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Showing posts from April, 2015

What Kind of Home Schooler Am I?

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I've never really known what to call myself.  I usually end up saying that I prefer a literature based approach to homeschooling with classical leanings.  I do not consider myself a classical home schooler though. For the last couple of days I have been contemplating the question "What kind of home schooler am I?" and I've been playing with this quiz that a crew friend posted to the crew forum. I love narration. I love Latin and Logic. I think children learn best when they are interested but I do think that sometimes they have to learn about things they are not interested in. I am the parent and I am responsible for their education. I think formal school before 7 isn't evil but I don't think it is necessary for many children. I think living books are fabulous and I think text books can be living books. I love using a literature based approach to history and science and geography. I think discussions are vitally important and a great way to interact with my

Random Five on Friday April 17th Edition

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It’s Friday again!!!  Here’s Five Random Thoughts for this week: 1.  Today is April 17th.  50 years ago today my dad and my mom got married.  They had only known each other for something like 6 weeks before they got married and they were married until my dad died. 2. This year Western Easter fell one week before Pascha so Easter was our Palm Sunday and then we entered into Holy Week.  I've written about Holy Week and Great Lent in the past so today I thought I would just share a few of my past posts: Bridegroom Matins My Favorite Week of the Year Feasting Unending Church Services 3.  The weather was supposed to be nasty last weekend. Surprisingly, it didn’t turn out to be as cold or as wet as weather.com predicated. It wasn’t exactly warm and sunny for our Agape Feast but at least the ground was dry and the kids didn’t get rained on when they did the Easter Treat Hunt.   4.  Pascha is the one Sunday a year that Orthodox Christians sleep in and eat breakfast before headin

Random Five on Friday ~ Holy Friday Edition

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1.  I have decided I like caviar.  It is a tradition in Russian style Orthodox churches to eat caviar on Lazarus Saturday.  I first tried caviar at a church function several years ago and so this was either the 2nd or 3rd time I have had it.  I'm fine so long as I don't think about what it is.  It's very salty and I think it's the saltiness that I like. It's very good spread on a slice of French bread. 2. While the Western Christian Churches celebrated Easter, the Eastern Orthodox Christian Churches (except those like in Finland who must follow the Gregorian Calendar), celebrated Palm Sunday. 3.  Holy Week is the most incredible, overwhelming, exhausting, exhilarating, fabulous and awesome week of the year. Each day has multiple church services.  I have never been to all of the services because there are something like 20.  Two services a day with some days offering three.  But I love this week! 4. We haven’t done any formal schooling this week, nor do we

Lazarus Saturday ~ The Dead Will Be Alive

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Today, for most Eastern Orthodox Churches,  is Lazarus Saturday.  On this day we remember and celebrate how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.  This is a beautiful foreshadowing of the glorious Resurrection that we'll celebrate next week.  Traditionally, children are often baptized on Lazarus Saturday. Honeybear’s godson was baptized on Lazarus Saturday so each year I think back and remember that day. This year though, I really listened. I mean as in over and over again and printed out the sheet music.   Rejoice, O Bethany. Lazarus was dead. Four days in the tomb dead. Jesus told Martha stop lamenting because her brother would live again.  Then Jesus goes to the tomb and cries out Lazarus arise! And he did. I don’t think I’ve really truly grasped the depth of that miracle, nor do I truly understand all of the implications for humanity. This is a beautiful hymn for Lazarus Saturday. It is so beautiful that I had to write a blog post about it! This part really got to me dur

Confession is Good for the Soul!

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If you’re a regular reader of my blog then you might already know or remember that I was raised Catholic. One of the huge issues for me as a Catholic was the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It was very formalized and very intimidating. There were certain prayers that you had to say to the priest and then the priest might give you penance like saying 10 Hail Mary’s or praying the rosary.  Granted, I don’t recall ever having been given a penance like that but I was terrified of confession. I dreaded it.  I avoided it.  I did not feel good after it was over. I didn’t feel cleansed or healed. I felt frustrated at going through the motions of something that I did not understand. I went to confession less than a handful of times before I gave up on being Catholic in my 20s. I spent nearly 20 years as a protestant. I read more books. I studied more theology. I read more scripture.  Usually with the disgruntled Catholic lens covering my eyes. I was convinced, at least for a short while that ritu