With Glorious Splendor

                                                            Lo, how a rose e'er blooming
                                                            From tender stem hath sprung!

Of Jesse's lineage coming

As men of old have sung.

It came, a flower bright, 

Amid the cold of winter

When half-gone was the night.

                                                                   Isaiah 'twas foretold it,

The Rose I have in mind:

With Mary we behold it, 

The virgin mother kind.

To show God's love aright

She bore to men a Savior

When half-gone was the night. 

This Flower, who fragrance tender

With sweetness fills the air,

Dispels with glorious splendor

The darkness everywhere.

True man, yet very God,

From sin and death He saves us

And lightens every load. 

*           *          *

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

A Little December Road Trip

Somehow, in spite of the fact that we aren't overwhelmed by activities, this month is flying by!

A mid-month road trip has interrupted my extensive baking plans.

This is our fourth December with a cancer scan.

The first was my husband's very first PET scan, in December 2017, which showed that the "small" cancer he had on his tongue had not spread anywhere else. 

(Yet.)

The second was his post-treatment PET scan in December 2018, which showed that two surgeries, radiation, and chemo had eradicated the Stage Four cancer that had erupted in his body.

The third was a CT scan last December, which showed that his lungs and liver continue to be healthy and cancer-free (he gets CTs every 6 months).

For the rest of my life, Advent and Christmas will be inextricably linked to cancer. It was the season when he was first diagnosed. It was the blessed season when we learned he was in remission.  Advent to Advent, a liturgical year bookended by cancer.

One day I may write an essay about that.  But for now, I'll just say:

thanks be to God 

for giving me my Christmas wish each year.  I have faith that I will receive it again this year.

(More to come on Plutarch, etiquette, books, and paint colors!)

A Path to Plutarch, Part One: Why and When?

Last week I mentioned that I'm going to create a little series of posts about teaching Plutarch for anyone out there who wants to incorporate this into their homeschool but feels intimidated or lost on how and when to start.  I'm sure there are lots of good resources online about this; I'm just sharing my own thoughts and experiences, and a few bits from Charlotte Mason.

To be frank, I am not sure I would have taught Plutarch at all if it had not been for the fact that my small Charlotte Mason homeschool co-op needed a Plutarch teacher.  There are many things our children can learn; Plutarch wasn't really top on my own list.  But he has moved up in my estimation!

Plutarch lived in the first century and wrote biographies of famous Romans and Greeks. He was born into a prominent, wealthy Greek family, and eventually became a Roman citizen.  His Parallel Lives contain paired biographies of one Greek with one Roman.

First of all: why bother? It's a valid question.

Plutarch, in some ways, is a means to an end.  In the Charlotte Mason model of education, the scope of education encompasses knowledge of God, knowledge of the universe, and knowledge of man; Plutarch is used to facilitate a student's understanding of the "knowledge of man."  We can study human behavior via history, literature, and even the Bible.  Why do people choose what they choose?  How do we assess whether their choices are good or bad?  Are all choices always all good or all bad? 

I'd like to linger on this for a few minutes, because I think recognition of this nuance is often absent in our culture.

I see, more and more, in our current society, a hyper-focus on people as though they are all good or all bad.  We want to categorize other human beings.  We don't always want to acknowledge that a good person can have a flawed belief system, or a deeply-flawed person can do good in the world. 

Interestingly, a reading of the Bible can quickly lead us out of these murky waters.  The Bible is a place where we do find nuance.  We see that humans are inconsistent, flawed, imperfect, and yet can also be deeply loved by God, redeemed, and create good and beautiful things in the world. It's important for me to pass this along to my children.   

So what does Plutarch have to do with this?

Reading Plutarch's biographies is a study in human motivation, character, and behavior.  Charlotte Mason used his works to teach "citizenship".  There are plenty of ways to teach citizenship; Plutarch isn't the only way!  I can envision many options: certain films, various biographies. But Plutarch was what Charlotte Mason used, and I find that his works are an interesting choice.  In addition to providing a biographical sketch of a notable ancient Greek or Roman, Plutarch's works allow us to easily incorporate some geography and ancient history into our days.  I like this!  It's also worth noting that Shakespeare leaned heavily on Plutarch's Lives when he wrote several of his plays, including "Julius Caesar" and "Coriolanus."

So, if we decide to try Plutarch, when should his works be introduced?

In general, it seems Charlotte Mason introduced Plutarch during "Form 2", or roughly around fifth grade. Mason used the North translation, which is written in Elizabethan English.  As a result, I recall Nancy Kelly saying at some point that it's helpful for a student to have at least a year of Shakespeare under his or her belt before beginning the North translation of Plutarch, and I agree that this is a good idea.

As for the age (here's where my own experience comes into the post)....fifth grade was too early for my son, who had been steeped in language, including Shakespeare, for a lot of his childhood.  Sixth grade was also too early, although we struggled through because he was in co-op and that's what we were using!  In seventh grade, I had a few young-ish students, so I taught Plutarch using another version, and that worked much better; we are using the same thing for eighth grade.  Next year--when he's in ninth grade--I will transition him to the North version once again, and I think it'll be a more pleasant experience.  (He probably would have been fine with the North translation this year, but I felt no urgency, and I'm happy with the choices I've made.) I will be interested to see how Annie's Plutarch education goes--she's in fourth grade now!

I think we shouldn't underestimate our children's abilities, and that some children will be ready to read the North translation in late elementary or early middle school.  But I'm also a big believer in using maternal wisdom to discern what is best for our own unique children.  A living book must be living for that child!  So "when" to start Plutarch is going to involve a certain amount of discernment. Don't force it...you may risk frustrating yourself and your child, and souring them on Plutarch.

Next week I'll write a little bit about Beginnings, because one must start somewhere!

On Time

This fall I've enjoyed reading Charlotte Mason's Fourth Volume, Ourselves, in preparation for reading it with Finn within the next year.  It's such a great instruction manual on living a good life! I wish I'd read it in the 1990s.   

I've particularly enjoyed the chapter entitled "Integrity: Justice in Action."  I'll share some quotes from this occasionally over the next few months, but I'll start with some wisdom on time. 

{a gorgeous cloud over my aunt and uncle's house}

"It is a bad thing to think that time is our own to do what we like with.  We are all employed; we all have duties, and a certain share of our time must be given to those duties.  It is astonishing how much time there is in a day, and how many things we can get in if we have a mind.  it is also astonishing how a day, a week, or a year may slip through our fingers, and nothing done. We say we have done no harm, that we have not meant to do wrong.  We have simply let ourselves drift......

"[People] dawdle through the working day, hoping that some one will make them do the thing they ought.  Now, this is a delusion.....[t]his power of making oneself work is a fine thing.  Every effort makes the next easier, and, once we mount upon that easy nag, Habit, why, it is a real satisfaction to do the day's work in the day, and be free to enjoy the day's leisure."

Isn't this true?  And I love the "easy nag" of Habit. Truly, I believe our habits either make or break us. 

"Some people dearly like to be going on with a little job of their own in the time which should have a fixed employment.....Integrity forbids this....[e]very piece of work has its due time.  The time which is due to an occupation belongs to that, and must not be used for any other purpose."

I agree with this, for the most part.  I do think we have to take time seriously; otherwise, days and weeks are wasted.  At the same time (sorry; can't resist), we also need to be wise in deciding how our time should be spent.  If you've got a tendency to over-productivity and over-work, you can fall into the habit of simply working all the time.  But sometimes life demands we must use time for a purpose other than the one we'd originally assigned to it.

Illness and medical emergencies are obviously one example of this. But other examples are:

talking to a child late into the night (when really, you should be sleeping so you can get up and exercise in the morning)

extending a breakfast theological discussion a bit longer, because people have questions and need to talk (when you should use that time to begin "formal schoolwork" or chores)

paying attention to a child or spouse's emotional state and spending time with them (even if the time had been allotted for some other purpose)

I suspect Charlotte Mason would agree with me.  After all, the work of the family is tending to each other's needs; that's my primary "occupation" right now and that's where the bulk of my duties are focused. So although some days we can stick strictly to a routine, there are days when the "do the next right thing" approach is the most valuable use of our time. 

{farm life! lots of lessons in doing the next right thing on a farm....}

There have been seasons in my own life when I have outwardly accomplished very little, but the spiritual and emotional work was enormous.  When my husband was super sick after radiation treatments, I was as "unproductive" as I've probably ever been, but I was tending to my husband and children's physical and emotional needs.  We all grew during that hard time.  Not much felt like it was "done," but what was done, was what was meant to be done.  So, if you're in one of those times, don't forget 2 Corinthians 4:18 (part of the passage my children and I are memorizing right now), which reminds us to fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, because what is unseen is eternal. You can't really check "tend to my family's emotional and spiritual needs" off the list every day; how in the world can we quantify that?  But it's of the utmost importance.  

 I appreciate this reminder to use our time wisely, to use the time allotted to a specific task for that task, while also keeping at the forefront of our minds the reality that our highest duties often require setting aside that task and allowing a more eternal, important task to take its place. 

Onward and upward, with small faithful steps, every single day.......

A Simple and Peaceful Advent

 The coronavirus has disrupted much of life this year, and as I sat and surveyed my December calendar recently, I realized that for the first time in a long time, we are going to have a quiet Advent.

To me, Advent should be a quiet season. It's a season of anticipation.  Of longing. Of waiting.  A season of preparation, yes, but also of simple, unrushed pleasures.  

All too often in my own life, Advent is basically the pre-game to Christmas.  That's not because I'm the type of person who does that; it's because our culture is so full.  Piano recital. Violin recital. Last year Annie was in "The Nutcracker"--a huge commitment, especially because she was double cast!  Christmas parties here and there. Performances to attend.  The church Christmas play (which my husband writes and directs every year).  And the list goes on.....

This year there's none of that.  And instead, I am finding that quiet space that I long for every year.

Each morning, I'm reading from this Advent book, as well as my other devotionals and the Bible.

At supper, we'll do a brief Advent candle lighting and Scripture reading, using a booklet published by my best friend's church.  After we eat, I'm reading aloud A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. 

Each night during Advent, our family will gather in front of the tree for readings: a Christmas picture book (I love my collection of Christmas picture books!), our simple Advent book that we read every year, and this Advent devotional.  

Once the children are in bed, I'll be reading a cozy book of fiction set at Christmas. 

On Fridays, we'll bake our Christmas treats (and freeze them!). 

On Sundays, we'll attend church. 

And other than wrapping some gifts, that's pretty much it.

The forced slowness already feels like a strange gift to me, a silver lining in the cloud.  I know that my Advents in the coming years of the next decade of life will likely not always be this peaceful.  My children do play instruments.  Annie is quite devoted to ballet.  We love seeing friends and family during the season. I adore the symphony, the ballet, and the choral concerts. Lord willing, those things will be back next year.  But I'm genuinely appreciating this pause, this quiet Advent that already feels so restorative for me, so sweet and holy.  

And instead of feeling like I should "fill up" the time with things (activities! crafts! a Jesse tree! a checklist!), I'm perfectly content to scaffold our days with good books and conversations about Christ, and bake our favorite Christmas cookies and cakes and candies, and sit by the lit tree enjoying my little family.  

"Sing for joy, you heavens, for the Lord has done this;

should aloud, you earth beneath.

Burst into song, you mountains,

you forests and all your trees,

for the Lord has redeemed Jacob, 

he displays his glory in Israel."

-from Isaiah 44