Project 365 - May 30

It's a beautiful spring evening here. After our long winter, the warmth of the past few days has been wonderful. All the trees are budding and many are blooming. These pictures are from around our front yard.

Lilac leaves & buds.

Lungwort & gout weed. Sometimes black & white works. Sometimes not so much...

Bergenia - one of my favourite spring flowers.

Forget-me-not, gout weed & lungwort (in the back). And a lone dandelion. Wretched things.

This is the "there's something wrong with this picture" picture. Can you tell me what it is?

And for those of you for whom all these spring flowers are long gone, well, rejoice with me! Our bulbs are blooming beautifully and I'm so happy to have them. The irises are just barely starting and the mid-season tulips are just coming. Spring in northern Alberta! Considering we just had snow last week, I think we're doing OK. LOL

Project 365 - May 29

Sunday Hymn - Like a River Glorious

Rebecca was asking this week about favourite hymns. I commented that this is mine. I think I have probably posted it before under Sunday hymns but a little repetition never hurt anyone.

I think this is my favourite because of the confidence expressed in God's provision and peace. I also love the alto line.

Like a River Glorious

Like a river glorious, is God’s perfect peace,
Over all victorious, in its bright increase;
Perfect, yet it floweth, fuller every day,
Perfect, yet it groweth, deeper all the way.

Refrain
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.

Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand,
Never foe can follow, never traitor stand;
Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care,
Not a blast of hurry touch the spirit there.

Refrain

Every joy or trial falleth from above,
Traced upon our dial by the Sun of Love;
We may trust Him fully all for us to do.
They who trust Him wholly find Him wholly true.

Refrain

Project 365 - May 27

As you can see from the previous photo and today's, it's dandelion season here. You can also see from this photo that it's time to plant the garden. I am way behind this year but a big part of it is that spring was about 2-3 weeks (felt like months) behind this year. So the project this week is to get the garden dug and planted. Hopefully I will be able to post a pretty picture sometime later this week.

Project 365 - May 26

Project 365 - May 25

Grape hyacinths.

Project 365 - May 24

Project 365

I came across an interesting concept. Project 365 is a challenge (?) to bloggers to take photos daily and post them. I thought this sounded interesting so decided to try it. We'll see how long it lasts.

Ipod Meme

Rebecca posted this meme and invited others to play. I'm sitting at the computer, scanning pictures for a scrapbooking weekend coming up so thought it was something to do. And the bonus is that I'm actually posting!

Here are the instructions:

Get your ipod or media-player of choice, select your whole music
collection, set the thing to shuffle (i.e., randomized playback), then post the
first ten songs that come out. No cheating, no matter how stupid it makes you
feel!

I have a pretty eclectic mix on my ipod so it will be interesting to see what pops up. It is supposed to be completely random, according to the Apple people.

Chromatic Fantasy, Bach, played by Angela Hewitt

The Kraken, from Pirates of the Caribbean, At World's End (oldest son just bought the soundtrack yesterday in anticipation of the movie coming out this weekend)

Remember, sung by Zelos, a new band that was featured at the New Attitude blog

Requiem, with no other information. I'm honestly not sure what this is but it may be something else Pirates-related. I'll have to ask my children!

The Brethren Court, from Pirates of the Caribbean, At World's End

How Deep the Father's Love, sung by First Call, on their "Rejoice" album. We bought it a couple of months ago and have been somewhat underwhelmed. It's an album of accappella hymns but they have jazzed up most of the hymns, not that successfully, in my estimation. It's OK but not a favourite

God Follower, sung by Steven Curtis Chapman

Prelude No. 6 in D minor, from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, played by Angela Hewitt

Lifesong, from the Lifesong album by Casting Crowns

I Hate Everything (But You), from the Mockingbird album, by Derek Webb

If you have an ipod and a blog, play along and leave a comment. If you have an ipod but not a blog, leave your list in the comments.

7 Random Things

Kim has tagged me with 7 Random Things about myself.

I have about 7 minutes before we're to be picked up to head out to our last quiz meet. So here goes:

1. I have been coaching Bible quizzing this year for the first time and I really enjoy it.
2. I love choir. I've been asked to be involved in a community choir next year and I'm seriously considering it. But only if Terry will do it with me. I told him it could be our date night... (we've never actually had a date night so whether that is a plus or minus I'm not sure)
3. I am learning to play the cello. I was wondering the other day when I can actually say I play the cello as opposed to learning it.
4. I'm starting a ladies' book club at the church (or for anyone, really) and we are going to read Faithful Women and their Extraordinary God by Noel Piper for the first one.
5. I finished a knitted baby sweater & bonnet for my yet-unborn (supposed to be by today!!) niece or nephew a week or so ago. Then I promptly started another sweater - there's several babies arriving in our church this summer & fall. I like knitting baby sweaters.
6. I prefer black licorice to red but I'll take red if I can get it.
7. I always have a minimum of two books on the go but often 3 or 4. It depends on my mood as to what I want to read.

There - that's seven & our ride isn't even here yet. Off to find a missing bathing suit. Anyone who hasn't already done this meme can do it - just leave me a comment. I'm still waiting on that other book & movie one. :-)

Book & Movie Meme

My husband and son recently tagged me for a book meme and a movie meme. I shall combine them both here, just because I feel like it. Anyone who would like to continue the tag is welcome to do so - just let me know in the comments.

Name three characters (from books)...
1). You wish were real so you could meet them.

Anne Blythe
Elizabeth Darcy & Jane Bingley (same book so counts as one)
Margaret something from Jamie Langston Turner's books

2). You would like to be.

This is a hard one. Anne Blythe (she had her Susan as a housekeeper and lived in a beautiful place and had lots of children)
Susan from Narnia
Elizabeth Darcy (really, who wouldn't?)

3). Who scare you.
The spider & Sauron in Lord of the Rings. Oh and the Nazgul - I remember first reading that series & being terrified by them.

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Movies

Name a movie you have seen more than 10 times. I've never seen a movie more than twice.
Name a movie you’ve seen multiple times in the theater. Never.
Name an actor who would make you more inclined to see a movie. Colin Firth
Name an actor who would make you less likely to see a movie. Tom Cruise
Name a movie you can and do quote from. The Princess Bride (not often but I have)
Name a movie musical in which you know all of the lyrics to all of the songs. Singing in the Rain; White Christmas; Holiday Inn; Sound of Music; Fiddler on the Roof
Name a movie you have been known to sing along with. See above.
Name a movie you would recommend everyone see. BBC Pride & Prejudice
Name a movie you own. Lord of the Rings
Name an actor who launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops. I have no idea
Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in? Never
Name a movie you keep meaning to see but you just haven’t gotten around to yet. Can't think of one. I just got caught up with Pirates of the Caribbean 2
Ever walked out of a movie? Which one? Nope.
Name a movie that made you cry in the theater. Almost anything. Probably Narnia last.
Popcorn? Depends on the price
How often do you go to the movies (as opposed to renting them or watching them at home)? Once or twice a year
What's the last movie you saw in a movie theater? Night At the Museum (I think)
What’s your favorite/preferred genre of movie? "Chick" movies (within reason) or fantasy
What’s the first movie you remember seeing in the theater? A friend & I went to see a Woody Allen movie when I was about 16. That was the first movie I saw in a theatre. I can't remember what it was called but it seems to me it was weird.
What movie do you wish you had never seen? the half of Napoleon Dynamite I saw
What is the weirdest movie you enjoyed? The Village
What is the scariest movie you’ve seen? The Village (recent watches - when I was a teen, I saw parts of the Rambo movies & I think maybe parts of one of the slasher movies and those were scary - even with my hood over my face, it was scary!)
What is the funniest movie you’ve seen? I have no idea - probably the Pixar movies?

Book Review - Wisdom and Eloquence

Before I put Wisdom and Eloquence: A Christian Paradigm for Classical Learning (by Robert Littlejohn & Charles T. Evans) on the shelf, I decided to sit down and do a quick review of it.

Wisdom and Eloquence is a description and defence of classical Christian education. It is written primarily to Christian school teachers and organizers and this audience would be the ones to benefit most by it. However, the description of classical education is useful for anyone, be they teachers, administrators or homeschool parents. Littlejohn and Evans cover the purpose of education, philosophy of classical education (including what it is not), worldview in light of the liberal arts, and curriculum. Curriculum choices do not include specific texts or authors but instead which subjects to include in a classical education.

The most helpful concept for me as a homeschool parent was the concept of 12-K. The authors recommend that instead of starting at Kindergarten and working up to grade 12, that those planning curriculum for a school begin at the end - what should an ideal grade 12 student look like? What end product are we looking for? Then work backwards throughout the years to ensure that what is taught is always working towards that goal.

One of the most difficult things I have found as a homeschooling parent trying to educate my children classically is to know where we are going. It's easy to say that students will follow a typical school curriculum. But part of the reason we homeschool is that we have a different ideal for our children. And because we haven't been through this process before sometimes I don't know where to turn or how to achieve the results that we are hoping for. I am greatly indebted to an online community of homeschooling classical educators - I could never have gotten this far without their support, help, ideas and recommendations. However, sometimes I still feel like I'm in a bit of a fog - not really knowing where we are going. Wisdom and Eloquence helped to clarify that it's better to start at the top and work backwards and that has helped greatly. It's still foggy sometimes but it encourages me to keep on going.

I recommend Wisdom and Eloquence to anyone interested in education - whether public, private or homeschool. If you are in a public school, I hope that you will catch a vision for Christian education. If you are in a private school, classical or not, I hope that you will also catch a vision for what classical education can be and how beneficial it is to students. And if you are a homeschool parent, I hope that the concepts in this book will be encouraging and help you to have a vision for classical Christian education if you don't already and if you do already have that vision to help you to know that you are not alone and it's worthwhile to keep striving in the education of your children.