Another Great Books student begins...

It was the fourth time someone in our family has had Day One of Great Books I. We were just a little excited.

The dulcet tones of Mr. C's voice brought the crew out to listen.

"One reason we study the Great Books is so that our souls, occasionally, can soar." Wes Callihan

A happy student, prepared with sunglasses...to protect from the blinding light of inspiration, perhaps?

Soul soaring through The Iliad has begun. Life changing times ahead!

Great Books IV Humor

This week's Great Books IV book is Pride and Prejudice. Mr. Callihan sent this link along for a little chuckle:

Jane Austen meets Facebook: Austenbook.

Favorite status updates:


William Collins is paying his attentions to Jane Bennet.
William Collins is paying his attentions to Elizabeth Bennet.
Fitzwilliam Darcy is not afraid of Elizabeth Bennet. Well, maybe a little.
Lydia Bennet and Kitty Bennet joined the group 1,000,000 Strong Against the Officers Leaving Meryton! {join!}
Mrs. Bennet joined the group Widows of Men Killed in Duels.
Mrs. Bennet left the group Widows of Men Killed in Duels.

Can you imagine Dickens status updates?

Thanks for the morning laugh, Wes.

Summer is fleeting

and so we take the time to remember:

* thanks to Michael D. for the photos that I snagged from Facebook*

Someone went to Idaho for two weeks. The event was Hill Abbey, and she had the time of her life reading Augustine with a great group of friends. The rest of the family is happy she yanked herself away from the fun and came home to us.

We were blissfully reunited, via a flight to Portland, at the home of friends. It is one of my favorite places, filled with thoughtful and kind people, hard truths, good food, and beauty around every corner, inside and out.

(The family pic on the right requires a "click to enlarge" to appreciate. Photo credit goes to the very talented NP.)

A beautiful Idaho traveling girl turned nineteen and her mother managed to make a cake that did NOT look like a volcano replica. It was a win/win moment.

It was a gloriously beautiful day in San Francisco

A Schola classmate became a family friend/adopted daughter. The only problem? Alabama is WAY too far away. We miss you, Mandy.

Ice cream and friends is a combo that is hard to beat

Two of my favorite people hopped on a plane for Spokane to see a beloved nephew and a now-beloved niece get married. A first plane ride for the younger one on the left, a stay with friends, and a God-honoring ceremony made for a memorable weekend.

Since then it has been lesson planning, speech camp, junior college class adding, speech writing, and the making of many, many, MANY entrees in hopes that we can eat and do school this year. Never a dull moment around here, unless you are ten and consider the list above to be dullness personified.

The temperatures are rising again, giving the false impression that summer is lingering, but the work before me says, "Fall" without a doubt. That's okay; we're ready.

Another goodbye

Family bookends saying goodbye

The phone jangled us awake in the middle of the night, stopping our hearts and starting our minds spinning. The automated message, detailing flight changes for our daughter's morning departure to Idaho, reassured us that all was well in the world, even if the airlines did have the indecency to send their message at three in the morning.

The pounding of our hearts made sleep difficult, and the reality of middle-of-the-night phone call possibilities made our goodbyes today that much more tender.

As the college days approach this September, goodbyes will become part of the routine rather than the exception. The truth is I am excited for the days ahead, and I am thrilled with all the reasons we are having to say goodbye. But I also know that life is fragile and tragedy happens. I must remind myself that fear is a thief, stealing joy and excitement from ordinary and extraordinary days alike. I have no desire to give in to the thief; I know that God can be trusted. Truly. With all things. I will walk in that truth.

And so we say goodbye and say hello to all that pulls us apart. Time will fly, and we will hug in another airport, share our stories, and I will feel sweet arms wrapped around my neck once again.

I love you, dear girl.

Summer Academy 2009

Schola Summer Academy is designed to provide the students and tutor of Schola Classical Tutorials the opportunity to meet and get to know face to face the people they've met online during the academic year, while studying together informally some of the subjects we all love: history, literature, and the natural world.

For three days in June we had Schola Summer Academy right here in Sacramento, right in the backyard of our dear friends (this one and this one and this one.)

The students studied church history:



poetry:



and astronomy:

Cycles: An Introduction to Astronomy and Time by Jay Ryan:

A 32 page comic book for introducing the three astronomical cycles -- The Day, The Month, and The Year -- upon which our modern system of timekeeping is based. Restore an awareness of these cycles, lost by modern man's dependence on clocks and calendars. Engaging illustrations graphically reveal the motion of the Sun and stars, phases of the Moon, and the reasons for the seasons.

(You might have better luck ordering Cycles here, and there are plenty of other things to find there as well. Jay Ryan is a man worth knowing.)

Oh, and there was just a little bit of fun. Okay, a LOT of fun. It was a bunch of great kids and we all just had a ball.

The mothers made meals and told stories and listened to some poetry. The dads participated as they could, listening in on reading time, talking poolside, and at least one daddy-o was doing a little samba dancing late one night. Ask me how I know! We all got to know each other better, laughed really hard (remember to swallow before you start laughing, especially before Sara's infamous cat joke) and tasted a slice of heaven on earth.

Wes Callihan is a major hoot, his family is FULL of great people, and we think they are all the bee's knees. And so, I will use this moment for my semi-annual

Schola Classical Tutorials Advertisement!
Join the Schola Magic.
It's worth every penny.

FYI: a little hint: his Great Books courses fill up FAST. If you are trying to break in to the Schola inner circle, I recommend you try for one of the less popular courses. To do that, go here, click on "online tutorials" on the sidebar, then scroll down to the 2009-2010 weekly schedule. If a course does not have an asterisk, there is a chance there is still room. What are you waiting for?

Friends, music, poolside...it was an evening to remember

Timeless

The Early History of Rome by Livy

"I invite the reader's attention to the much more serious consideration of the kind of lives our ancestors lived, of who were the men, and what the means both in politics and war by which Rome's power was first acquired and subsequently expanded; I would then have him trace the process of our moral decline, to watch, first, the sinking of the foundations of morality as the old teaching was allowed to lapse, then the rapidly increasing disintegration, then the final collapse of the whole edifice, and the dark dawning of our modern day when we can neither endure our vices nor face the remedies needed to cure them. The study of history is the best medicine for a sick mind; for in history you have a record of the infinite variety of human experience plainly set out for all to see; and in that record you can find for yourself and your country both examples and warnings; fine things to take as models, base things, rotten through and through, to avoid." Livy, Book One, 1.0

Great Books II class on Tuesday included a beautiful rant by Wes Callihan on this section of Livy. Wes was preaching to the AMEN! choir at our house.

News from the road

I had two phone conversations yesterday with two very different children. They both called to say that they had safely arrived in Ponca City, but there was more to report.

The "too funny for words" son started his conversation with, "Sorry, Mom. I left my bag and my backpack on the floor of the airport and they got stolen."

(Important detail: this includes wallet, ID, money (cash), EVERYTHING.)

I would have told you that there was a long pause on my part, but my husband reports that my response was a little louder than that. Funny, I remember a dark and foreboding silence.

After said .... moment .... my son said, "Just kiddin', Mom."

Isn't he a funny boy? Yeah, maybe not, but he sure got a kick out of himself.

My daughter's story:

"Oh, Mama, I brought Hannah Coulter with me for the trip and I finished it. It is such a calm and peaceful book, sort of...well...transporting."

I start in on the joys of Hannah, the joys of being transported in the midst of this busy world, and she cut in...

"Well, yes....being transported is a great thing. That is, unless you are at the gate at the St. Louis airport and there is suddenly an announcement over the loud speaker,

"Will Miss _______ ____________ please board the aircraft immediately. The plane is scheduled to depart in two minutes."

"Mama, I looked up and the ENTIRE GATE was empty. I hadn't even heard the boarding call, I hadn't seen ANYONE GET UP. I was very, very, VERY transported. And I almost missed my flight."

What's a mother in California to do but laugh?