Christ Arise)
98. Psalm 98
99. I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord.
100. O Thou in Whose Presence
101. Let Us With a Gladsome Mind
102. Psalm 22
103. More Secure Is No One Ever
104. Psalm 119 X
I have four binders with the hymns in this order. For a family project alphabetic ordering is the easiest way to find a hymn. For years we would get to a hymn and have to remember which hymn book we had learned it out of. We had Christian and Missionary Alliance hymnbooks, Baptist, The Trinity Hymnal, and Psalters, etc. It was very confusing. One summer I printed out all the hymns either directly from the hymnbook we owned or from the Cyberhymnal. We then made 4 notebooks, some are in page protectors and others aren’t. After this year I will try and get all four hymnals redone so that every page is in a page protector. I also need bigger notebooks now. Since we originally made the notebooks we have added 17 hymns. You can see where our original hymns stop at (O) Worship the King.
You can also see how our taste has changed over the years. I think the first hymn we learned this way was Blessed Assurance. I remember going to church one Wednesday night and hearing our pastor’s children singing that without the hymnbook, I went home and added hymns to our morning meeting. I think Timothy was 6. Some of these songs I don’t even like anymore but some will never grow old.
One of our family favorites is My Anchor Holds, but we have found not many people know it.
Let me repeat: We are terrible singers, not counting my dh. We rarely sing in public anymore although Tim used to sing with the kids at churches when they were little. They did a pretty awesome Judy Rogers’ Listen My Son.
I tried to talk the children into singing Coram Deo at the Reformation Party the other night but after one practice I conceded that we sounded awful. Tim actually left the room in the middle of our practice.
Then during the Reformation Day skits and stuff, poor little Andrew turned to me with fear in his eyes and said, “We aren’t doing the Modern Major General, are we?” We all got a kick out of that.
Thu 3 Nov 2005
Here is an unusual hymn from the C&MA Hymns of the Christian Life, written by C&MA founder A B Simpson. We never get to sing this in a congregation anymore but it is a family favorite.
What is your favorite hymn?
HIMSELF
by A. B. Simpson
Once it was the blessing, Now it is the Lord;
Once it was the feeling, Now it is His Word.
Once His gifts I wanted, Now the Giver own;
Once I sought for healing, Now Himself alone.Chorus:
All in all forever
Jesus will I sing
Everything in Jesus
And Jesus everything.Once ’twas painful trying, Now ’tis perfect trust;
Once a half salvation, Now the uttermost.
Once ’twas ceaseless holding, Now He holds me fast;
Once ’twas constant drifting, Now my anchor’s cast.Once ’twas busy planning, Now ’tis trustful prayer;
Once ’twas anxious caring, Now He has the care.
Once ’twas what I wanted, Now what Jesus says;
Once ’twas constant asking, Now ’tis ceaseless praise.Once it was my working, His it hence shall be;
Once I tried to use Him, Now He uses me.
Once the power I wanted, Now the Mighty One;
Once for self I labored, Now for Him alone.Once I hoped in Jesus, Now I know He’s mine;
Once my lamps were dying, Now they brightly shine.
Once for death I waited, Now His coming hail;
And my hopes are anchored, Safe within the vail.
Fri 4 Nov 2005
Here is Christopher’s list for today (actually yesterday :typing: 
Not including Morning Time, Tennis Ball and Latin which are done in groups. Take this with a grain of salt. I picked Christopher because he usually gets everything done on his list and it is an 8th grade list (not elementary, not highschool.)
1. Free Reading, one hour, pick one book. Christopher is reading Penrod and Sam.
2. Written narration. (Some days Christopher does a lesson in Harvey’s Elementary Grammar.)
In his spare time, he is working on a book (novel) about Iwo Jima based on true events. Some days I let him do that instead of his narration.
3. Ray’s Spelling (computer spelling program, 10 minutes max)
4. Dr Aardsma Math drills ( 5-10 Minutes) computer program.
5. Saxon Algebra 1/2 lesson 103
6. Apologia General Science test 9 ( Slow and steady on the science. I begin this book as a first science course in 7th grade and give the student 2 years to complete it.)
7. Sketches From Church History chp 40
8. Ourselves (small section)
On different days of the week Christopher reads different books, but I only scheduled through the first part of November knowing we would fall behind. Now I need to add to Christopher’s schedule. He is also reading A Knight’s Fee by Rosemary Sutcliffe and Idylls of the King by Tennyson and a few other books in the Charlotte-Mason-small-chunk way.
I have a list I am working from to schedule his year. We will NOT cover all of this but it is my working list from the summer so I won’t forget what my goals are. Plus if you are like me it is fun to look at booklists.
Here it is:
Reading List Ideas:
Norms & Nobility Ideas:
Churchill’s The Age of Revolution & The Great Democracies (He already completed Vol 1 of this series.)
Chute’s Shakespeare of London
Poetry: Marlowe, Raleigh and Donne
Pilgrim’s Progress
Mayflower Compact
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
Declaration of Independence
A Tale of Two Cities
Red Badge of Courage
Great Expectations
Kenneth Roberts Fiction ?
Other:
Church History
Grace Unknown
The Hiding Place
The 39 Steps
Ourselves
How to Read a Book
The Scottish Chiefs
Adam of the Road by Gray (13th cent England)
The Trumpeter of Krakow by Kelly (15th cent Poland)
Otto of the Silver Hand by Pyle (middle ages)
The Red Keep: A Story of Burgandy in 1165 by French
Rolf & The Viking Bow
The Lion of the North by Henty (early 1600s, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden)
Wulf the Saxon by Henty (last days of Saxon England)
Call of the Wild
Rifles for Watie (civil war)
House of Sixty Fathers
The Winged Watchman (dutch in ww2)
The Endless Steppe (1941 siberia)
Number the Stars (1943 escape from nazi, denmark true)
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
David Copperfield (Dickens)
Murder on the Orient Express (Christie)
Sherlock Holmes (Doyle)
Prelude to Foundation (Asimov)
Best Short Stories of O. Henry
The Yearling (Rawlings)
Penrod (Tarkington)
Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Stowe)
The British Josiah
Carry on Jeeves (Wodehouse)
Bruchko
The Knight’s Fee by Rosemary Sutcliffe
How to be your Own Selfish Pig
Ambleside Ideas:
Beowulf
Sketches From Church History
The Hobbit
Penrod
Idylls
The Eve of St Agnes
John Christopher books When the Tripods Came
MEMORY:
I am The Very Model of a Modern Major General G&S
Shakespeare “ A Sea Dirge” from The Tempest
Marlow, Faustus, “Ah Fastus now has thou but one bare hour to live….”
Donne, “Batter my Heart”
Coleridge, “Kubla Khan”
Horatius at the Bridge
Sat 5 Nov 2005
Lately I have been thinking a bit about many things and my my thoughts have been tumbling all over one another rather incoherently. I have lots of things to blog about if I could just get my thoughts organized.
Homeschooling is always on my mind, since that is what I do 24/7. I believe for most of us the focus of our homeschooling becomes outcome. We have future goals and future hopes for our children. But I am wondering (vaguely) if that is where our goals should lay. I mean does it sound any better when we talk about how we want our children to turn out than when the public school does it: Become familiar with Beethoven (Year 3, day 57), Learn different concepts of a family: traditional, 2 mommies, 2 daddies (K , day 1). You get the picture.
The reason I say that, is that the outcomes I have envisioned for my boys have not been the outcomes that took place. As I have said here before, I was a bit shocked after Timothy graduated to find out that after all those years I was not the potter; (S)omeone else was at work, and His plan was entirely different from mine. This is not to say that I am not proud of my 2 older boys. I am much happier now knowing I am not the potter. I can sit back and enjoy watching the wheel spin without feeling like making too many suggestions to the Spinner.
That is very freeing but then I turn right around and look at the children under my care, especially my highschool boys and begin to question the outcome. Did I mention James is taking the SAT today? :wacko_tb:
I do think the agrarian model deals with some of this and that is where my thoughts head these days. In spite of the the path my older boys are now on, they are both highly agrarian in their worldview. They were both excited when we visited HSC to see that people were living on rather low incomes happily. They both long for a simple life in a country place and I believe that is where they will end up. They already have goals of finding land together somewhere.
But in the meantime they are both in what has been termed, “the real world.” The path to their goals leads through some ugly territory. Nicholas had to watch a childbirth video the other day. That wasn’t too terrible but the comments of the other officers during the video were degrading. How do you prepare a child for that? I know for a fact my boys don’t tell me all the garbage they see and hear. Yet through it all God has faithfully kept them.
Why do I belabor this? Ok, honest answer ahead, not meant to offend any particular ministry: When I get these homeschooling catalogs in the mail and I see all the bright shiny families I begin to doubt what God is doing in our family. I know from personal contact with some families that most of the creme brulee families are shocked that we “let” our boys join the government. It is not my desire to be negative or to dismiss another family’s work for the kingdom of God, but I have seen more than one creme brulee have its fragile sugar crust shattered only to find there was nothing underneath. I don’t say that as mere critisicm but as fair warning to my homeschooling friends: A sugar-coating does not make a meal.
The reason I find some of this alarming is that it encourages a fundamental lack of honesty among families. You don’t want to create an environment where everyone just pretends. In the last 20 years Tim and I have known some very famous pretenders.
I appreciate the visions that some ministries have, we need visionaries. But we don’t need anymore Bill Gothards and we don’t need anymore vanilla pudding.
Sun 6 Nov 2005
I read with interest last week all the coverage of Rosa Parks. In light of all my posts about Southern life, it is pretty hard to reconcile the story of Rosa Parks. My husband was born in 1960 and his 4 brothers grew up in the 50’s in Savannah. It is hard to imagine any of these gentle Southern men asking a woman to stand so that they could sit on the bus.
Some have said that Rosa said she was tired that day. That really didn’t matter though, did it? I can’t picture a Southern man who would not give her his seat.
Who can imagine a world where men will sit and women will stand?
Mon 7 Nov 2005
In light of our recent conversations I thought this webpage was very funny: Seldom Asked Questions About Homeschooling
Here is an excerpt and a baseball cap doff to Pat at Classed:
Recently I attended a state homeschooling convention. At least half the women there were wearing denim jumpers and had lots of children with them. If I decide to homeschool, will I need to buy a denim jumper and triple my family size?
Well, it depends. Some homeschoolers like to be nonconformists. In order to identify
yourself as a nonconformist, you will need to wear the right kind of denim jumper,
never cut your hair again, and have a larger than average family. All the boys will
need to wear slacks and dress shirts whenever you’re out in public, and the girls will
need to wear denim jumpers or pretty flowered dresses. Of course, if you don’t care
about being a nonconformist, this doesn’t apply to you; you’re free to dress however you choose.
Mon 7 Nov 2005
There isn’t anything to do these days in Alabama except offer praise to God. You cannot step out of the door or look out the window without being confronted with the glory of God. Our little town looks like it stepped out of a postcard from Vermont. The maples are stunning, the oaks are blazing and the bradford pears look like giant lollipops. All this with perfect temperatures and light breezes. The creation is groaning its praise and I must join in. It makes me a little ashamed for talking about such mundane things or even blogging at all.
Tue 8 Nov 2005
To my dear friends, the fact that I am writing on agrarian topics must be hilarious. As I have said before I have a strictly philosophical interest in agrarianism. I don’t want to provide everything my family needs.
So why the interest?
That is something I have been wondering myself. Then I was over at Dry Creek and Rick used the phrase: systems don’t work. That hit my philosophy-nail on the head. That is why I am drawn to agrarianism. I am not quite as gracious as Rick in pointing out that some of the past systems I have been a part of have left me angry. Perhaps my anger should be at my own ability to fall into such systems. My dh, Tim, is far more cautious than I am whenever the next new thing comes along. Agrarianism, of this sort, is deeply inbred into his southern character. Hey, he doesn’t even like to push those little internet things that say, “submit.” :thumbdown_tb:
Tim and I, while strongly believing in authority, are much more reluctant to acknowledge the authority of all those that claim it. We have just known too many tin-penny tyrants; I do believe, however, that Rick is right in thinking that God blesses peacemakers. We do have the Beatitudes.
Still it seems that most “systems” end up being controlled by some sort of “authority” and that is where they start to break down.
Part of my agrarian interest lies in my desire to leave the past behind and live a quiet life apart from someone else’s rules and programs. I guess I am somewhere between a prairie muffin has-been and an agrarian wanna-be.
