Summer is flying by, August is whisking me awake to the coming reality of fall. Summer really is coming to an end, and all too soon. Decisions are piling up: what time will music lessons be, which classes should we take, should I join the co-op that is over 20 miles away, how should we re-organize the school-room, etc.
Most of the curriculum is chosen, we’ve made a four-year high school plan (subject to change, of course), with still many questions unanswered. Here is where I need another veteran home-educator to answer some questions for me, so I’ll be pulling out the list of people I know and calling for advice. I have yet to order the curriculum– that will be accomplished this week. The kids are chomping at the bit to get started, which is a good thing. I just hope the same gusto is still there (for all of us) come February! 🙂
My weekly thank-you’s:
347. submitting 4H projects for the county fair
348. a day swimming outside at the water park
349. making a four year high school plan; planning ahead
350. one of my boys is taller than me (oh, how quickly that happened)
351. hearing airplanes in the sky… for the annual air and water show at the Milwaukee lakefront. I admit, I don’t understand what types of airplanes flew, I know little of airplanes. I do know what a spectacular show this is, and I just marvel that… God allows man to fly, and to turn flips and fly in formation and dip and circle and dive. And survive doing so. Amaaaazing.
352. a day spent hiking and swimming at a state park
353. time alone. eating a little bit of chocolate. getting caught up on blog reading and just plain thinking.
354. eggplant, tons of zucchini and cucumbers and ripened tomatoes from the vine
355. words like this, from Isaiah 21, that make me ponder their mystery:
18 I will make rivers flow on barren heights,
and springs within the valleys.
I will turn the desert into pools of water,
and the parched ground into springs.
19 I will put in the desert
the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.
I will set pines in the wasteland,
the fir and the cypress together,
20 so that people may see and know,
may consider and understand,
that the hand of the LORD has done this,
that the Holy One of Israel has created it.
356. An answer to the question: “What is the purpose of art?”, by Luci Shaw:
“… poetry, and any art, says something in a way that nothing else can…”
“It’s my soul crying out to your soul: This is what I see and how I feel. Can you see it? Can you feel it too?” – Luci Shaw
357. And the answer to this question “Does beauty matter? Why? How?
“It [beauty] is to the spirit what food is to the flesh. It fills an emptiness in you that nothing else under the sun can.” — Frederick Buechner
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Linking with others opening their eyes to bits of beauty around, at one of the most inspiring, beautiful places on the web, A Holy Experience:
#353 sounds heavenly! Great quotes too. Enjoyed your list:)
Beauty does matter. God instructed beauty to be everywhere in his tent temple, and again in the temple that Soloman built. God enjoyes our beautiful smiles and our beautiful clean spirit as we serve him. May your school year go smoothly and with gusto and learn many new things as your children also learn !!
A beautiful list. I’m so glad your family has enjoyed some outdoor time before school and schedules resume. And the joys of those garden vegetables and chocolate besides. #356 might be my favorite, though. Part of the gift of blogging for me is hearing an answering yes to those questions more than I have in “real” life (regarding poetry attempts).
Hi Anna,
So lovely to meet you via my blogs — two of them. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
Your list fills me with admiration and good feelings – home schooling, and gardening, and musing about airplanes flying, and chocolate… Life is rich, isn’t it? Have a wonderful week!
I’m thinking that I could use some #353, but then when they go back to school, I will be sad and lonely 🙂
Anna, So, what did you enter in the fair?? Would love to hear!
Re your # 356: Can I share a poem on art? My mom used to write a lot of poetry in her younger days, and I love this one, which I shared on my blog several years ago: http://www.diaryof1.com/2007/03/09/the-poet-on-art/
A few of my favorite lines from this poem called Art:
Art is a mixture in the mind
Of images that twist and wind;
Evidence of an exploring heart
Tentative, lest it be torn apart.
Here is a smile, received over there,
Coloring two bits of separated air.
She also wrote a poem on Poetry! Also one of my favorites!
Some lines:
A poet is a man who stores
Ideas in his dresser drawers.
With words he combs his tangled hair
And starts the day with “Change,” “Compare.”
And when the words begin to fuse
The poet melts into the Muse.
Have BLESSED day!! ~Jen
Jen,
I love the poems!! They are beautiful. I love the “coloring two bits of separated air” and “with words he combs his tangled hair”… and many lines in these. Thank you for sharing them!
For the fair, my daughter entered a dress (clothing project) and 3 photographs (photography project).
My son entered a wooden whale puzzle (woodworking, a small lego thing he put together (lego project), and a poster on archery (for the archery project).
My youngest is in Cloverbuds (next year, he’ll be old enough to join projects). He made a magnet holder (with clips) out of a ruler at a Cloverbud meeting which he submitted.
We had planned on open class, but then just ran out of “oomph” to get the open class done. Thanks for asking! Maybe I’ll take pics and get them posted soon….