FAIRY TALES

"In making a myth, in practicing 'mythopoeia,' and peopling the world with elves and dragons and goblins, a story-teller .. is actually fulfilling God's purpose, and reflecting a splintered fragment of the true light." J.R.R. Tolkien
We have finished listening to Prince Caspian on audio tape. I love this description of celebration after a battle.
Then Bacchus and Silenus and the Maenads began a dance, far wilder than the dance of the trees; not merely a dance for fun and beauty(though it was that too) but a magic dance of plenty, and when their hands touched and where their feet fell, the feast came into existence--- sides of roasted meat that filled the grove with delicious smell, and wheaten cakes and oaten cakes, honey and many coloured sugars and cream as thick as porridge and as smooth as still water, peaches, nectarines, pomengranates, pears, grapes, strawberries, raspberries, pyramids and cataracts of fruit. Then in great wooden cups and bowls and mazers, wreathed with ivy, came the wines…..Then Aslan feasted the Narnians till long after the sunset had died away, and the stars had come out; ….The best thing of all about this feast was that there was no breaking up or going away, but as the talk grew quieter and slower, one after another would begin to nod and finally drop off to sleep with feet towards the fire and good friends on either side, till at last there was silence around the circle…But all night Aslan and the moon gazed upon each other with joyful and unblinking eyes.
It is quite timely as I have been thinking a lot on fairy tales and fables and their importance in the development of a culture. Dh told us this story at the dinner table.
Once a dying man was told by a western doctor, after many invasive tests that he'd had a heart attack and was going to die. But the family were not reconciled to the news and so they called in a Chinese physician. When he came all he did was hold the patients hand for a long time. Then finally he told a beautiful story about the man's life both in the past, where he was now and what he could expect in the future. The same facts as the western doctor were "included" in the sense that everyone knew the man would die but the story helped the family to accept and prepare so much better.
Man is not ultimately a liar. He may pervert his thoughts into lies, but he comes from God, and it is from God that he draws his ultimate ideals ... Not merely the abstract thoughts of man but also his imaginative inventions must originate with God, and in consequence reflect something of eternal truth.
So many Christians are frightened of the word magic. How sad when the word itself came into being through the Word. And if you think of the Supernatural what could be more “magical” than the good God thinking then speaking the world and all its parts into being. Then too as a Catholic surely to a child(and we are all called to have faith such as these)isn’t it magical that a small wafer turns into Christ himself. I can only marvel and kneel in wonder at this Supernatural Power. Of course there is “bad” magic just as evil really does exist but here’s the thing surely its how , what and why something is used for that is important not the thing itself. It puts me in mind a bit of those who decry garden gnomes because they say they are of the occult. Oh for the innocence of a child.
Now the story of Christ is simply a true myth: a myth working on us the same way as the others, but with this tremendous difference that it Really happened: and one must be content to accept it in the same way, remembering that it is God's myth where the others are men's myths; i.e. the Pagan stories are God expressing Himself through the minds of the poets, using such images as He found there, while Christianity is God expressing Himself through what we call 'real things' ... namely, the actual incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection."(Tolkein)

CRAFTING IN AUGUST

We have been doing a lot of making lately. Dd made this dress for one of our “ancient” dolls. She designed it without a pattern and it was her first use of the sewing machine. I think she did a really good job.

Two other projects she made were quilts for dolls house beds. The squares are very tiny. It must have been a real test of patience!

And finally I decided to make a minature babushka pincushion for a friends birthday.

I also made her some chocolate fudge.

Here is our seasonal table in autumn/winter. Dd sewed the gnomes and ds6 + ds 10 found things to put on the table. The table is constantly changing as more treasures are found.

The Assumption of Mary

For the feast of the assumption. We put our art work on our sky bulletin board beneath a rainbow with this beautiful poem.

The Angels Prepare the Assumption
By Thomas H. Cosgrove

We'll hew a highway through the skies
And pave it white with sheen
For pure must be the pathway
Where walks a stainless Queen.
We'll fuse the fairest rainbows
In one symphonic hue
And gaily tint the fabric
Of our Lady's avenue.
If Heaven's brightest beauties
Should dare her pathway bar
We'll cleave the sun in splinters
And shatter every star.
We'll drain the fresh new dawning
Of all its dewdrop spray
And with it soothe the roughness
That mars the maiden's way.
Then all the angel choirs
With anthems swelling sweet
Shall lead the lovely Lady
Along her spangled street.
A destiny of glory
This roadway shall complete
When at its end the Mother
And the Son of God shall meet.

We had this delicious salad with our main course:

Assumpta Salad:
Salad
8 medium-size ripe tomatoes, sliced
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 cup pitted black olives, drained
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 cup cubed feta cheese (I omit)

Vinaigrette
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
5 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Whisk the vinaigrette ingredients together until thickened. Let stand for about 1 hour before using to steep the garlic.

For the salad, arrange tomato slices on 6 to 8 salad plates. Sprinkle the onion and olives among them. Sprinkle the herbs evenly, then add the cheese cubes in the middle of each dish.

Whisk vinaigrette just before serving and drizzle evenly over each plate. Serve immediately.

and we ate mixed berries with vanilla ice-cram for dessert.

Finally ds made these angels and Mary from beeswax. What he got out of this was so much more than the shaping and forming into recognizable models which he could have done more easily from sculpey if that was the only purpose of the activity. He found he really had to persevere with the beeswax even just to get it malleable but of course all the time he was doing this there was the beautiful soft smell of the wax to inhale.

She's been gone 1 week

Hard to believe its only been one week since Mel left for N.Z. Master 6 now says "I wish she didn't have to go." Two older siblings in two different countries.we all miss her but we are also pleased she was able to take this opportunity before study begins next semester.

First week in Kansas

Here are some photos from Duncan as he starts his pre-novitiate in the US.

Apr. 17, 2007 - EASTER 2007

Apr. 17, 2007 - EASTER 2007

Easter 2007.



Wonderful memories! The seventh anniversary of us “coming Home” as a family!

Master 9 served at all the Holy Week services; even to carrying a torch at the Easter Vigil. I am so proud of the way ds(17) has trained him in serving; albeit the training began only 2 weeks before Holy Week!



Master 9 put up ALL of our vine Lenten devotions” add-ons”.(On Holy Saturday the vine is decorated with flowers, caterpillars, butterflies and the like).




Master 5 rang in Easter Sunday by ringing the Alleluia bell.(master 9 not so happy about this as ds + dd in teens had stipulated after a late night with the Easter Vigil they did not one of the littles ringing the bell before 8am!...but said Master 5”I can’t tell the time yet”).




Grandma was with us for all of Holy Week and has just gone home today. What a treasure for the children to see their grandmother whenever she had a free moment “fingering her beads”.



Ds(17)presented me with a beautiful monogrammed egg he had decorated on my birthday.(even down to the crack he had sp painstakingly mended just hours before when it crashed from his desk to the floor it was perfect!



Dd(15) prepared and cooked beautiful treats for our family including magnificent “hot cross buns”. She decorated beautiful eggs including an egg tree.

Hosannah to the King!

ONE SMALL THING

During lent we put up a bare grapevine.


Each day as the children see someone doing some good deed they put up a leaf. The idea is to look outside themselves and focus on the good in others; the small things that people do that really do make a difference. The last two weeks of lent are for adding grapes (big sacrifices we make). Then on Holy Thursday we add all kinds of insects, butterflies and caterpillars are great favorites. Finally after the Easter Vigil the children come home to find the centre of the mural torn to reveal a picture of the Risen Christ with usually a family gift to us all to share(eg big block of chocolate) This is last years mural

Our Station Cross

During Lent we are trying to add to what we do. We want the children to focus on what they are doing rather than thinking about what is not happening. I like what my friend Anna’s mother says in her beautiful Italian accent” It’s not what goes into the mouth that we should worry about but what comes out of it!”


One thing that we can bring out of our mouth while we are laying them up in our hearts is prayer. Every evening since Ash Wednesday we have lit our purple tea-light cross. Each night we light one candle less.


There are forty candles in all. By Good Friday we are hoping this will be a very visual memory for us all of a world without the Christ light in it. When we have lit all the candles for that night we pray one station and one sorrowful mystery of the rosary. Then we snuff out all the candles and leave our prayer space quietly.

Early October in the garden

With the camera home (!) here are some updated photos of the garden. Early in the week we had a 33C day and it’s still not officially summer; makes me wonder what our garden will look like come December!

Firstly here is the bean-sunflower house with lots of bean seedlings and some sunflower ones! Next is the potager. Please comment on how well Hannah arranged the bricks. I think she did a great job!! Things are slowly growing here.

Then here are the tubs against the new rooms. Note the ones Toby painted in the middle. They are in full sun for most of the day.

I couldn’t resist posting the cinerarias before they reach the end of their flowering. I remember in New Zealand how these grew as perennials and practically as weeds too! Lastly a peek through dappled shade at the washing on our hottish day.

Oct. 5, 2006 - how plants photosynthesise and what kind of spider is that?!

I think you might appreciate this: We were at a park/playground after a violin concert. Lachlan (5) was on top of the spiderweb equipment "You betta watch out below there’s an enormous red-back down there!" "oooo" go all the other little kids"no wait a minute its not a red back its shelob" "whats a shelob" say all the other kids." (lol!!) My 9yo has asked me how non-green leaf plants like beetroot and some of our basil seedlings photosynthesize? Any ideas?

Oct. 2, 2006 - More on gardening

Oct. 2, 2006 - More on gardening


Clive and I went on a gardening expedition yesterday and we found borage!! I am so excited with all the herbs in our potager. We have chocolate mint, apple mint and mint julep growing in the shade.we have several kinds of basil(including a liquorice variety), oreganum and marjoram. Parsley, tarragon, tansy and lemon balm are dotted around. And I still have the lemon verbena to plant. The garden now boasts two rows of baby carrots, a number of bush tomatoes, silverbeet, lettuce and capcicum. French marigolds edge the sunniest end and there are blue salvia in the shade. I hope its not too overcrowded but to begin with this intensive planting should help to keep down the weeds.mind you I like weeds sometimes...we got several mysterious bracica seedlings in our sweetpeas a while back. I just left them to bloom and their delicate grey-green leaf and yellow flowers seem to blend in well with all else that is growing around them.

When Caleb gets back from Tasmania I will add photos of the garden. I asked him :"is it as cold as New Zealand"

"no"

"does it look a bit like New Zealand bush where you are"

"a bit... if you can imagine New Zealand bush but australian trees"

"is it green and beautiful"

"oh yes, definately!!" I've cautioned him to take lots and lots of photos!

Sep. 22, 2006 - A mini holiday

Sep. 22, 2006 - A mini holiday


The bags are packed, food carton full of “non-green” treats!, 6 sleeping bags sit waiting expectantly, it is 5 am on Tuesday morning and time to wake the two youngest, slip them in their car seats and we’re off. Have we got the pillow cases? Did someone remember the sun block, insect repellent!! As I gather up the last minute details I slip a special readaloud in my bag.

Last night before the boys went to sleep they listened to Glen Close reading Patricia Mac Lachlan’s “Sarah Plain and Tall.” The older five all remember when we read it together. They had kept gravitating last night to the “littles” bedroom on some important errand “don’t you remember this part” “she reads it very well don’t you think mum, very true to the book” (!). In my bag I put the sequel to last nights tape “Skylark”.

We always seem to take a family readaloud on holidays and they always seem to suit the particular holiday we are on. Last year when we went to Aldinga, a beach suburb not far from Adelaide, we took “Pinky Pye” by Eleanor Estes. The book is set during a holiday and sand and water predominate. We didn’t pick the book especially it’s just the way it worked out. And “Skylark” this time was no exception.

There is a nation wide drought affecting Australia and in the north of South Australia how could we help but identify with the prairie drought in our readaloud. As we stopped at different places we saw all the creek beds dry, people told us about their wells empty. One old woman commented on the city people who squandered water in showers until she told them to stop “for mercy’s sake”. And at night dad discreetly wiped his eye as we read of Caleb’s water glass on the fencepost.

And so we came home. Only a mini holiday this time not quite three days. But we are melded together now, united as a family once more. Dad had been away for nine weeks previous and we oh so needed this family retreat. The bags are unpacked. The third load of washing is going through the washer, piles of “essentials” have been packed away and a mountain of dirt has been bathed off two small boys!! We open our book. Just before the fourteenth chapter Lachlan says,” now would be a good place to stop, don’t you think mum” (he always chose when to stop reading on holiday and that same phrase was always used). But this time there is an urgency in his saying and we all know why. Stop now mum don’t lets finish just yet, lets stay on holiday one moment longer, we might see another snake, hold another sleepy lizard or treasure hunt for copper, please leave us where we are there’s magic in a holiday we aren’t quite ready to let go of and there’s magic in the knowing what we think will happen in the ending of this book though we don’t want to go there yet. We all pause for a moment and then Hannah reminds us of the wonderful home readaloud by Hilda van Stockum “Francie on the Run” that we have to read in “ordinary time”. We all let out a sigh and with relief and anticipation for the morrow our holiday story is finished.

Sep. 28, 2006 - Our garden patch

Sep. 28, 2006 - Our garden patch


We are starting our garden unit.

So far we have mostly done lots of reading.

The boys have become fascinated with bees. We enjoyed reading about them in “The Wonderland of Nature” by Nuri Mass. The boys sketched and labeled diagrams of bees in their nature diaries. Lachlan’s was purple and yellow. Toby painted a duck and a chicken on two tubs and these are against the wall of the new rooms full of mushroom compost. We have planted bush tomatoes in them. Did you know you can re-plant the root end of your spring onions? We have ours planted in these tubs in front of the tomato bushes. The boys have also designed and built with Clive a bean/sunflower house. We are hoping for great results in this. They are so looking forward to sleeping out in their house. Maybe some holy water might help the seeds they planted to sprout. Next to the sunflower house, where the trampoline used to be we have made a mini potager.

Hannah very carefully put in the bricks.(she thinks all these new gardens smack of “homely clutter”; a thing her 15yo sensibility can’t abide, but she is courageously entering in to the spirit of things!!).

We have so far planted in it cucumber (to grow up the veranda post!), more bush tomatoes, statice(next to the tomatoes to confuse the pests), dragon’s tongue bean(bush beans of a purple variety…we loved the name!), columbine(a new one for us, but they sounded as if they were meant for a potager, hollyhock(because they are great flowers to make fairy people with amongst other things!), and some lettuce. We are still thinking what to plant in the shady half. With our heat in summer I still think some things could grow there even if not as well as if they received their usual allotment of sun… we will experiment. We will add pictures as our garden develops. Normally our garden is dormant over summer because it gets so hot . We are all wanting this family effort to work out. Especially as Grandma will be here for Christmas! Finally our pigeon is laying a second lot of eggs. Great place to choose birds! Now we definitely won’t be finishing the verandah roof for a while. Ah well everything is growing and blooming in the Cromb garden at the moment, even Mary has to cope with a zealous shawl of nasturtiums. It’s true what they say isn’t it, to be close to nature is to be close to God.

I keep forgetting about this blog site. If you come across it and are looking for me try:

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Aliadelaide/

as I tend to keep that more current!

GEOGRAPHY

How do we study geography in our family?

We use a variety of things to help us study the World we live in. Maps are the first things that spring to mind. We have a smallish map of the world on a notice board in our schooling area. 

  Surrounding this are postcards that have been sent to us from all over the world. There are several home school postcard lists you can join that are helpful for this. One is:

    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/postcardkids/

 

Dotted amongst the postcards are pictures of the “Flats” that have come to visit us for a month or so. This idea for learning geography comes from the book “Flat Stanley” who was “flattened” one day and able to post himself around the world. We take these flats with us when we are out and about and also take photos of them with us doing things we do in our day at home. Then we post them home together with a CD of photos taken during their visit and bits and pieces of souvenirs. This  project has helped us to be good ambassadors/spokespeople for our own part of the world.  Then in return we send our own flats to different families and learn about such far away places  as Chile, Switzerland Ireland and more close to home in New Zealand!

 Another thing we do is have a very large world map 

     

under plastic on our dining table. The amount of times this gets used and for varied reasons is numerous! The older ones use it in their political debates; the middles have used it in history and the littles just to find out exactly where E……    lives in Canada!

We love to read geographical living books too! Here are smatterings we have “owned” as a family:

“The Day Jean Pierre went round the World” Paul Gallico (follow the adventures of this cute little guinea pig as he is handed from person to person before finally returning home)

“Letters from Felix” when I read this with L. he insisted on making his own suitcase from a file-folder and packing it with cardboard “souvenirs” of the places Felix visited.

 

“Water Buffalo Days” and “The Land I Lost” Huynh Quang Nhuong (Vietnam)(what my children appreciated here was the “fantastical adventures” that the author wrote about that were real life to him)

“Daughter of the Mountains” Louise Rankin (Tibet)

“Fu-Dog” Rumer Godden (China)

Tales for Telling Leila Berg(folk tales from 5 countries)

Su-Mei’s Golden Year Marguerite Hamon Bro (China)

The children of Noisy Village, Lotta, etc! Astrid Lindgren(Sweden; wonderful family stories too!)

Homesick: My Own Story Jean Fritz(moving story about a family having to leave china)

The Big Wave Pearl Buck(Japan)

Mei Fu Memories of China Edith Schaeffer (sweet experiences of the author’s early childhood)

The Spettercake Holiday Edith Unnerstad (Sweden)

Sailing to Freedom Voldemar Veedam (Estonian refugees traveling by boat from Sweden to the U.S post WWII; this was a can’t put it down readaloud for all our family, a book to be appreciated by all and one of our family memories)

“It’s A Jungle Out There” Ron Smell (South America)

Two Under the Indian Sun Jon and Rumer Godden (India)

The Journey of Ching Lai Eleanor Frances Lattimore

The Brendan Voyage Tim Severin (a leather boat tracks the discovery of America by Saint Brendan) Another book that became a favourite family readaloud; if we got to something that we felt was too technical/adult etc we as parents simply narrated that part in our own words. Sometimes necessary to do with books whose audience is primarily adult but as with all resources the book is only a tool in your hands; you choose how to use it. And what a pity to miss out on the whole book just because of a few passages we as parents might need to re-write!

How the Heather Looks Joan Bodger(a geographical literary tour of England by a family in 1958)Another wonderful read combining two of our favourite subjects; literature and geography!)

 

General Geography reference books we enjoy:

Rivers of the World Series Oxford University Press

Round the Wonderful World G.E Mitton (historical geography fascinating!)

Van Loon’s Geography

A Child’s History of geography  Hillayer

The Usborne Encyclopedia of World Geography

 

Montessori Geography cards: With the youngest three I have made cards to cover a variety of topics: Continents of the world, Oceans of the World, Physical land Features, Rivers, Caves etc. These are self correcting. On one will be the illustration, on the second the illustration plus title or a brief definition/description of the feature. I have also found when we study a country making picture cards of that culture/locality for the children to look at while we read our living geography book really helps to cement the place in their minds. Such cards are often shared on the following groups:

mm_share@yahoogroups.com                                       http://www.montessorimaterials.org/index.htm
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/montessorimakers/

 

We have used a variety of methods to display our knowledge. Sometimes we have

                          our information or made lapbooks.

 

Another idea we have used successfully with the younger children is to place a hand drawn map of the country on the wall and attach to it things we make pertaining to that study. So surrounding our map of China we put fans, opera masks, several paper stuffed dogs, other animals of China, p’copy colored in covers of books we read, the menu of our Chinese meal, kites etc!

How to put dad going away so much this year for work in a positive framework? Put a map of Australia on the wall, label all the places he has been, passed through, received job offers from etc. Surround it with postcards dad sends home, internet photos of others and voila you have Australian geography and dad feels so much closer to us.

 

We have just started reading for the second time, with the younger children, The Bantry Bay series by Hilda van Stockum. I am thinking of keeping our records of this fairly low-key. Perhaps a shared family notebook. The illustrations are beautiful enough they beg to be copied and coloured. We can add pictures of Bantry Bay, a map of Ireland, Irish recipes, some Irish folk songs, Irish saints etc and here is our geography for the term! Or however it takes to complete. I am wondering if there are any crafts that are especially Irish that the children could do while I read aloud (H is in a knitting mood at present). Perhaps we could look at Irish painters. A bit of nature study. Learn a little gaelic…!! Ah well maybe I’m getting a little carried away; now if only the wee folks were here to help get it organized!   

        

The Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

Everyone has been making shrines at our place! Here are two that Masters 4+9 made for the Sacred Heart. And here is our altar with their shrines on it and our family picture for the Sacred Heart. Feeling a little bleary eyed as got up at 6am to attend Mass with oldest son.(having not gone to bed before 12.30am talking to him the previous night). Then dh arrives home at 10.30pm tonight,yippe! It’s been over 5 weeks with him away, it will be so so nice to have him home for a week, before he’s off again for 6 weeks or more at Alice springs. Master4 said to him on the phone a few nights ago”I do miss you so dad!”
But how about this, he’s returning on the feast that celebrates the greatness of God’s heart! Perfect timing..God’s timing!

More notebook pages

these are some samples from ds4 + ds9's notebooks. I haven't posted them in any particular order and I am still learning how to upload pictures to a blog, so there is probably a way to make them look neater which I haven't figured out yet! I couldn't resist adding the mis-spelled tiwst, it just seemed to fit the way I think St Aloysius Gonza would have wanted it to! The page the boys enjoyed doing the most was the mosaic for the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ