A Week of Snow, Some Good, Some Not So Good

We finally got up the mountain, two snow days in the midst of what has been a way to busy term.

The first managed to be our worst day up there, the weather changed, first hubby got caught in whiteout and twisted his knee.

While I was down in the medical center with him the whiteout moved up the mountain to where our kids and some other homeschool families were skiing. I hear my daughter did a great job of leading them safely down to the bottom of the run to where my boys were waiting, then they took over leading the way down the rest of the mountain.

To finish the day, as we were leaving, I pulled my car in towards the shuttle/pick up area to collect hubby, was waved on by the attendant, despite everyone calling out that I was picking up someone who was injured, and pulling forward ended up in the path of a backing vehicle. Fortunately no significant damage to our car.  I think the guy backing was relieved at that.

After a week of trying to sort things out, we had another chance at my husbands insistence to go up the mountain, Blue skies, no wind, more snow on the trails..an awesome day to remember and soak in the beauty that God has made and a chance to remember why we love this place. 

A Midwinter Daybook

Outside my window...

A Clear mid-winter sunset. Grey on grey tinged with pink as the sun slowly settles. Its been a beautiful blue sky day, just a tad cold but clear and fresh.

I am listening to... 

My boys playing battleships,  they are bored enough to have to pull out board games and work their way through old pursuits. Its good. We haven't been here in a long time.

 I am thankful for... 

Slow days and being able to sleep in, take time and move slowly, we'll start doing more and going out as the school holidays progress I think there is a trip to the family farm, and hopefully a day visiting the glowworm caves, but in themeanwhile we are still slowing down and getting on top of life.

 I am praying for.. 

 Friends and winter illnesses.  It seems to be that time of the year when everyone is either getting sick, recovering, or catching a new cold or flu.

From the kitchen.. 

One of the neat things about the hoidays is being able to sit at home, and listen to other people cook. Hubby is a great ccok, so are our kids, but normally I'm setting it up and heading out to ballet...so being able to sit back and hear the sounds of others cooking while I write a blog post is cool.

From the learning rooms 

 I''m finally at peace with being able to do school or at least some school in the hoiday.. and not feel guilty.  Every holidays we have loose ends and every holidays I feel guilty...and this time nope were having fun, molding what a normal day is like, keeping good habits going and building new ones..and still sleeping in watching movies going out and about and having fun. Could be  agood plan for the rest of the year.

However I definitely have itchy feet curriculum wise and am seriously looking at what we should move into our day from a Charlotte Mason viewpoint. Its funny how one thought drives another. But I would like to bring back the things around the edges that we have lost over the years. Nature journals, picture study, composer's poetry etc. 

 I am reading.. 

Bondage of the Will by Luther, and enjoying it, discussions with the kids not quite so easy.  

A few plans for the rest of the week.. 

Ballet lessons and art classes got moved into the holidays this time around, a trip to the family farm for a day, a long day-walk in a nearby national park... the glowworm caves as a day trip, and hopefully thanks to some online vouchers dinner out with my and hubby...

 Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Some days you really wish you have a camera on you at all times...lovely red/cream kitty with black smudges getting carefully cleaned- up in the bathroom, after the boys have been playing with the toy submarine in the bath...cat seeks his escape path...into the bath...oops...wet, bedraggled, unhappy cat. Funny though, very funny...

Unfortunately I only have the clean dry version on film

 A Daybook post in the tradition of A Simple Woman's Daybook

 

Ambleside or Veritas?

I have to admit that despite never using Ambleside as written for more than 1 year, I don't think that I have ever gotten their ideals out of my head.

I like the idea of enjoying great literature, nature, artists and composers slowly and thoughtfully. I love the way that Ambleside manages to drop out the busywork and let us enjoy what is good.

 I miss that approach when it is gone really miss it. Any mention of Ambleside or Circle time sends me scurrying back and wondering how to put back what I am missing in my approach. And since combining two approaches is never really a good thing, that usually is enough to send us over the edge. Yet in the middle of a year that has become in many ways an uphill push I am back considering the Ambleside approach.

The only problem is considering it using the Veritas materials. Yep as much as I love the Ambleside and Charlotte Mason approach the book-lists used in Ambleside always send me hurrying back. There is along the way too much that pushed the boundaries of what we believe without explanation. Since its hard enough for my daughter to read the likes of Luther and have to think through his ideas in terms of her beloved, it really doesn't take much to have us all cringing that something is off, liberal, faith challenging. And while there are only a few books in the selections, a few music pieces they always leave me scrambling back to Veritas...safety.

Veritas takes the other approach. When something isn't of a reformed evangelical American persuasion you know about it. Which is good at least then you can disagree with them and move on. They do however manage to put the goodness or at least show why there is shadow in all of their books and that is soul filling and refreshing. (Ok yes they can also be repetitive, but we don't mind that again..."Been there done that!" move on.)

So my question comes back to am I about to take the CM philosophy as a framework and infill it with the Veritas selections and study guides. (Yes I realize that CM would object to the study guides - but somehow that search for background material seems to be the most frequent question of the Ambleside lists.)

Humanities or Grammar School at Home ?

For a long time there has been discord in our home-school, we started this journey step by step, looking into a vista of discussion, learning, truth , beauty and consideration of what is good. Wonderful lofty ideals.

But to often it seems more of a daily grind to get through our blocks of time before the end of the day. The endless struggle to keep my turtle on track, to slow down my hare and to keep lifting up the fragile flower that unfortunately is my guinea pig.

Amongst it all it the realization that all of this is uncharted territory. Not necessarily difficult, but non the less territory that we have never walked before. Bible College and their introduction to Church history, Veritas press and classed make it possible, but they don't of themselves make it easy.

For the last few days we seem to have wandered a little more as we struggled with the colds and flues, we have played more simply because that's what holidays mean and holidays are getting closer, and slowly there it a little more hope, a little more joy in our studies a lot more forgiveness. 

 I haven't yet gotten to terms with what it will look like I guess it will continue to change. But I like the idea or enjoying the journey, and appreciate that when the pressure comes off a bit my trio is much more willing to investigate the rich diet put in front of them. I can say the colds and the approaching holidays have been a breath of fresh air around here.  Now only if we could stop the sore throats and keep what we have learned.


 

Welcome, and please say hi as you wander

As a homeschooling family down under in New Zealand, its always interesting to see all the people who visit from all around the world.

It seems that we have visitors from the most interesting places.

So please feel free to say hi, leave a comment, or let us know something interesting about your
country. We would really enjoy hearing from you.

Catan, Warm Fires and Colds

As a family we seem to have all come down with our second round of colds within a month, and everyone is at some stage of sniffling or sneezing.

Its been good to be able to grab a couple of lemons through them in the food processor, add a tablespoon of grated ginger and a pottle of honey and whiz until we have honey and lemon syrup. About 2 tablespoons in a mug of hot water seems to keep the sore throats at bay for a while.

And in between there is always Catan Seafarers to keep us occupied.

 

Laid back kittens

It's clear these guys are very relaxed Burmese, Jan over at Radinka did a good job ..

Pippin Relaxing while we watch a movie

 

Thanksgiving revisited

We're moving into the reformatiion in our studies, and for the older two that means Omnibus has picked up one of Luther's writings, on the Bondage of the Will. Officially the Veritas worldview notes suggest a focus on our free will vs the sovereignty of God, Christ's Lordship. Underneath though it raises another issue, one that I desperately feel the need for a reminder, to be grateful for eveything, because God made it.

In reading the background notes I kept coming back to the idea that we  need to recognize our achievements, and our failures are God's gifts to us, not our own successes to receive praise for.  They are the things that we do because a good and loving God created us, redeemed us, gifted us and and loved us.

Even where we haven't received the redemption bit and are still a long way from knowing this God who made us, the truth remains. Our feel good moments are not in what we achieve, but rather in the love that God has for us.

Now if I could only  step away from my insecurities and live that. That would be life changing!

 

Early winter

As I wait for news of snow on the mountains, I keep wandering back to these pictures we took last year on our Mid year break and a small lake called Waikeremoana The early morning frosts on the lake were beautiful.

 

 

Joys, Struggles and Successes

The Joys,

Ending the Week with a family viewing of "A Knights Tale" admittedly we had a couple of scenes that we fast forwarded through, but we all had fun watching it and recognizing the bits that seemed like Chaucer and the obviously modern takes.

The Struggles

Tiredness, definitely a week of feeling tired, there is always something about the middle weeks of a term, productive or messy that simply make us feel blah...and this was very much in need of being sorted this week.

The Successes 

Latin and Greek are finally starting to make sense again without me sitting on the answer key. Its been a while since we have had a routine that makes regular space for each of these, and the truth is they can't be done as a block, we really really need the repetition of a little each day.