JOURNALISM

I came out to the computer and found this comment on journalism. It made me laugh so I am sharing it in case it can bring laughter to someone else.

Knoll's Law of Media Accuracy: Everything you read in the newspapers is absolutely true except for that rare story of which you happen to have firsthand knowledge.

As Abraham Lincoln once said, Journalism is the first rough draft of history. Or possibly it was Thomas Edison who said that. I'm pretty sure somebody said it, because you often hear journalists quote it in an effort to explain how come they get everything wrong.


Keep them coming family!

Middle East studies

In our study of the Middle East we read this book and discovered something that might be a useful idea to adopt in hot summers here!



The tall towers on their rooftops have openings to catch outside breezes. This air flows down to the basement, where a pool or stream cools it. The cool air then circulates all through the house!

Our Lenten countdown

What does a fuzzy picture of chenille stick caterpillars on leaves have to do with Lent?

When their part of a "count-down" to Easter calender of course!
Thanks go to a Lenten sharing post on a blog.

I really admire people who spend time making permanent liturgical calenders out of felt and other materials but I have come to terms with the fact that I can't justify the time or the expenditure in our family at present! Plus the boys had a lot of fun making this calender and the memory of us working together is more the kind of thing I want to emphasize in their lives just now.


And a thank you to the person who posted on their blog about using votive candles for the stations. I made these with black and white pictures because they seemed more Lenten somehow!

Too funny not to quote!

"I have listened. I will immediately after the election move to repeal the law retrospectively."

makes sense? of course it does!

My friends and other animals!

A friend who shall rename anonymous(hi Tracey!), has a rather incredible habit of picking up/saving young marsupials. Both Jumpy Darling and Pos were discovered at around the same developmental stage and both are male. Aren't they both adorable!























photo title:"one big one small"...yep that about says it all!

Marine Biology

This term we have decided to do a brief study of Marine Biology. Here are some pages from ds(8)'s notebook. D(12) has enjoyed reading relevant pages from the above book and his younger brother has enjoyed using this and this.To date we have not added a practical element to this. Though this site has many great ideas we plan to incorporate now that the weather is being more kind to us!

These Forty Days

I found this amusing video on a very informative post on lent

Wishing you all a very happy Lent!

Ashes

O Lord, who hast mercy upon all,
take away from me my sins,
and mercifully kindle in me
the fire of thy Holy Spirit.
Take away from me the heart of stone,
and give me a heart of flesh,
a heart to love and adore Thee,
a heart to delight in Thee,
to follow and enjoy Thee, for Christ's sake, Amen
St. Ambrose of Milan (AD 339-397)

Shrove Tuesday

Mix a pancake,
Stir a pancake,
Pop it in the pan.
Fry the pancake,
Toss the pancake,
Catch it if you can.

~Christina Rossetti~

An early birthday celebration

Our knitter needed an early birthday celebration before she headed off across the Tasman to continue her studies.

Welcome Mathilda Beryl !

were knitted by oldest dd
with lots of love for
this gorgeous poppet
who it was my privilege to hold for several hours on Friday

The beauty of the gums

I love this time of year for the beauty of the gums in flower. I'm hoping that a "born-and-bred aussie" can enlighten me at to the types of gum that flowers in February and whether these particular trees will grow too tall to have in a suburban garden.

Art study in summer

Our artist study for the beginning of the term is Vincent van Gogh.(credit to this wonderful blog for sharing her ideas) We examined his scenery in detail focusing on texture.

And then the boys set to work!










resulting in work we are well satisfied with!

A wordless post

"Good morning to you, Good morning to you!"

Here are some more pictures of our baby silky bantams. As you can see they are developing mow-hawks and reaching that gangly adolescent stage.
The brown one is far more adventuresome when they are let out of their pen.





Once we find another home for our bantam roosters(...any takers?!)we will slowly intergrate these with the rest of our flock.

Origami

We have started each day this first week with some group work. The boys have really enjoyed making origami models from this calender i purchased mid-January.








I rarely buy calenders before then, the discounts are so worth waiting for.I purchased several with a 70% reduction including a beautiful one showing scenes from Israel for our geography study of the Middle East.
Other things we work on in our group time(aka "circle" time: query can I still use that term with a soon to be 13yo/teenager(mid-year)) are the readaloud for whatever main subject we are doing that day, be it history,geography,Australian studies or literature; Greek and Latin roots,poetry and art study.

Candlemass

The boys got up early to go to mass this morning. It was special having three wonderful sons with me there. The younger boys wondered if there would be candles blessed(there was) and if they could bring one home(they did).My eyes started to fill as that beautiful part of the gospel was read

Lord, now you let your servant go in peace;

Your word has been fulfilled.

My eyes have seen the salvation

You have prepared in the sight of every people,

A light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people, Israel.

Peace, the word fulfilled, our salvation...all complete in this man-child, emmanuel. The mother , the foster-father and one bone-weary witness. Eternity captured in fragility, forever bonded.

We came home and after breakfast the boys made these oragami turtle doves.