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Women’s History Month

Mar1

March is Women’s History Month, and I think it might be a good time to celebrate some of the women I admire or who influenced history in some way. Obligatory disclaimer: I am not a feminist. However, the women I admire run the gamut from women who kept their homes and reared their children wisely to those who were involved in politics or business and, of course, women authors. While I tend to think focusing on people of certain race or ethnic group (Black History Month, Hispanic History Month) reinforces the very stereotypes that such a celebration is supposed to combat, a month to focus on the half of the human race that is female seems like a good thing. We are all either female or related to at least one woman.

More Women’s History Month resources.

So we’ll be reading books, talking about women’s roles and women’s work, and giving my girls and boys a chance to think about what makes men and women different and what characteristics and responsibilities they share. Here are some questions for Women’s History Month:

1. What three women, still living, do you most admire and why?

2. What three women in history do you most admire and why?

3. Who are your three favorite women authors? Why do you like them?

4. WHo are your three favorite women poets?

5. What three women in the Bible do you admire or like or identify with and why?

6. What are three books about women (with a woman or women as the protagonist or main characters) that you enjoy?

7. Aside from the obvious physical differences, what are three ways that you think women and men are different or see the world differently?

8. For the guys, what are three things you don’t understand about women?
For the ladies, what three things would you like to explain to men about women in general? Explain carefully please.

9. Do you have any suggestions for short, picture book length, books that my children (ages 11, 8, 7 and 4) and I could read together for Women’s History Month?

Answer any or all of the questions, here or there, wherever you want. Be sure to leave me a note and a link if you write about any of these questions at your blog. I’ll be interested to see what you all have to say about the women in your life and on your mind.

March Madness

Feb28

March 1: St. David’s Day, the celebration of the patron saint of Wales. St. David’s Day activities for kids.

March 2: Texas independence Day. On March 2, 1836, Texas declared its independence from Mexico. They’re celebrating all week long out in Luckenbach. And in Austin.

March 2: Read Across America Day, celebrated on the birthday of Theodore Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss. What’s your favorite Dr. Seuss book?

March 3: National Anthem Day. The bill designating The Star Spangled Banner as our national anthem was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Hoover on this day in 1931. Read Peter Spier’s The Star Spangled Banner.

March 4: March is National Craft Month. You can check out the Craft and Hobby Association Teacher Place for lots of craft ideas for students. Maybe I can even find a craft idea for the craftily-challenged.

March 6: Alamo Day. Also in 1836, four days after the Texans declared their independence, the Alamo fell to the Mexican forces under the command of General Lopez de Santa Ana. William Travis, Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett and 186 other brave men died at the Alamo defending the freedom of Texas.

March 7: Monopoly was invented on this day in 1933. Start a game. We never finish, do you?

March 11: According to William Shakespeare, this date is the anniversary of the ill-fated wedding of Romeo and Juliet. How many days did they survive their wedding?

March 13: Commonwealth Day is celebrated throughout the British commonwealth as a time to appreciate the diversity of the countries and peoples of the commonwealth.

March 14: Purim begins at sundown. Celebrate the deliverance of the Jewish people from the evil designs of Haman the Persian. Read the book of Esther in the Bible.

March 15: The ides of March. Beware! Especially, beware of anyone lurking in the background who has a “lean and hungry look.”

March 16: Goddard Day celebrates the first liquid fuel-powered rocket flight by Robert Goddard on this date in 1926 at Auburn, Massachusetts.

March 17: St. Patrick’s Day, the celebration of the patron saint of Ireland. St. Patrick’s Day activities for kids.

March 18: National Quilting Day. Post a picture of your favorite quilt.

March 19: Today is the traditional day that the swallows return to the old Spanish mission of San Juan Capistrano in California.

March 20: National Agriculture Day. Here’s a suggested reading list from the Agriculture Council of America.

March 23: World Meteorological Day.

March 25: Pecan Day, the anniversary of the planting by George Washington of pecan trees at Mount Vernon. Semicolon’s Paean to the Pecan.

March 27: The first of the famous cherry trees that beautify Washington D.C. were planted on this date in 1912 by First Lady Helen Taft and the Japanese ambassador’s wife, Viscountess Chinda.

March 30: Doctor’s Day. On this date in 1842 Dr. Crawford Long became the first doctor to use ether as an anesthetic when he removed a tumor from a patient’s neck. Be thankful for anesthetics and for doctors.

Presidents’ Day

Feb20

Presidential Biographies “from the book The Presidents of the United States of America written by Frank Freidel and Hugh S. Sidey (contributing author), published by the White House Historical Association with the cooperation of the National Geographic Society.”

Recommended Books:

The Buck Stops Here by Alice Provensen

Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman

George Washington’s World by Genevieve Foster

If You Grew Up WIth Abraham Lincoln by Ann McGovern

Bully For You, Teddy Roosevelt by Jean Fritz

A Book of Americans by Rosemary Carr and Stephen Vincent Benet

Poems:

Leetla Giorgio Washeenton by Thomas Augustine Daly

George Washington by James Russell Lowell

O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman

Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight by Vachel Lindsay

Abraham Lincoln by Stephen Vincent Benet and Rosemary Carr

Abraham Lincoln’s favorite poem

Speeches:

The Gettysburg Address “. . . we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

George Washington’s Farewell Address “Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice?”

Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address “Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

A Slice of Life by Edgar A. Guest

Feb14

Let loose the sails of love and let them fill
With breezes sweet with tenderness today;
Scorn not the praises youthful lovers say;
Romance is old, but it is lovely still.
Not he who shows his love deserves the jeer,
But he who speaks not what she longs to hear.
There is no shame in love’s devoted speech;
Man need not blush his tenderness to show.
‘Tis shame to love and never let her know,
TO keep his heart forever out of reach.
Not he the fool who lets his love go on,
But he who spurns it when his love is won.

Men proudly vaunt their love of gold and fame,
High station and accomplishments of skill,
Yet of life’s greatest conquests they are still,
And deem it weakness, or an act of shame
To seem to place high value on the love
Which first of all they should be proudest of.
Let loose the sails of love and let them take
The tender breezes till the day be spent;
Only the fool chokes out life’s sentiment.
She is a prize too lovely to forsake,
Be not ashamed to send your valentine;
She has your love, but needs its outward sign.

February: Library Lovers’ Month

Feb4

Let’s do an impromtu librarian and library lovers’ carnival in honor of libraries. I’m no libertarian; I think public libraries are a wonderful application of government and a wonderful example of free public education. I further believe public libraries, where an education is set out free for the taking, could and probably should replace public schools, where children are coerced into learning what the government wants to teach. However, this is not a debate forum. Send me (in the comments or sherryDOTearlyATgmailDOTcom) your links to any post that you’ve written or seen in praise or support of libraries and librarians, and I’ll link them here. I’ll start the ball rolling with a few of my own discoveries:

My favorite librarian bloggers are Camille at Book Moot, a children’s librarian who substitutes in public school libraries, Norma at Collecting My Thoughts, a retired college librarian, and Carmon of Buried Treasure Books who believes in privately-funded, membership libraries. I read all kinds of book-loving, library-loving blogs. Oh, by the way, Norma has a nice blogroll of librarian blogs. And I used to be an elementary school librarian–in another life.

Palm Tree Pundit: In Praise of our Public Library

Mrs. Happy Housewife: Ode to Libraries

Carrie at Mommy Brain says, ‘We love our library!” And she posted a poem to elaborate on the theme.

Homeschool Plans for February

Feb1

February 1: It looks as if it’s going to be a musical month with birthdays for John Williams, George Frederic Handel, and Gioacchino Rossini and also a special day for George Gershwin, the anniversary of the debut of one of his most famous compositions. We’re also participating in the Journey North Mystery Class Investigation. (Thanks to Melissa of the Bonny Glen for the tip.) It’s Friendship Month, American Heart Month, Library Lovers’ Month, National Bird Feeding Month, National Cherry Month, and National Hot Breakfast Month.

February 2: Groundhog Day. Maybe we’ll wait until tomorrow (Friday is our movie night), but we’re going to watch Groundhog Day because Barbara likes it.

February 5: Lord’s Day and then Super Bowl. Seattle Seahawks vs. Pittsburgh Steelers, Kick-off is at 6:25 PM EST.

February 7: It’s always fun to see that Laura Ingalls Wilder and Charles Dickens, two of my favorite writers, share a birthday. I think we’ll read some Little House today and maybe we’ll try something with the little ones that I did long ago with the older urchins: make a churn out of a coffee can and make butter. I think I used Tinkertoys for the dasher, but we don’t have any of those, so I’ll have to come up with something else.

February 8: On this date in 1932, John Williams, American composer and conductor, was born in Flushing, New York. I still enjoy the music from Star Wars although I have grown weary of the saga. Play it and remember, if you can, the first time you saw a Star Wars movie.

February 10: February is Friendship Month. Send a friend a letter or a card or a valentine. Renew an old friendship or make an effort to start a new friendship.

February 11: Thomas Alva Edison’s Birthday. On February 19, 1878, he patented the phonograph. Draw an invention that you would like to build. Name ten machines or inventions that are no longer in common use. (Actually, Computer Guru Son prefers phonograph records. Who knew they’d become popular among the musical snobs?)

February 12: On this date in 1924, George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue premiered in New York City. Play it and draw a picture of the city that Gershwin put into music.

February 13: Betsy-Bee will be seven years old today.

February 14: Valentine’s Day. We’ll be giving out valentines to all our friends and neighbors with these verses printed on them: “Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God, and everyone who loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love.” I John 4:7-8

February 15: In 1874, Sir Ernest Shackleton, the Antarctic explorer, was born. Of course, he wasn’t a “sir” when he was born.

February 18: On this date in 1885, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published. Some people say Huck Finn is the Great American Novel. What novel do you think best epitomizes the American experience?

February 19: Did you know that February 19-25 is National Engineers Week? Celebrate your favorite engineer. You can find lots of good, cheap educational material on engineering here.

February 20: President’s Day. Since February is National Cherry Month, and George Washington may have cut down that cherry tree, and my Engineer Husband likes cherry pie and we’re still celebrating National Engineers Week, I declare today Cherry Pie Day. “Can you bake a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?” I’ll let you know how the pies come out.
Memorize the names of all the presidents of the US in order.

February 22: On this date in 1620, the Indians introduced popcorn to the Pilgrims in Massachusetts. That fact sounds like a good excuse to enjoy some popcorn, the homeschool snack.

February 23: Handel’s Birthday. Listen to some Handel today. The Messiah is great, but be adventurous and try something else.

February 26: in 1932, Johnny Cash was born. Can I go see Walk the Line? It’s on my movies-to-see list.

February 27: Birthday of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Evangeline? Hiawatha? I love this book illustrated by Susan Jeffers.
Also born on this date was Gioacchino Rossini who said, “Give me a laundry-list and I’ll set it to music.” What a challenge! Can you and your children set some words to music today? Perhaps something more significant than a laundry-list—a Bible verse or a poem?

February 28: Shrove Tuesday, also called Pancake Tuesday or Mardi Gras (Greasy Tuesday). On the day before Ash Wednesday, you were supposed to use up all the butter and cream in the larder before the Lenten fast. Tomorrow, March 1, is Ash Wednesday. Read about Shrove Tuesday in England.

To This Great Stage of Fools: Born January 15th

Jan15

Martin Luther King: I Have a Dream



Martin Luther King: I Have a Dream
Buy this Art Print at AllPosters.com

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor’s lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.” And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

Homeschool Plans for January

Jan1

I like to do calendar-based stuff in my blog and in our homeschool. So I thought I’d post a sample of the stuff we plan to do in January in addition to the regular math, science, history, reading , etc. I may post more about these and other anniversaries on the actual date. Of course, you should know by now if you’ve been reading my blog for long or if you know me personally that my plans are always more ambitious than what actually gets done. Aim high, I always say, but you had better put something underneath to break the fall.

January 1–In 1863,President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. We’ll read The Great Proclamation by Henry Steele Commager. This fits in with where we are in history–stuck in the civil war.

January 2–January is National Hot Tea Month. Have a cuppa, and visit the Teablog (Portsmouth Tea).

January 3–Tolkien’s Birthday. I don’t know how we’ll celebrate. Last year we did a marathon movie weekend in which we watched the extended editions of all three LOTR movies. I don’t know if I’m up for that this year or not.

January 4–“It feels cold, but at 10 a.m. Jan. 4, the Earth stands at perihelion – its nearest approach to the sun this year at a “mere” 91,405,953 miles away.” Stargazer’s Calendar for 2006

January 5–Twelfth Night, the night before Epiphany. I wonder if there’s a good film version of Shakespeare’s play by the same name.

January 6 or 8–Epiphany, the twelfth day of Christmas celebrating the visit of the Wise Men to the baby Jesus. The Catholic church celebrates Epiphany on the Sunday closest to January 6th which is the traditional date. We could at least read about the wise men, maybe some kind of activity to celebrate the date.

January 6–Carl Sandburg’s Birthday. I’d like for us to read more poetry this year. Maybe some Sandburg on this date.

January 8–Elvis Presley’s Birthday No, I’m not one of those odd Elvis worshippers, but as a part of my children’s education in pop culture, it might be fun to purchase an Elvis song from iTunes and give it a listen.

January 9–Clean-Off-Your-Desk Day

January 11–International Thank You Day. We could afford to write some thank you notes. How about you?

January 13–Stephen Foster Memorial Day, observed annually on the anniversary of Foster’s death, January 13, 1864. This event also fits in with our Civil War preoccupation at the moment. Maybe we’ll read about Foster and learn a Foster song.

January 16–Dr. Martin Luther King’s Birthday (actually the 15th) Read or listen to MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

January 18–Peter Mark Roget’s Birthday. Let’s play with synonyms.

January 19–Edgar Allan Poe’s Birthday. A good day for reading my favorite poem, Annabel Lee

January 20–Did you know that some people celebrate the day between Robert E. Lee’s birthday (January 19, 1807) and Stonewall Jackson’s birthday (January 21, 1824)? Anyone up for a Lee-Jackson birthday party? One of the strange, but true facts that I found in the book I just finished, Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horowitz.

January 22–Blair Lent, author and illustrator of one of my favorite picture books, Tikki Tikki Tembo was born on this date in 1930. We will, of course, read the book.

January 23–National Handwriting Day (John Hancock’s Birthday) I think we’ll write some letters to our favorite people.

January 24–Gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill on this date in 1848. Have a treasure hunt to remember.

January 25–National Compliment Day. This day is set aside to compliment at least five people. No flattery, but sincere compliments are always welcome.

January 27–Mozart’s Birthday. Listen to our Magic Flute tape.

January also celebrates the birthdates of Jakob Grimm (b. January 4, 1785) and Charles Perrault (b. January 12, 1628). How about a fairy tale a day in January? I don’t know about yours, but my children don’t get enough fairy tales. I assign them historical fiction, and I read them classic children’s books. But we don’t always find time for the celebration of imaginative fairy tales. They’re just not educational enough. Except that they really are. It’s time to educate the imagination in January.

Physical Impossibility

Dec24

I was thinking this afternoon about nursing, as in breastfeeding, as in feeding a baby. And I had the startling (to me) thought that Mary actually put Baby Jesus, not a doll, to her breast and fed him, fed him milk. Then I remembered that before she did that, she delivered him in the normal, messy, bloody way in a stable without a doctor or an epidural or even a nurse holding her hand and reminding her to push. She wrapped the God-baby in clothes and laid him in a feedbox and sat down or lay down in the hay on the floor beside him to rest. Joseph probably cleaned up, swept, maybe tried to find some water to wash things up a little.

It’s all a little too . . . physical, isn’t it? The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The “Word” part gives me a little distance, a little spirituality, but the rest of the verse gets all fleshy again. Dwelt among us implies He lived a typically human life, ate and drank, bled when he cut himself, relieved himself, itched, scratched, slept, maybe snored. What an impossible thing to believe in. I actually believe that the God of the Universe, the God who created the Universe, who rules it, confined himself first to a human womb, then to a human body, then to death and a tomb. At least I believe it when I don’t think about it too much. When I do ponder the physicality of it all, it seems impossible.

I saw the Narnia movie this afternoon, and I noticed that twice the characters used the word “impossible.” As the children enter Narnia together, Susan experiences the coldness of the snow and the branches scratching her and breathes, “Impossible!” It’s so real, so physical, so undeniable, but “impossible.” Then later the White Witch looks up to see the True King of Narnia confronting her, the king she thought she had murdered, and she exclaims, “Impossible!’ He is so real, so physical, so undeniable, yet impossible.

Impossible that He should entrust Himself to the womb of a young country girl from the hick-town of Nazareth.
Impossible that He should travel through the birth canal and place himself in a body, helpless to walk or communicate or even care for his own physical needs.
Impossible that He should suck at his mother’s breast to sustain the life of that very needy body.
Impossible that He should grow in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
Impossible that He should laugh and cry and feel love and joy and anger and despair.
Impossible that He should share food and conversation and hugs and kisses with a group of human friends, one of whom turned out to be an enemy.
Impossible that He should die.
Even more impossible that He should die and then live–forever.

So real, so physical, so undeniable, so impossible. Only the God of the Impossible could inhabit such a story and make it a physical reality, and only by doing so could He intersect my very physical life and make me believe, know in my bones, the Reality of His love and joy and forgiveness and healing.

I pray for you this Christmas that the Impossible becomes Truth in your physical life where you are sitting and reading these words now.

May you have an Impossible Christmas.

To This Great Stage of Fools: Born December 16th

Dec16

Take 4 pounds of full ripe apples, and peel and core them. Meanwhile put into a pan 2 pints of sweet cider, and boil until it reduces by half. Put the apples, chopped small, to the cider. Cook slowly stirring frequently, until the fruit is tender, as you can crush beneath the back of a spoon. Then work the apple through a sieve, and return to the pan adding 1lb beaten (granulated) sugar and spices as following, 1 teaspoon clove well ground, 2 teaspoons cinnamon well ground, 1 saltspoon allspice well ground. Cook over low fire for about hour, stirring until mixture thickens and turns a rich brown. Pour the butter into into small clean jars, and cover with clarified butter when cold. Seal and keep for three months before using. By this time the butter will have turned almost black, and have a most delicious flavour.

Jane Austen’s Christmas by Maria Hubert, published by Sutton Publishing 1996.

Jane Austen herself was born on December 16, 1775. I’m celebrating with a re-reading of Pride and Prejudice. What’s your favorite Austen novel?