feebeeglee

New blog address

2010-09-12T20:44:37Z

feebeeglee.blogspot.com

Hope you follow me over there. I’ll be back here someday, but it’s too buggy for now and Sean hasn’t got the time to fix it for me this semester.

In your face, Gore-Tex

2010-09-08T20:38:57Z

Replica clothes pass Everest test (four years ago)

Wearing replica gear made from gabardine, wool, cotton and silk, he wanted to disprove the common myth that the 1920s climbers were ill-equipped to reach the summit.

“This is just another brick in my wall of evidence,” Hoyland said.

you do not require tea?

2010-09-08T03:25:40Z

getting carried away

2010-09-06T05:15:03Z

I’m getting back into the SCA. That’s the Society for Creative Anachronism,

…an international living history group with the aim of studying and recreating mainly Medieval European cultures and their histories before the 17th century.

Those guys.

I used to be in the SCA as a teen. I have thought about it for a few years but decided against it because the kids were too young. They keep growing up, these kids, so I’m going to take the plunge.

The two things that tipped me over the edge were S.M. Stirling’s novels of The Change - most particularly the first three, Dies the Fire, The Protector’s War and A Meeting at Corvallis - and the plan of study for the Gleeschool this year: the Middle Ages.

So I want things like this (hold the rayon, please)

Linen Fabrics at Dharma Trading Co.

and perhaps a pair of these, with decidedly non-period soles, thanks.

Soft Star Shoes for Grown-Ups

Of course we’ll need some outerwear from this

Denver Fabrics 100% wool

or this

Wool Blankets

The plan is for me, Faith and Abby to get set up first. Then, we can see whether we like it before going all-in as a family. Bede, while very appropriately named for a historical reenactor, is maybe not so much the fan. We’ll see.

I’m glad that the period I’m interested in has nice, simple clothing. I’m leaning toward ninth century Ireland. And at this point that means everyone gets ninth century Ireland.

This is completely insane.

this is going on your permanent record

2010-08-27T21:42:47Z

I’m keeping the homeschool notes for the year at gleeschooling.blogspot.com

so as not to overwhelm this blog with daily “Today we read…” entries. I’ll be posting a picture at least once a week of something homeschooly.

upon this, ah, dirt, I will build my church

2010-08-19T18:37:16Z

Sean’s working out at St. Damien’s today, installing the pews. Almost done! How exciting! This isn’t very recent, but here’s a picture.

It’s for the Oklahoma City Latin Mass Community - our Very Own Church.

Mo-om! Abaigeal and Faith are writing fan fiction!

2010-08-19T04:31:45Z

Abby’s fic, To Be Human, is in the Phineas and Ferb fandom, and answers these burning questions: What if Perry the Platypus was human? Does Ferb own any other clothing? And, most important of all, what are Phineas and Ferb going to do today?

Chapters 1-9 are here.

Faith’s Warriors fic, Stars of Gray, is also at their blog, but not neatly next-chapter-formatted yet. It features Graystripe, Faith’s favorite Warrior cat of that era. Prologue Chapter 1 2 3 4 5

let's call this an outtake

2010-08-18T04:01:22Z

Without further ado, I give you Sean, playing Rhapsody in Blue on the… the muted Gleeson horn*. Yeah, that’s it. With bonus helpless laughter from Sean.

*Gleeson horn built from a fill valve and a steel condiment cup.

color me impressed

2010-08-15T06:21:06Z

This morning, as the children were cavorting in the living room on their weekly sugar high brought on by the Saturday morning ritual of Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs (we only consume cold cereal on Saturdays), the telephone rang. Guess who it was?

It was the Social Security Administration. Calling me. On a Saturday. To tell me that they owed Bede money. And could I come in on Tuesday and fill out some minor paperwork so they could get it to him as soon as possible.

I got up off the floor where I had fallen in shock and replied, “Who is this really?” No, actually I said “Really?” or something eloquent to that effect. Yes, really, she said. I needed to document how we’ve spent Bede’s SSI back payments and then she would be delighted to release the remainder to me. She was incredibly apologetic that it had been overlooked and she was unsure as to why that was the case.

Calling me! Owes Bede money!

Did I mention it was Saturday?

Wow.

it's hot, have you noticed?

2010-08-14T02:33:20Z

Another hot one. I hung four loads of laundry. Halfway through I soaked my head in the pool. Here’s what I looked like when I came in.

LOVELY! It made me think of

Bede took my picture. I then spent quite a long time flat on my stomach on the nice cool livingroom floor like a basset hound. They don’t call ‘em the dog days for nothing.

Bede also wanted me to take his picture, so here it is.

He’s missing three teeth on top. Poor guy! All he wants for Labor Day is his two, er, three front teeth. And a cold front.

Homeschool: Theology, Math, Science and Lit

2010-08-13T05:28:31Z

Goodness what a time. We put up the easy-set pool finally, and have been in it every day since. Except for one day when the actual air temperature was 105 and the pool was 97.

It gets quite hot here.

I am, I hope, ready for school this year. Tentatively. I think.

Religion:

Once upon a Time Saints
More Once upon a Time Saints
Around the Year Once upon a Time Saints (Illustrated by Ben Hatke yay!)
A Life of Our Lord for Children (Illustrated by Ted Schluenderfritz yay!)
My Catholic Faith

Whew. That seems like a lot. But what all of these theology books have in common is utter charm. They are delightful books. I know many Catholic homeschoolers who use the Faith and Life series from Ignatius. I have the second grade catechism, Jesus Our Life, and I was unimpressed with the layout and writing. They are very much textbooks, which are a distant fourth choice on my list of educational materials. The above books are nothing like that. The saint stories are amazing, written like once-upon-a-time, just as the title says. Life of Our Lord is a biography of Jesus, which I hope will segue quite nicely into reading the Gospels after we finish it. My Catholic Faith is the best teaching catechism I have ever read - it was the book I read as a catechumen. It’s like an expanded Baltimore Catechism. (The Baltimore Catechism is written like an FAQ for Catholics, for those among my readers who are unfamilliar with the work.)

Mathematics:

Kickin’ it old school here. We’re going to use the Ray’s Arithmetic series. You can get them for free from Google Books or purchase a bound box set (Ray’s Arithmetic Series 8 Volume Set) if you’d rather. That’s first through eighth grade there, too. Hot diggity! Ray’s books are unlike modern math programs in that the focus is on mental math and story problems from the get-go. I’m quite excited about this one too.

Science:

The Everything Kids’ Science Experiments Book: Boil Ice, Float Water, Measure Gravity-Challenge the World Around You! (Everything Kids Series) - an experiment a week.
Nature Study every Friday afternoon

Literature:

The Random House Book of Poetry for Children - reading poetry several times a week, and illustrating poems the kids especially enjoy.
A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys - this is the hardcover, and worth it!

I think I’ve overposted again. Best be off to bed. I’ll stop being Johnny-One-Note on the schoolbooks soon, I think!

Our friends:
Ben Hatke and
Ted Schluenderfritz.

Homeschool: The Middle Ages

2010-08-01T18:41:23Z

These are the history books I plan to use this year. We’re covering (mostly) Britain, from the exit of the Romans to Henry VII.

Nonfiction:

Our Island Story: A History of Britain for Boys and Girls, from the Romans to Queen Victoria. This is our history spine. Faith is All About Anglophilia, so we’ll be spending the majority of our time on British history. This should segue nicely into American history.

The Medieval World. The illustrations in this one are really nice. Tends to two-page spreads on a given topic, like ‘Hunting and Hawking’ and ‘Knightly Orders’.

Archers, Alchemists, and 98 Other Medieval Jobs You Might Have Loved or Loathed. This has short sections on various medieval vocations, each around 200 words, with clever cartoony pictures.

Fiction:

The Dark Is Rising Sequence: Over Sea, Under Stone; The Dark is Rising; Greenwitch; The Grey King; Silver on the Tree. I’m so excited about these. They are my favorite books from childhood, especially The Dark is Rising. Arthurian extrapolation, modern day.

Time Cat (Puffin Modern Classics) You can’t go wrong with Lloyd Alexander. This one dances through history with a boy and his talking cat.

Tales of King Arthur (Usborne Classics Retold). Modern-language Arthurian legend. The best I’ve found, very chaste but not babyish or stilted.

Catherine, Called Birdy. A delightful book. First person, diary of a 14 year old girl of minor nobility in the 13th century.

Son of Charlemagne. One of our ventures to the Continent.

Beorn the Proud . Vikings! Grr!

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village. This one is unique - it’s a series of monologues intended to be read aloud or performed. Everyone in it is a child or teen in a medieval English village. It’s really good!

Usborne Time Traveler. The Viking and Medieval sections will be used this year. I read this in fifth grade under a different title and was so happy when I redicovered it.

Castle Diary: The Journal of Tobias Burgess, Page. Be sure you get the large-format hardcover for this one. The illustrations are such a huge part of the book and they don’t translate well to small and no color.

Castle. A classic. The illustrations are most often mentioned but the story behind them is great too.

I also have religion, math, and science. Another post!

A boy and his logo

2010-07-30T04:51:49Z

Bede loves the PBS logo. He draws endless comics of the PBS P-head on adventures with his fellow television and film logo pals, Viacom and Screen Gems. The DiC logo is usually the villain in the stories. I don’t know why. I myself find the Viacom V of Doom very creepy.

I have some of these to scan in. His volume is incredible. He produces about fifty drawings a day and it’s difficult for me to select the ones to show you. But that’s not why I’m blogging.

Last week, I ordered this for him from the PBS shop.

It came today.

I opened the box and peeked in. It was what I thought it was. I took it out of the packing materials. Bede was sitting next to me on the sofa, mildly interested in the boxes in my lap, but also watching Alice in Wonderland, backwards, in French.

“Hey, Bede. Look what I have!” I said.

He glanced my way, then did a double-take. His eyes widened and an enormous grin split his face. “Ho ho ho!” he chortled. He stood up and hopped in place.

“It’s for you. I got it for you, Bede.” I held it out towards him.

He moaned and ran across the room, hopped, then ran back. He was still smiling hugely. He whispered, so softly I could just hear him, “It’s PBS. On your shirt.”

“Do you want to put it on, Bede?” I asked.

“YEAH!”

So he did. I guided his head and arms to the correct spots and he looked down at his chest blissfully. He was near exploding from joy at this point. He ran to a window to see his reflection, then ran back to me.

“Do you like the shirt, Bede?” I asked, redundantly.

He flung himself into my lap and hugged me, smiling that incredible smile.

I’ll take that as a yes. I love you too, little boy.

oh no, they got a webcam

2010-07-28T21:59:54Z

still here, still plotting - er, PLANNING

2010-07-18T18:12:57Z

Still gently planning the homeschool year. In fact, I nodded to Luke Holtzmann on Twitter about it: I can see why buying a year’s worth of scheduled readings, with open-ended discussion questions included, all for great, REAL books that are a joy to read… is a heck of a lot easier than doing it all yourself, from scratch.

I didn’t go with Sonlight again for several reasons.

Sonlight is Christian but not Catholic. Sonlight’s religious materials are Evangelical Protestant in tone and mission, which can be fine - or intolerable. This year, I am focusing on teaching Roman Catholicism to our kids, and I need the materials to support that. In our last Core I used Sonlight’s books and stressed the commonalities that all Trinitarian Christians share. This year, I need more than that. I could have gotten a Core but not the Bible, but the EP overtones are present in many of the other subjects too, notably History, Literature and Science.
Sonlight doesn’t have a Middle Ages Core. The Middle Ages are covered in Sonlight’s World History Cores, but we wanted more detail. Winter Promise makes a full-year Middle Ages program but they also have the same trouble as reason 1 above.
Sonlight is 36 weeks, and we wanted 45. We’ll be doing four days a week for 45 weeks. Sonlight has a great four-day option that’s included with every Core but it’s still only 36 weeks.
Sonlight is slightly more expensive. Honestly, this isn’t much of a reason. I doubt I’ve saved much money. I’ve been able to buy a few things used, and I don’t have the expense of the Instructor’s Guide. Sonlight isn’t raking in the dough. Their Cores are expensive but you get real value for your money.

That’s about it. We will likely return to Sonlight in the future. Their High School Cores are very intriguing, and having everything just In A Box and DONE is worth a lot, let me tell you.

I’ll publish our schedule and booklist when I finish. I’m doing the first 15 weeks, so if we just hate it I won’t have wasted as much time.