Sun 26 Jun 2005
Baseball
Archived Posts from this Category
Tue 11 Oct 2005
Here we are again, the time of year when I stretch the bonds of friendship with the M-family by mentioning that it is some consolation to the Braves fan to know that the Yankees are out.
Why a perfectly nice family would fruitlessly cling to a team named the Yankees is beyond the scope of this blog. I really think they need nouthetic counseling. Perhaps a good strong dose of How Shall We Then Live would help?
Even in baseball ideas have consequences!!
Fri 28 Oct 2005
I thought I would elaborate a little on our school day. Over the years I have found a few things that help me implement the things that are important to our family. Those things may not be helpful to you at all. Everyone has different priorities. By the way, my dh likes to remind me that priority really doesn’t have a plural. Think about it.
So you probably imagine me doing all the things I think are important along with all the things you think are important but that isn’t how it works. Have you ever been in a group of homeschooling mothers and listened to the conversation and come away feeling like you were failing in 6 different areas? We all want to be the composite supermom and we project that onto women we admire.
Our morning time has become a way for me to fit in the things that would slip between the cracks. As an added benefit, it promotes a family culture and leads to daily family worldview discussions. It also squeezes out some other things that I also think are important but not important enough to give up the benefits I have described.
Recently a mom asked my 12th grader if he liked science. He said simply, “no.” She explained that if she had him in her cover school he would have grown to love science but it was hard to love it without a teacher. I concede the point. BUT I did have a choice to find an outside school to teach my son to love science; I then would have had to drive 45 minutes one way several times a week. It also would have cost as much as a college course. It would have literally squeezed out of our day and our budget the course of humanities that I felt was more important. I made the choice, knowing my options, to stay home and spend more hours on humanities via Gileskirk.
And so it goes. We each have the same number of hours. We each need to find the time for what we find important. That will differ greatly from homeschool to homeschool.
Now if I was just starting out with morning time there wouldn’t be anything to review each day. So I would work on a new piece until it became my first review piece and I moved on to something new. I wouldn’t sing 2 hymns a day until I knew one very well.
My 11 yo, 10yo & 7 yo all do the same thing each day. So before and after morning meeting they work through those things: math, spelling (computer program), math drills(computer), grammar page, handwriting page, reading ( mostly free reading, some assigned or suggested).
My 14yo, 15yo & 17yo work through detailed lists that I have pre-planned in Homeschool Tracker software.
My 4yos does his best to thwart the whole show.
Mon 16 Jan 2006
This week a baseball schedule was pinned to the refrigerator (50+ games). Sure the season doesn’t start until March but practice has begun. Can spring be far behind? Not in Alabama. It may be 34 degrees this morning but last week it hit 70 +.
Mon 6 Mar 2006
I met more than one famous person this week-end.
The CCA Falcons, our homeschool highschool baseball team, played a double header against Nashville on Saturday. James and Nathaniel play baseball for the Falcons.
It got pretty cold at the end of the baseball game so I walked out to my car with Christopher. We passed a man on a cell phone and we all said, “Hey.”
Christopher and I got into our car and promptly forgot about the man but about 5 minutes later my brain sent me a name….Paul Overstreet.
I began to use logical deduction. The man was wearing a CMT sweatshirt and cowboy boots, he was from Nashville and was on a cellphone. He was at a homeschool baseball game. My brain was right, it must be Paul Overstreet. Christopher thought I was a looney tune. I tried to get him to go ask the man but he refused. Since I believe that children are born persons I didn’t make him go ask.
Finally at the end of the game the man began to walk behind our car. Not realizing what I was doing I jumped out of my car right when the man was passing. Then my great brain failed me. I looked dumbly at the man. Finally, I rudely blurted out, “What is your name?” He said, “Paul,” and Christopher’s heart sank. He hated to admit his mother was right.
I stared dumbly again before asking, “Overstreet?” Yes, it was a very gracious Paul Overstreet who talked to me a bit about homeschooling 6 of their children. I told him what big fans we all were and how my older boys had stolen all the CD’s when they left home. He very kindly offered to replace them but I said we would rebuy them. Then I suggested he write a song about baseball. So if he DOES write a song about baseball you know who to thank.
Paul’s website is www.pauloverstreet.com but it appears to be down today.
Thu 9 Mar 2006
Yesterday, Carmon, and before that Jon, discussed the new trend called Crunchy Cons. For a full report you can read Carmon’s words. I like the idea of Crunchy Cons because as someone in Carmon’s comments said it is like adding granola to yogurt, each person adds a different amount of crunchy. The truth is we all think different things are important. And they are. Working out our salvation sometimes means we practice our common principles differently.
I would like to apply that to the homeschool community. Sometimes I think the homeschool community wants everyone to be vanilla pudding. I have blogged about that before. While we never did join ATI we did look just like an ATI family on the outside. We even agreed with many ATI values but we were NOT Gothard followers at heart.
Last week a homeschool mom asked me if I wanted to learn to bake bread. Whoosh, did that bring back a flood of emotions. Of course, I KNOW how to bake bread; I have been homeschooling for 20 years. I know how to buy wheat and grind it and make it. But I don’t. Not at this time. I gave all my Y2k wheat away. I didn’t want that sitting around making me feel guilty for 40 years. At first I told her about having boys and no time. Then she told me about a mom whose boys make all the family bread. Yes, my boys COULD in a pinch be the breadmakers and they DO do all the housework etc. Oh, she said, are you the family that does BASEBALL? I could see immediately that I had been kicked out of the club. Yes, since Doug Phillips has never written about BASEBALL, it doesn’t make the homeschool cut.
Poor Doug that is a big burden to bear. I sure hope he writes about baseball soon.
He could mention that it gives the whole family fresh air and sunshine which in turn brings good cheer. We don’t miss the spring by being indoors too much because of baseball. It helps the children practice submitting to evil authorities (umpires). It teaches teamwork and knowing your place. It destroys visions of granduer made up of castles in the air. There is no crying in baseball; you have to take responsibilty for your own mistakes. It gives parents a chance to cheer for their children and not just bark out orders (you know you bark out orders). It develops muscles but not those obnoxious football ones. It requires skill & intellect; the perfect neoclassical sport. I bet you can guess that I could go on all day. I could.
So those of you who are friends with our man Doug, please pitch him the idea of writing a column on baseball.
Wed 15 Mar 2006
Since it is time to restrain some of my silliness, I thought I would take a minute to clarify a personal opinion that I have.
One of the legitimate criticisms of sports is the amount of running around it requires. Once a year for 6-8 weeks our family participates in the frenzy known as baseball. I won’t start all over again describing why. Suffice it to say that the rest of the year we do not run around at all. I have frustrated more than one person by not attending this or participating in that. I am the biggest homebody around.
We don’t do outside classes or co-ops or anything that would keep me in the car. If you could see my car you would understand. Our piano teacher lives 3 miles from our house and the baseball field is 9/10ths of a mile. I would never want to encourage families to do something that kept them away from home a good part of the time.
It is good for families to have things that draw them together. There are so many things that can fulfill that goal, but they need to be things that are genuinely loved by the family, not just forced upon them.
While writing this I got a feed for this link by CJ Mahaney. CJ loves sports so he gives a balanced view of the sporting life. Here is an excerpt but you would do better to read the whole article if you have any interest in sports.
So, prior to each practice and game (Chad plays basketball and soccer) I have a conversation with my son about how he can glorify God. Here is a sampling of the biblical priorities and practices I review with him:
* Humbly receive correction from your coach and ask your coach how you can grow in character as well as athletic skill.
* Thank your coaches for the way they have served you. And thank the referees after each game.
* Encourage your teammates for their display of godly character and athletic skill–in that order of priority.
* Encourage your opponents during and after the game. If you knock someone over, extend your hand to help them up.
* Play the game passionately and unselfishly. Serve your team by playing aggressive defense [his father never did this] and passing the ball on offense [again, his father never did this].
* Humbly respond when the referee calls a foul on you. Do not complain or disagree in word or by facial expression [his father never did this].
* No inappropriate celebrating after you score; instead, recognize that others played a role [his father never did this].
* Thank the team manager for the way he served and recognize the humility and servanthood he is displaying each game. True greatness is sitting on the end of the bench. C J Mahaney
Sat 1 Apr 2006
It isn’t easy having your birthday on April Fool’s Day. People assume.
But no one really assumes that about my dad.
He is respected everywhere he goes.
After 50 years in baseball he still coaches a 13-14yo team with my brother.
I only wish my boys could be on their team.
Happy Birthday, Dad!
In other baseball news, Nathaniel broke out of his slump yesterday hitting 2 homeruns,
James was 6 for 8 with a walk, and Andrew was 2 homeruns short of hitting a double cycle.
We have between 3-6 games today. Andrew is in a tournament so we aren’t sure if he will play 1,2 or 3 ballgames.
No problem, our family motto is: It’s a nice day, let’s play 2.
For the grammar gods:
Doesn’t it seem like it should be April Fools’ Day(plural)?