Monday, January 22, 2018

{This and That}



cloud shadows covering the fields

It's already late January -- how did that happen?!

My mental space right now is primarily occupied with CM West :: Conference in Old San Juan. Just 2.5 weeks left! I am really looking forward to it even though I have a to-do list a mile along to handle before then. (And a term to finish, and exams to write... ;))

This week my goal is to finish up a first draft of my talk so I can spend the last couple weeks pulling visuals, making handouts, and checking all the organizational tasks off on my list. I'm hoping to get some quiet time next Saturday to make that happen. I'd appreciate your prayers!

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Baby Update: Damien just started pulling up to stand and can now cruise along the furniture. I'm not sure why, but I seem to birth early movers!


The other side of that is he started sleeping through the night as well! So I'm back to a (flexible) Mother's Morning Basket. I have found it challenging to get up not because I'm overtired, but because when I set my alarm, I wake the baby too. And I don't wake naturally at 6am, which is what I'm aiming at. So I haven't quite worked that out yet, but I'm getting there!


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Last week was my turn to curate @charlottemasonirl, and I rounded up some lovely posts on the topic of exams and paired them with some of my favorite quotes from the archives. If you are looking for some inspiration to commit to Term 2 or end-of-year exams, or if you are wanting to deepen your understanding of how this assessment tool can help you as a mama-teacher, the posts are archived (in reverse order) here!

(Also, this week's topic is Schooling with Babies and Toddlers -- something near and dear to my heart. You can always follow along, whether you are on Instagram or not.)

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My third student is reading The Children of the New Forest this term (actually, she's listening on Audible and reading along in the text), and I'm remembering how much I love that book. I appreciate stories with great sibling relationships, and this novel has that plus examples of good decision making in difficult situations, the formation of virtue, adventure, and more.

In a search one day, I came across some fun illustration pages for the story, done in comic form in the 60s.  Click over to see more!








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Over the break I collected all the places beyond my personal pages where I have been invited to share online: guest posts, podcast interviews, webinars, and such. If you're new to the CM community or to this blog, you may not have seen some of these -- you can check them out at the Find Me Online! tab. These posts and interviews are on the topics dearest to my heart: schooling with little ones, nature journaling, poetry, more nitty-gritty Mason topics, and more.


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That's all for today! What are you up to during these winter days?

6 comments:

  1. All sounds lovely!
    I'm pregnant with #4, I'm 14 weeks and slowly (slowly) coming out of that hanging-on-for-my-life First Trimester stage of unquenchable exhaustion, 24/7 nausea and daily sickness. We've managed to keep up with AO readings and maths and writing, but all the riches have fallen by the wayside. maybe next week I'll feel up to starting them all again.
    You're lucky that your baby is sleeping through the night at 6months, none of my 3 have slept through the night till 2yrs.
    Best wishes with your talk!
    take care
    English Home Educator
    (Antonia in England)
    xxx

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    1. Antonia, congratulations!!! How absolutely wonderful. <3

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  2. Tell me about your Bible! I am always searching for the kind of Catholic translation that I can use for daily Scripture... I am not a huge fan of the Douay Rheims translation, though I've used it many times, and also not the NAB... is your somewhat in between, perhaps? My husband got the Knox Bible recently (translated by Anglican convert Fr. Ronald Knox. It's a beautiful version, but I can't really "share" it with him since we'd both need it for daily reading :)).

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    1. Hi Nicole! For reading with the kids, I use the Douay Rheims, partly because it has a long history in the Church (which I respect and appreciate) and partly because that's the translation used at the Mass we go too and what is printed in their missals, so it's familiar to us all. The Bible in this picture is one I picked up at a thrift store for a dollar and have had on my shelf, and I just pulled it a couple weeks ago for this Morning Basket. Before, I was using the one we use in our regular Morning Basket, but I really wanted all my reading in one place, so I have the extra copy now. So the jury is still out! Half of the OT is the Douay version, the other half as well as the Old Testament is a new translation by the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine in the 50s. There is more info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confraternity_Bible Hope that helps!

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  3. I enjoy your posts so much! Damien is adorable :)
    For getting up at the time you want, is it you getting out of bed, or the alarm itself that wakes him up? It's probably you getting up, but if it IS the alarm, I've had good success with using a Fitbit alarm that just vibrates quietly on my wrist. I have the type of Fitbit that is just a little tiny clip-on thing, not a watch, and it comes with a little fabric/mesh bracelet that you put the Fitbit in at night. It's very quiet. I have occasionally slept through it myself but I figure if I'm that tired I needed to keep sleeping anyway :)

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    1. Andrea, it's my alarm that wakes him up. So I actually have done what you said -- I have a Fitbit too and have been trying to have that wake me. I really thought it would work well but it turns out that I almost always sleep right through it. :/ It's weird because I am actually a light sleeper, but somehow the vibration doesn't wake me. Maybe you're right that I just need the sleep. ;)

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