Time for Tea

This past week has been crazy.  I've heard that from just about everyone I have come into contact with this week.  For some reason, everything is falling on this second full week of June.  For us, it was a dance recital, karate camp, my son's 8th birthday and a class on tea.  For now, I will focus on the tea class and maybe I'll come back to the other stuff later. 

Tea has always been a time to slow down for me and after such a busy week, this was the perfect ending.  My girls, ages 13 and 14, had the opportunity to take a tea class with a friend who we met through homeschooling.  She knows so much about tea and I felt it was such a wonderful opportunity for us that she was offering this class through 4-H.  The girls attended 2 classes prior to this week where they learned about tea - what it is, where it comes from, some cultural traditions, etc.  Then this week, they went on a field trip to Georgetown, Va to visit a Chinese tea room.  They got together one more time to prepare foods for the tea we enjoyed this evening.  All of the families came to this perfect outdoor setting with perfect weather and it was the perfect ending to our week. 

They made their own tea blends, including Chai, Chocolate Vanilla Mint, Rose Mint, Tarragon Sage with Mint. Also, Ancient Forrest and Darjeeling.

The girls are getting ready to serve tea.

DD13 serving the younger siblings.  All of the children waited so patiently.

DD13 gave a quick speech about the field trip to the Chinese tea room.  She spoke about the tea she tried, how it was prepared and the food she had.  Her tea came as a little ball that was put in a glass pot where it "bloomed". 

DD14 gave a quick speech about the Chinese tea room. 

All of the food was made from scratch by the girls and their moms.  Fruit salads, cucumber sandwiches, russian tea cakes and marbled eggs were just a few of the delicacies served.

Teacher of the class and hostess of the tea this evening. She provided such an amazing experience for these girls that I think they will remember for a very long time. Thank you, Maureen.

Picture Study - Caravaggio

Over the last two years, we have been attempting to make our co-op more Charlotte Mason friendly. We have incorporated picture studies that seem to be a big hit.


During our winter sesssion, we are studying Caravaggio. I will caution you that if you choose to do this artist, he has produced some very graphic works. Lots of beheadings in particular. So I sorted through the paintings and found these four that I felt were "family friendly". Each is filled with symbolism and it has been a joy to explore each piece with the kids at the co-op.



To go along with each work, I have made copywork pages that I leave out at the co-op for parents to take if they wish.


Caravaggio was an Italian artist with tremendous influence on the Baroque Period. Each of the paintings is a depiction of a Bible story from the New Testament, so it seems natural to incorporate scripture with each of the pieces.

· Adoration of the Shepherds ~ Luke 2:8-18


Symbolism includes:

• Bare feet - walking on holy ground


• Rock on the ground - Earth (Jesus came to Earth)


• Linen in basket - Death shroud (Jesus came to die)


• Bread in baske - Bread of life


• Carpenter's tools - Jesus earthly occupation


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· Rest on the Flight to Egypt ~ Matthew 2:13-15

This picture is divided in half. The left half symbolizes the earthly. The right side symbolizes the heavenly.

Symbols include:

• Three-leafed plant - the holy trinity


• Rocks on the ground - Earth (Jesus came to Earth)


• Oak tree - I'm sure this is a symbol, but I don't know what it means


• Bare feet - holy ground
  
  

Calling of St. Matthew ~ Matthew 9:9

Jesus is calling Matthew to follow him. The tax collectors on the far left don't seem to notice Jesus and will miss out on all that Jesus brings. They are entirely too focused on their money. The youth in the middle of the piece seem a little startled, but interested. The room seems somewhat dark, but those looking toward Jesus have a light cast on their faces. Jesus is the light of the world.






Supper at Emmaus (1601) ~ Luke 24:13-35

Jesus is clean shaven, which makes him unrecognizable. This is the moment when Jesus is recognized. His followers are astonished, yet the man who is serving the meal doesn't seem surprised. I'm certain each food item on the table has some significance, but am unable to find what it is. The white tablecloth would indicate purity. I am continuing to research this piece to try to find the symbolizm that might be included in it.

Caravaggio was known to have a violent temper and ran for his life from many towns around Italy*. His general disposition may explain why so many of his works contain violent subjects such as beheadings and crucifixions. The four pieces we will focus on are more family friendly and are rich with symbolism.

Weight Watchers

What a difference a year makes. This is me, before and after Weight Watchers. I lost a total of 50 pounds in about 9 months and am very pleased with the Weight Watchers program. You can see the date stamp on the first picture of December 2010. The second picture was taken at the beginning of November 2011.

One of my measuring sticks when I first walked in was the question "Can I live like this for the rest of my life?" Quite honestly, any weight loss program will work. But can you live eating only meat for the rest of your life or just eating special, very expensive food that you have to order through the mail? I cannot.

I've tried Weight Watchers before and was in pain because I was so hungry. The program changed at the beginning of 2011 and I thought I'd give it a try. And I continually asked myself "Can I live like this the rest of my life?" After a year, I can honestly say that yes I can live like this. It is a healthier lifestyle based on choices I make.

I still choose to go to Chinese food buffets (my absolute favorite), but I'm careful not to overdo it. I look for the healthier options and if I want a heaping plate of General Tso's chicken, I get it. I just don't do that every day. That is something I might do occasionally.

Weight Watchers has helped to make me aware of portion sizes and food choices. For that I am very grateful.

I am currently a lifetime member of Weight Watchers. This is going to help keep me on track with my lifestyle change. Even though I only have to weigh in once a month, I am planning to weigh in every week. Knowing myself as I do, I know that I need the accountablity and that is okay with me. This is part of the lifestyle change I can live with.

One last note: I believe that most of the time, weight gain/loss is an emotional issue. If you are not willing to deal with what is really at the core of your weight issues, then no diet plan in the world is going to help you. It takes commitment, but also a healthy attitude toward food and activity.

Birthday Tribute (We have 2 teenagers in the house now!)

My precious daughter turned 13 today. It delights me to see her growing up knowing God the way she does. Although I have my days when I miss that baby I brought home from the hospital, she is maturing into such a beautiful young woman.

2000 - One of my favorite baby pictures of her. She fell asleep here and stayed there for quite some time.

2001 ~ Gotta love that Binky. Her shirt says "Warning: I am Two!"

2003 - Picture taken on a hay ride to go out an pick pumpkins.

2006 ~ Love that toothless smile.

2008 ~ Must ALWAYS dress for the occasion. We were hometown tourists in Gettysburg and she couldn't just wear a t-shirt.

2008 ~ A Pink .22 for Christmas. Notice the vintage-style nightgown. She is very feminine, yet can hold her own.

2010 ~ A Christmas Eve Tradition in our house is new PJ's. We call it the first present of Christmas.

Happy Birthday, Beautiful Girl!

Why I'm Beginning to Love Wednesdays

Wednesdays are quickly becoming my favorite day of the week. It's the day after we go to Classical Conversations and the kids have all of their new assignments for the week.

My oldest two (ages 12 and 14), often get up early to get a quick start on their school work. They set up their assignment sheets the night before (something CC strongly encourages so the students can learn time management) and are ready to dive in when they arise. They work quietly and diligently on their assignments all morning. They do have questions and I help them through those. DD12 will often ask that I read with her, and I do. We read her assingments together and have some wonderful discussions about them. Sometimes their dad is in the room and will jump in on discussions.

At lunch time they break to eat, and are back at it for the afternoon. I love being in the other room when the girls are practicing their latin. Frequently, they break into a fake old-world accent and talk like that through the entire study time (sometimes the accent sticks around way into the evening). It's funny to listen to.

All this time, I am cleaning the house and preparing meals for the day.
DS7 will get up at some point during the morning and I will sit with him to review his CC lessons. I also give him a math lesson (Saxon 2) and a language lesson (First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind). My goal is to read a book with him in the afternoons and that doesn't happen as often as I would like.

Throughout the day, the girls will take 10 minute walks to stretch their legs and clear their minds. When they are finished with their assignements for the day, they will go outside with a camera and start snapping away.

Dinner time comes and we enjoy a meal together before we head off to church for the evening.

I wish everyday were like this. For now, I will savor every Wednesday as it rolls around. It's a beautiful thing.

Classical Conversations

I have heard of Classical Conversations a few times over the last couple of years, but never really caught what it was about.  Finally this past spring, I went to an information meeting.  I was hooked within the first 10 minutes.  What hooked me?  The presenter hit on two of my primary reasons for choosing to educate my children at home.
1. Classical Conversations (CC) helps to nurture children's innate love of learning.
2. CC wants to nuture thinkers, not sheep.

Over the next couple of months, I researched and found that I really liked everything about CC.  It is well organized, they use quality literature, real-life resources and they recognize the parent as the child's primary teacher. 

Cost?  Yes, it's a little more expensive than a regular co-op.  However, I believe you are getting what you pay for.  In my opinion, it is worth every penny.

My daughters are at Challenge level.  I was a little nervous about placing them there since we had never done a curriculum like this before.  We went to our first CC meeting last week and I am truly amazed at how well my girls have stepped up to the plate.  Of course, I had to set a standard and explain that if school work for the day wasn't finished, we wouldn't leave the house for horse stables, ballet, 4-H or anything.  Somehow that motivated them to get up at about 7:30 every morning over the last week to get their assignments for the day finished.

I hope to be able to continue posting out CC journey as we walk this new path over the next year.

Civil War Ball

First of all, ignore the dates on these pictures. I put new batteries in the camera and it defaulted back to that date.

Our homeschool group has a spring formal each year. It is a family event that we say is like a wedding reception without the wedding. It's a chance for us to dress up in fancy clothes and come together to have a good time. This year we chose a Civil War theme and the event quickly turned into a Civil War Ball. We were able to find dance instructors who came and taught us not only the dances of the time period, but also spoke to us about ettiquette. We also had a professional photographer/decorator come in and transform the room on the lower level of our local Ag center. This was a social event, but something families could put into their homeschool portfolios as well.

I think pictures are worth a thousand words, so I have a few to share.


The woman to the far left is a mom in our group who volunteered to coordinate the spring formal. While she was taking care of the details for this event, she made the dress she is wearing.



Although period attire was not required, I had fun borrowing this dress complete with hoop from another homeschool mom.
Our dress code was simple enough. We asked everyone to dress modestly (no cleavage, skirts below the knee, etc.). Attendees did not have to wear formal attire either. They could come in their Sunday Best with men wearing ties and women wearing dresses, skirts or dress slacks. We specified no sneakers or flip flops (doesn't matter how fancy they are).



Me with my little southern belle. She found this dress last summer at a thrift store for $5 and she knit her shawl. We did go into Gettysburg to get accessories like gloves and jewelry.

DD13 having a great time.

Amongst the Civil War dances, we also squeezed in the chicken dance. It was rather interesting to see that dance being done in a hoop.

This is DS7 popping in on someone else's picture. We were able to outfit him in CSA gear. My husband is from Alabama and DS just had to be a confederate soldier.
This couple was very gracious in sharing this photo with me and not being upset with him for butting in.

At the end of the evening, all the decorations were taken down and the tables were put away, but several of our young people continued to dance.