This Afternoon

We started weeding a patch of what the boys call "Monkey Grass." It's grown to a bigger and bigger patch over the years, so I want to get rid of it and reclaim our yard. Kahoa got stung by a bumblebee; I think there's a nest of them in all that grass. We found some holes, and there were LOTS of bumblebees hanging around!

During all of this, Miss Moana tried to be social with the kitty. She walked up to him saying, "What a lovely thing." I have no idea where she picked up that expression. Then she got upset because she kept asking him for a hug and he wouldn't give her one. (?) She came to me complaining, "Kitty won't give me a hug!"

Mr. B and Tim are working on a desk. We have two PC's, one is mostly mine and one is the family PC (but Tim is the only one who really uses it!) Then my brother gave Tim an old Mac to practice graphics on. So we have three computers and one corner to squeeze them into. Mr. B and Tim designed a computer desk that three computers will fit on, and two people can sit at. And it fits in the corner in such a way that that the patio door will still open. They've been working on it for awhile (six months?) but it's finally close to completion!

A Bit of Flummery for Serendipity

(The Queen at the Beehive posted a challenge--that is, she hurled the gauntlet at the feet of all bloggers in their aquaintance--and challenged them to post within 24 hours. It's actually been closer to 57. But here I am, anyway, and perhaps this at least merits not getting squid jello.)

A while ago I discovered two things about two names. Both things surprised me because they were so obvious--like Columbus's method of standing an egg on its end, I suppose: they were obvious afterwards.

First was Floyd. The name is simply an Anglicised form of Lloyd (that Welsh double-l sounds like "thl" or "fl": our pronunciation "loyd" is another Anglicisation). This knowledge came to me in a moment of serendipity--the sort that sneaks up on you in the shower and makes you want to hit your head and exclaim, "Well, duh!"--that sort. It was ridiculous how long I had known about that double-l in Welsh without connecting Floyd and Lloyd. ("Fluellen," from "Llewellyn," is another instance of fl-for-ll. So is "flummery.")

Then came Durward (as in Quentin Durward; I haven't read it but the name is hard to forget). The meaning came upon me quite suddenly, like staring at collection of lines and blotches and realising that they form a face. It's "dur-ward," that is, "door-guard." (Like Edward and wardrobe and lots more.)

It makes me wonder: how many other things am I missing that sit right under my nose?

Psalm 83

Beth at the Brew*Crew posted about the finding of an ancient scroll opened to Psalm 83 and its significance in light of current events. She also linked to this flash presentation of Psa 83. It's a nice prayer for the protection of Israel.

School Records

I just filled out our school records/grades. We just "officially" finished our school a little over a week ago (it seems we took a lot of extra weeks off during the year, so our school year dragged into the end of July - so, while everybody else is talking about what a great summer they had and gearing up for the new year, we're just starting our abbreviated summer vacation!)

I enjoy planning for school, and I feel like we're doing okay, covering lots of material, and I know my kids are learning . . . but when it comes time to fill out the grade reports, my confidence wavers and I begin to envy people doing a 'standard textbook' curriculum that gives quizzes and tests to base grades on and 'prove' that such-and-such was learned. What exactly are my kids supposed to know about geography, anyway? I know we've never memorized the 50 state capitals. My kids are reading about interesting people and places, but we have no flour-and-water relief maps or unit book reports to show. How do I know what kind of a grade my kids should get??

Anyway, grades are done, for better or worse, and it's another half year before I have to think about it again.

Wake Up!

This morning, as usual, Miss Moana was the first one up. I told her to go and wake up her brothers, as usual. Generally, she goes to their door (it has a baby-gate to keep her out) and she calls, "BRUDDERS! Wake up!" This morning I told her to "go wake up your brothers." And she said, "You mean T. Kekoa and J. Keola and L. Kahoa? I love them. They're mine. They're my brudders." Then she went to wake them up. :)

CM on the Brain?

This week I was making a green smoothie in the blender - I wanted it to be blended really well, so I let it run for a couple of minutes. And as I was letting it run, I was watching the mixture going around and around through the side of the container . . . I could see little dark specks kind of collecting together on the side in a few places, it must have been apple peel, and I started thinking of like attracting like, coagulating together like . . . apperception masses?

I think maybe I've been reading too much of Charlotte Mason's criticism of Herbart and his "apperception mass" theory.

New Dancing Dress

Miss Moana has loved the skirt I made her out of her old baby sling, but she wears it every day and I'm getting tired of looking at it and it clashes with some of her clothes. So, last night, instead of doing what I was supposed to be doing, I made her a new skirt. I bought some silky material at Walmart in a pink that will match almost everything she owns. I used a similar method (not really a pattern) that my mother showed me for making a pa'u hula skirt so that it would be really, really full for the best twirling effect. I was pleased that, when it's on, it looks like a ballet skirt. Perfect to go with "Donkey Honkey!" Here are some pictures of the skirt in action. She makes her own music when she dances, so she's singing "daaah-dah-dah!" in most of these pictures.

When Christendom Produces Cultists, Mockers and Atheists

Dana at Principled Discovery [I've spent a lot of time there this afternoon! ;)] has been blogging about an article called "The Descent Into Unbelief." It examines why Christian Victorians failed to pass on their faith to the next generations. Charlotte Mason must have seen some of this coming because she advocated exposing children to ideas -- instead of sheltering them from things like evolution, Biblical criticism and immorality, she thought they should be taught to think through difficult issues. Dana's posts confirm CM's advice.

Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV

Are Homeschoolers Guilty of Abandoning Ship?

I followed a link from Principled Discovery's blog to this post at Street Prophets titled "Homeschools offer no guarantees." It was interesting, and the debate in the comments is even more interesting. This, from one of the very last comments posted by a "Jeff G," struck me, it reminds me so much of CM's warning about utilitarian education:

"...big business--big corporations--are having a horrible impact on education. I fear we may be turning our schools into career grist mills, and to me that smacks of social engineering. Career prep is important, but education is about much much more than what you wanna be when you grow up. As Thomas Jefferson pointed out, education is critical to the functioning of a democratic republic. The ability to think critically is of enormous import. An electorate that cannot deconstruct the media, analyze and detect bias in news and information, think and analyze logically, and communicate clearly and effectively will not be able to sustain a democratic system."

The debate is interesting because, while I've thought about homeschoolers being guilty of abandoning the mission field by refusing to be "salt and light" in public schools, I'd never really considered that homeschooling is, in a sense, a self-centered action that leaves everyone else's kids to their fates in the system. Not that it makes me reconsider homeschooling - I don't think that having my children in the system would help the system or any of the other victims of it. I just hadn't heard of that argument before, or heard of people leaving their own children there, even when they're not doing well, for that reason.

Pool Pix

Miss Moana with her Daddy in her little pool. This isn't the only picture; I posted a few more on her picture page.