Simple Woman

Outside my window...
After Friday's snowstorm and then the bit of weekend thaw, it's kind messy outside.



Courtesy of NE Ohio Flickr Group.
I am thinking...
What a difference a year makes! Last year I bit my lip, and watched my firstborn leave the home for his new apartment. For the first six months, we barely saw him. But bit, by bit, as he became secure in his status as an adult, he started coming around and doing things with his siblings. This past weekend, citing difficulty in keeping a paying roommate, a busy schedule and more schooling this fall, I watched him move back home with his stuff. And I cried then too...

I am thankful ...
I was able to - record some songs for the first time ever in a real recording studio.
Give a speech to RCIA
Pull together a dinner meeting that was very well received.
Attend my Godson's confirmation.
Play a big concert at church!

I am very thankful last week is over!

From the learning rooms...

Gabe and Noah are hitting Rosetta Stone Latin consistently, as well as General Science although Noah just pulled ahead on both those fronts.
Sam is working on his next CLEP test in Science. He's supposed to take it this week but I am not paying  for it unless he really feels confident.  He is also working on Spanish II, pre-Calc and literature.
Izzy is working in language arts, spelling (Spelling Power) reading and is up to lesson 118 in Saxon math!
Noah is in lesson 116  as well.
Gabe is in lesson 50 with pre-Algebra.  
Noah and Gabe are reading Animal Farm.

For movie day last week theny watched -

The Reluctant Saint

The Vanderbilts


Frederick Douglas


From the kitchen...
Crock Pot Roast with veggies.

I am wearing...
Black concert skirt, white knit shirt, knee stabilizer brace.  

I am remembering:
Mama - always! Also praying for my friend Marianne who is dying from cancer.

I am creating...
a new normalcy with Calvin back and after such a busy week last week.
I am going...

My knee still hurts and I started wearing a knee support.  i can't tell if it is helping or not.  If it doesn't get better soon I'm going to have to breakdown and go see the sports medicine doctor. My wrist doesn't hurt at all!. In addition to s Jiggle Free Abs, The Firm Lower Body Sculpt which is done sitting down, and possibly some Stability Ball, I tried some Walk Away the Pounds and Leslie Sansone: Walk Away the Pounds - 5-Day Fit Walk.  They were OK.  Definitely better than nothing, but not as fun and challenging as the other DVD's I am use to.
I am reading...



















I am hoping...
I can get something cleared up this week.  I had recorded the Lord's Prayer in the upper octaves for flute, but when TPTB heard it, they asked me to play it down as written.  Bummer.  I want then to realize tha was my first time recording EVER in a studio and they shouldn't judge my ability to play in a concert on my lack of recording experience.

I am hearing...
nothing but the buzz in my ears.

Around the house...
is a mess. Calvin's stuff is everywhere!


A picture I am sharing:  

Video from yesterday's concert.












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The necessities of kindergarten

When I was in kindergarten, back in the 1960s, we learned how to get along with others, we learned to follow the rules, we finger painted, cut and pasted we had books read to us, and we learned our  ABCs and 123s.  I remember learning to stand in line, and learning that city kids were different than country kids, that "your neighbor" didn't literally mean the person you lived next to, and that the girl with the poofy hair could be nice as long as I didn't try to talk to her first thing in the morning.  I also remember the importance of fitting in.  One of my worst childhood memories was of a picture I did on the under paper (a paper put down under drawing paper to protect the table) instead of the regular paper.  I also had the misfortune of drawing on this 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of paper in the portrait view instead of landscape like anyone else.  My teacher yelled at me, and on parent's night I was so ashamed of my ugly drawing!  Lesson learned.
 
When Calvin was ready for kindergarten, I dutifully took him down to the parish school for kindergarten readiness.  I figured he wasn't wearing diapers, he could put on his coat and he could get his shoes on without help, so he was ready. "Not so!" was the judgement of the teacher at the time.  Apparently they asked Calvin, "To dance you need..."   They were looking for "music" or "a radio."  Calvin said, "A girl."  Probably because we had been watching the ballroom competitions on PBS.   But it was the wrong answer.
 
He flubbed another one too.  "To take a bath you need..."  The appropriate answer being soap, water, towel.  Calvin said, "privacy." 
 
I loved Calvin's answers, and thought that as long as they could be seen as logical they should be accepted as correct.  But they weren't.  I was looking at homeschooling at that time and took this experience as my sign from God to keep heading in that direction!
 
Now days, the pressure is on for pre-schoolers and kindergartners to hit the academic track and hit it hard.  But I can't help but wonder if it makes any difference.  In my inner city neighborhood I know more than my share of dropouts or almost drop outs.  My neighbor kid who is Sam's age, fondly refers to himself as a Sophior (between sophmore but not quite a junior). I see him walking to school some days, about two hours late.  At least he's going. Head Start and kindergarten didn't seem to help him  much.  Some of the other public school kids I know tell me how much they hate school.  Some tell the kids they wish they were homeschooled. 
 
Maybe we shouldn't be so surprised.  Kindergarten has changed a lot since I was in it!

Pressure? This is kindergarten, the happy land of building blocks and singalongs. But increasingly in schools across Massachusetts and the United States, little children are being asked to perform academic tasks, including test taking, that early childhood researchers agree are developmentally inappropriate, even potentially damaging. If children don’t meet certain requirements, they are deemed “not proficient.” Frequently, children are screened for “kindergarten readiness” even before school begins, and some are labeled inadequate before they walk through the door.

Then came the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, which links federal funding for schools to performance on standardized tests beginning in the third grade. Its passage “put the nail in the coffin” for the old ways, says Ed Miller, coauthor of the Alliance for Childhood study. “Faced with serious sanctions, they weren’t going to say, ‘OK, let them play and do all the things they used to do,’ ” Miller says. “Instead, we have to put them in testing boot camp well before third grade.”

As of this year I have homeschooled my 6th kindergartner.  I have gone to very rigid structure with my firstborn guinea pig kid - to very loosely with my baby. What I have learned is that it doesn't matter what curriculum I bought, how much money I spent or how much time we put in, a successful kindergarten for a homeschooled kid really only needs a few important elements.  
1.  Experiencing and living the faith of the parents and the family - seeing the adults and siblings practicing their faith.
2.  Learning the letters of the ABC.  If they can read great!  (only one of mine could and that is Miss Rosie, the kid who is getting the least structure homeschool experience!)  But it's enough that they know the letters and the sounds.  Help them draw, paint, or color them for experience.
3.  That they have an idea about numbers, counting, sorting and the calendar.
4.  That they spend time in real life situations like cooking, laundry, grocery shopping, gardening, listening to their siblings' lessons.
5.  That they are read to and hear good music.
6.  That they get to express themselves with legos, art supplies, and other supplies.
 
That's really it although I could add computer skills and t.v. if parents feel comfortable with those and want to monitor them. 
 
But the main thing is to get the child excited about learning and getting a sense of accomplishment with a dollop of discipline for good measure.  If that can be accomplished during homeschool kindergarten, that's a successful year!


 
 
 
 
 


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My Daily Domestic Clips 02/27/2011 (a.m.)

• Customize Your Blogger Template

  tags: blogger blog

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Daily Domestic Clips 02/26/2011 (a.m.)

• Ida Keeling, 95-Year-Old Woman Sets Sprinting Record (VIDEO)

  There's no excuse for not working out. Check out this little dynamo!Also, notice how because of her exercise, her upperbody, arms and legs look athletic and toned! Really an inspiration.

  tags: aging health fitness

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Daily Domestic Clips 02/24/2011 (p.m.)

• My Domestic Church: My views on childbirth

  tags: birth childbirth

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

What's going on in My Domestic Church

Silly me for thinking February would be boring. This last week especially has been full of challenges and adventure.

On Monday I was asked to go to a real recording studio to record a flute part for a new CD. I had recorded before but always in a larger church space. This time it was in an enclosed soundproof room and my tones sounded quite different to my ear. I didn't like it. On the playback though it sounded great but I'm not sure if it was me or memorex!

Last night I gave my Marriage as a Sacrament speech to the RCIA. I had given it to the RCIA a few years back. That time it was in a big meeting room on a Sunday morning and it was quite well received. I remember one of the candidates even told me that it was one of the most helpful talks he had heard during his RCIA formation.

The talk last night didn't go as well. First of all, it was in the rectory meeting room which has sort of a country lodge feel to it. It's very nice and comfortable but it is dark and people were sitting all over the place so I felt it was hard to connect. Secondly the pastor's dog growled and barked at me unexpectedly! This is the same sweet dog that sat at my feet and wagged his tail and let me stroke his coat as I was making funeral arrangements for my mother! I don't know what spooked him last night but it threw me off my game a bit and I was a little embarrassed. (I am a dog owner afterall -you can see my Shepherd mix, Sophie, in my kid's music video that I posted on Monday).

But I did learn a few things about myself last night. I learned that I am much sharper in the morning and afternoon than I am in the evening. I felt a lot like the lady who garbled her speech at the Grammy's a few weeks ago; I just couldn't get my mouth to work right and I couldn't think as quickly. I also learned that I really, really, really depend on the feedback I get from the group listening to me! A few weeks ago I spoke to the Confirmation girls, and although they were kind of unresponsive, the feedback I got from the youth director kept me going. At Pre-Cana we got a lot of positive feedback via smiles, laughs, etc. But the crowd last night just wasn't having it. Maybe they were tired too. It's hard to say. They were an older crowd, mostly guys - maybe that had a lot to do with it. But about halfway through I was ready to wrap it up-quickly. Which isn't like me; I love to talk!

Tonight I have arranged for a dinner meeting for my homeschool group. I needed 30 people to get the banquet room for free and I finally got that by the skin of my teeth! Turns out there is a lot more going on in February than I originally thought, so it was harder to get people to come out for a meeting. I have been worried about the money and how it's all going to work but I'm feeling much better about that now too. And since I got Mr. Pete to agree to introduce our speaker, I am feeling the load being lifted!

After tonight I will be worry free, except for my oldest moving back on Saturday and Sunday, when I have another concert. Oy.

And the nervous stomach that has plagued me all of my life started up last night too and I noticed I had been neglecting my night time prayers. There definitely is a correlation between being right with the soul and the body and keeping that connection, as the pains of last evening reminded me, is crucial.






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Saint Polycarp

Polycarp is one of my favorite saints because he is such a good example of a complete life in Christ. I love the fact that he actually learned from St. John too - my favorite apostle.

Polycarp in Greek comes from two words “poly” meaning many or much, and “carp” meaning fruit. Obviously his Christian parents named him Polycarp along with a prayer that he would bear much fruit for the Kingdom of God — which he did.

It also inspires me that Polycarp was bishop for 70 years, which shows me that faith and bravery isn't something just for the young, but grows with middle age and into the golden years as well.

Today we read about St. Polycarp's life and discussing his bravery. I don't see much honor in killing an old man, and it's ironic that instead of silencing him, his death brought even more to the new Christian faith.

A very readable version of his martyrdom is here.

“Stand fast, therefore, in this conduct and follow the example of the Lord, ‘firm and unchangeable in faith, lovers of the brotherhood, loving each other, united in truth,’ helping each other with the mildness of the Lord, despising no man” (Polycarp, Letter to the Philippians).

Flee wicked arts; but all the more discourse regarding them. Speak to
my sisters, that they love in our Lord, and that their husbands be
sufficient for them in the flesh and spirit. Then, again, charge my
brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they love their wives,
as our Lord His Church. If any man is able in power to continue in
purity,(1) to the honour of the flesh of our Lord, let him continue so
without boasting; if he boasts, he is undone; if he become known apart from
the bishop, he has destroyed himself.(2) It is becoming, therefore, to men
and women who marry, that they marry with the counsel of the bishop, that
the marriage may be in our Lord, and not in lust. Let everything,
therefore, be [done] for the honour of God.

"I have served Him eighty-six years and in no way has He dealt unjustly with me; so how can I blaspheme my King who saved me?

Patron against earache and dysentery.


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My Daily Domestic Clips 02/23/2011 (a.m.)

• Catholic Converts Chair of Peter

  tags: Catholic feasts st.peter chairofpeter

• Chair of Peter | Saint of the Day | AmericanCatholic.org

  tags: Catholic feasts st.peter chairofpeter

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

The Chair of Peter

The kids thought it was kind of neat that "Papacy Day" came right after "President's Day" this year! And the school kids got today off too!



In honor of today's feast day, The Chair of Peter, try some Pope quizzes!

Popes Quizzes and Popes Trivia -- FunTrivia




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My Dearest Daughter

In 1958 my mother got married and moved across the country. These are the letters written to her, mainly by her mother, between 1958 and 1960, as well as other artifacts from my family's past. Others in the series are in my del.icio.us file.

January 6, 1960

Dear Kids!
Hi! It's kinda old and windy today, but I guess it's nothing like what you are having. We have no snow. It's nice you are having snow but it does make it hard getting around doesn't it? Hope by now Elena is over her cold and mama is well on the way to recovery. Thank you for the pictures, they are very nice.

About the little chest of drawers, I have ordered one from Montgomery Ward. I couldn't pack it so that it would get there in good shape, so I'll keep yours here and have a new one shipped to you direct. Also there will be a training chair and a food warmer for Elena and Playtex gloves for you. Hope you like em all.

I guess it will be quite a while before the church gets the organ. Although the Holy Name and Altar Societies are working on it, but it is a slow process. Fish Fries are still on. We even had a Feather Party in November. Father D keeps buying property. Our balance on the school is only $12,000, but we owe St. Frances Church $11,000 and $1,400 to our cemetery account. Now he is planning on buying the Berry house for about $13,000. Of course I understand he must plan for the future, but I hate debt, so I can't see it.

Well I am glad you like the dress. I liked the style very much too, but it was so scratchy. I'm going to look for another one the same style. Course I'm such a funny duck, can't wear wool or certain kinds of nylon

Right now we are having a cat concert under the house. The weather has been so mild, it has the cats fooled. They think it is spring. Even the Pussy Willows are coming out. Funny business, where the weather should be mild it is severe and where it is severe it is mild.

Calvin still hopes to get his corn soon. I must check on your Index subscription and ours. Did you get the Arizona Highways? We thought you'd like it. We'll subscribe for the Life Magazine for your Birthday. We didn't get Elena any toys for Christmas. I thought the monkey and the doll from the Pratts would hold her for a little while.

I am enclosing some stamps. Some of them would be hard to get unless I worked at the rectory. How did Pete like his coffee cup? Calvin thought he'd play a little joke on him. I think a stand for the roaster is a fine idea.

Out of paper so must close now. Please write oftener. Dad gets so lonesome for you, he almost gets sick. He is so funny!

Love from us three- Mother

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My Daily Domestic Clips 02/21/2011 (a.m.)

• Obama Admin Weakens Protections for Pro-Life Medical Workers | LifeNews.com

  It's a bad time to be a pro-life pharmacist!

  tags: obama abortion contraception areyousorryyet?

  • The long-awaited decision by President Barack Obama to overturn conscience protections the Bush administration put in place to protect pro-life medical workers who don’t want to be involved in certain medical procedures has finally occurred
  • In 2008, the Bush administration issued a rule that prohibited recipients of federal money from discriminating against doctors, nurses and health care aides who refuse to take part in medical procedures to which they have religious or moral objections. The rule implemented existing conscience protection laws that ensure medical professionals cannot be denied employment because they do not want to assist in abortions.

  • At the end of February 2009, the Obama administration announced it began “reviewing” the regulations implementing conscience laws, the first step toward rescinding the rule.

    Today, the administration rescinded part of the protections today with the Health and Human Services Department scrapping a portion of the rule, which it called “unclear and potentially overbroad in scope.” Obama officials put a new rule in place that leaves in place protections on abortion but offers no protection for medical workers who have moral or religious objections to dispensing or giving to women the Plan B drug or other emergency contraception that could act in some cases as an abortion drug.

• Rolling Stone Hid More Extensive Justin Bieber Pro-Life View | LifeNews.com

  Liking that Beiber kid more and more!

  tags: currentevents

  • Now, the magazine has issued another update of the quote — one that makes it clear Bieber believes the unborn child is a human being.

    “I really don’t believe in abortion. I think it [an embryo] is a human. It’s like killing a baby,” Bieber actually said, with the magazine adding “an embryo for context when Beiber was apparently referring to an unborn baby through pregnancy.

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My Daily Domestic Clips 02/20/2011 (a.m.)

• 16 Shocking Facts About Student Debt And The Great College Education Scam

  tags: college debt

  •   As millions of Americans wake up and start realizing that the tens of thousands of dollars that they have poured into their college educations was mostly a waste, will the great college education scam finally be exposed?

    For now, the system continues to push the notion that a college education is the key to a good future and that there is plenty of "financial aid" out there for everyone that wants to go to college.

  • What young high school students are never told is that not even bankruptcy can get you out of student loan debt.  It will stay with you forever until you finally pay it off.

  • Take it from someone that has graduated from a couple of very highly respected institutions.  I have an undergraduate degree, a law degree and another degree on top of that, so I know what I am talking about.  Higher education in America has become so dumbed-down that the family dog could literally pass most college courses.

• Save Our Sacrament

  One woman's story of fighting her Catholic annulment.

  tags: marriage annullment

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

7 Quick Takes

  Join Jen and the other Quicktakers over at the Conversion Diary.

1. When ya'll are reading this, I will be having a big lipoma surgically removed from my arm. It has been there for at least six years, but it has slowly but surely been getting bigger and now it sort of bothers me - like when my big strapping 21-year-old, 6 foot 2, 250 pounds EMT son grabs my arm while he's playing around - ZOWIE!!! So it's coming off. I'm a little nervous about it, but I have had three cesareans, a tonsillectomy, root canal and a tooth extraction before, so really, how bad could it be?



2. In my usual fashion, I've been looking at a gazillion of these on Youtube.

Here are my two favorites! This one because they explain everything and leave a little scar. And this one because the guy actually films his own lipoma removal! So how bad can it be?

3. Plus I've had a 10 pound baby in my living room without anesthesia... so there ya go!

4. My oldest baby is MOVING BACK HOME NEXT WEEKEND!!! I am almost giddy and yet at the same time wondering where we are going to put all of his stuff? We sure managed to fill up the vacuum he left. But I'm glad he will be saving money instead of paying rent, and I am glad he has a home to come back to where he can crash after working his two jobs. He'll need it especially next fall when he goes to paramedic school. I'm also hoping we see more of his girlfriend Sarah!

5. Mr. Pete is going with me to the hospital tomorrow. I finally get to spend a whole day with my husband! They tell me that after this anesthesia I will be tired all day. I'm worried that my arm is going to hurt a lot too. But it will be nice to spend some time together.

6. Next week I give my third speach of the month! This time it will be to the RCIA folks about the sacrament of marriage. I'm looking forward to that a lot. My experiences with RCIA have been very good in the past. At least the folks  WANT to be there, which is not always the case with the Pre-Cana couples.

7. Here's something ya don't see every day in suburbia! The city came down the street and ripped out an abandoned house. At least there will be a nice patch for kids to play on this summer!








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My Daily Domestic Clips 02/18/2011 (a.m.)

• Praise Whistlers Abroad • View topic - In Christ Alone

  • 

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

precana 2011 talk - Part 3

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My Dearest Daughter

In 1958 my mother got married and moved across the country. These are the letters written to her, mainly by her mother, between 1958 and 1960, as well as other artifacts from my family's past. Others in the series are in my del.icio.us file.

I was surprised to find this letter. It is dated September 13, 1974 and is written from my grandfather to his mother! My sister and I talked about it. That means this letter was at my great-grandmother's house, some how made it back into my mother's possession, travelled with her to New Mexico and then to Ohio where I finally found it in a box of stuff! Kind of remarkable.

My great-grandmother Lowerta (we called her Grandma Werty) was a wonderful woman. I have never heard anyone say anything remotely negative about her. My grandfather was her second son.

He mentions his wife, my grandmother, Helen, in this one.  Her health was starting to decline at this point, in fact she only lived another four years. He talks about selling off the cows, which was a sad thing for me because I loved living on a dairy farm. He also mentions Uncle Herm, who was Grandma Werty's brother. 

He also mentions my Uncle Paul and his wife.  Her name was Irene.  I only remember meeting her once but she was very sweet.  When she died Uncle Paul sent her costume jewelry to us and I wore her faux pearls for my wedding.  Uncle Paul himself had a stroke about 10 years later where he could totally understand what was going on around him but all of his words, whether spoken or written came out as jibberish.  The worst part was that he knew they were coming out wrong but couldn't do a thing about it. I felt so bad for him because of that but he was a very good man.

Dear Mother,



It is raining this morning. We need the rain very badly. The earth is so hard we could hardly plow the ground for wheat. We came home in fine shape and many, may thanks for such a nice time and my thanks to Janet for dinner. How are you and Opal with her trouble? 


I took Helen to the doctor on Wednesday. She is suffering quite a bit from pain in her hips.


 Her brother Paul's wife had a bad stroke, two in all now and this one is very bad. 



I went to see Frances Taylor Valencort. She had an accident and spilled boiling water on her legs and feet. It burned the blood veins and nerves under the skin.


A more pleasant thought now.  I repaired my old hay baler and bailed seven h undred bales of wheat straw and got them under cover befoer it rained. Ha! (no joke).  I just counted my squash in the garden, 56 butter not and 20 butter cup, 8 green hubbard and 16 golden hubbard.  The corn fields are looking up.




We had our first buyers for the cows yesterday. No sale yet.



I'm going to take my honey off now.  The honey crop is very bad in southern michigan.  The old saying- you can't win em all!. 


I'm going to answer Uncle Herm's letter now and we wil meet you and kiss you the twelfth of October. Have a good day and remember I Love you.


Cal. 

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