A Month of Grace

Grace is savage and must be savage in order to be perfect.
Charles A. Stoddard

Make Your Own Composition Book

These are the materials you'll need: large cover stock, legal paper, a stiff piece cardboard cut to the exact size of the book for trimming, a needle, heavy-duty craft thread, a thumbtack to punch holes, a template and pencil (or pen) to make a nice design on the front, and a pair of scissors.


Print 12 sheets of lined paper, both sides, on the legal paper. I created a Word document for this task.


Lay out the printed sheets of legal-sized paper.


Fold them in half.


Fold a sheet of large cover stock paper for the cover.


Put the paper inside the cover.


If your cover is way bigger than the paper, it can be trimmed (but not too close; just a rough cut!) so the clips go on.


Clip the cover to the pages so they'll stay still during sewing. I could use more clips for this, but all I have are two.


Punch holes about every inch. It's hard to get a needle through 12 sheets of paper and a cover. This step makes it easier for sewing.

Blogger wouldn't let me upload any more photos, so I'll put the rest on its own post, here.

And you can see ours in use here.

Make Your Own Composition Notebook Part II

Sew the binding, pushing the needle through the holes punched with the thumbtack.


Tie off the thread and clip the ends.


Fit the stiff cardboard against the binding. This will be a template for trimming the pages. I labelled my cardboard so I wouldn't think it was trash and throw it away.


Clip the cardboard into place.


Trim around the cardboard so all the pages and cover are even.


Repeat on the other side, clipping the cardboard and trimming the pages.


I like to add something on the cover for my kids to write their name and date. I use a pencil in case they have a design idea of their own and don't want to use mine.


The notebook is done!


I put it under something heavy to press the binding closed.



I'm not really a very crafty/design/artsy person, but I like making practical things with paper. My specialty is making envelopes. I can make them any size, and they look like they came out of a factory.

Boy, do my hands look old!!

Election Day

I took Miss M to the polls, and left the boys home to get started on school. Miss M kept asking me, "Is there water there? Are we going to get in?" I think she thought "vote" meant "boat." And, on my way out the door, one of the boys said, "Bye! Go change the world!"

Update on our Interactive Notebooks

We started them this morning. I intended for the boys to mostly write brief outlines of most of their books, but they insist that the process won't be any good unless they write it all. They don't want to forget anything. So school took a LOT longer. Actually, it didn't get finished today.

I suggested to J, who hasn't ever done much writing, that he dictate and let me write some of it (about half) for him. He said no, he wants to do it himself. "I really want to improve my spelling, and this will help me."

"But you'll be spending an hour more on school every day! It's not easy for you to keep up now; it'll be impossible if you're going to spend so much time writing."

"That's okay, I'd rather end up having a couple of my school books carried over to read over the summer, and get better at spelling."

I guess Charlotte Mason was right, kids really do want to know. I remember using every excuse I could to avoid schoolwork when I was younger.

A Month of Grace

Grace is given to heal the spiritually sick, not to decorate spiritual heroes.
Martin Luther

Not a Baby Anymore

Miss M is officially not a baby anymore - she turned three last week. On the day we had set aside to celebrate, she woke up sick and I feared we'd have to postpone her special day. But, by late afternoon, she was much better. Daddy had the day off and wouldn't have time off for another week, so we went ahead with our plans. Because she'd been sick, I didn't make her cake, but we rushed out and bought one.

Lately, she's been obsessed with my vaccuum cleaner, so she got her own for her birthday. She loves it! She also got to pick a special birthday video to watch. She picked Dumbo. The interesting thing was, the boys seemed to enjoy it this time. It's been a long time since we saw it, and now they're old enough to get the humor in it that they missed when they were little. So it was fun for the whole family.

Interactive Notebooking

This weekend, I saw some compostion notebooks from a student of Charlotte Mason's schools. The student had used the notebook for written narrations and compositions, I think. What was interesting is that the teacher had written in her own comments in the margins. In some cases, the student had left notes or questions for the teacher, and the teacher's responses were written in underneath. It made a nice interactive dialog between the teacher and student.

I'm going to try the same thing with my students (although two are new at writing!) These composition notebooks were 80 years old and a different size than the ones I've always seen - smaller, with less pages. Loving small books as I do, I had to have some like those. I've looked online, and none are to be had. So I made some. Legal-sized paper (cream-colored, for easier readability, 12 sheets printed front and back) and large card stock was all I needed. I printed lines on the paper on the computer/printer, larger than college ruled, but smaller than wide ruled. I sewed the pages into a card-stock cover, and viola! Our own 42-page lined notebook in a compact size. I would have preferred a colored cover, but large card stock only came in white. And this way, the kids can draw on them and personalize them. I priced these at 53 cents each, not counting the time I spent printing, folding, sewing and trimming. It's work I enjoy - although I'm nowhere as proficient as Javamom, who binds her own hardcover books.

The boys are going to start using their books tomorrow.

A Month of Grace

I'm a little late getting started, but I still have most of the month of November to post thoughts on grace as we head into Thanksgiving. Camille, who started this on her own blog, has been posting profound thoughts about grace. I'm just going to post short quotes and, on Sundays, a poem.

A Living and a Dead Faith

The Lord receives his highest praise
From humble minds and hearts sincere;
While all the loud professor says
Offends the righteous Judge's ear.

To walk as children of the day,
To mark the precepts' holy light,
To wage the warfare, watch, and pray,
Show who are pleasing in His sight.

Not words alone it cost the Lord,
To purchase pardon for His own;
Nor will a soul by grace restored
Return the Saviour words alone.

With golden bells, the priestly vest,
And rich pomegranates border'd round,
The need of holiness expressed,
And called for fruit as well as sound.

Easy indeed it were to reach
A mansion in the courts above,
If swelling words and fluent speech
Might serve instead of faith and love.

But none shall gain the blissful place,
Or God's unclouded glory see,
Who talks of free and sovereign grace,
Unless that grace has made him free!

by William Cowper

A Medieval Feast

Covrse þe fyrst: Soup and Salat
Cock-a-leekie Soup
Salat of Cos Lettuce with a lytel mynt added þer-to

Covrse þe second: Entree
Pastys of Pork
Pastys of Beef
Rost of Lomb
Rost of Pork
Steak and Kidney Pie
Shepherd's Pie
Haggis with Neeps and Tatties

Covrse þe thyrd: Dessert
Manchester Tart
Pokerounce
Oatcakes

Covrse þe forthe: After-Dinner
Tyrkysh Delight
Hot Chocolate

(our table)

This was our second All Hallows' Eve feast, and perhaps our sixth Narnian/Medieval feast. We've gotten more adventurous with the fare over time. The feast went off very well, though half-way through we began to think it might not have been the worse for being smaller. We were all in costume (though I'm afraid we didn't get any good pictures).

The Turkish delight and oatcakes were made early the morning before the feast. The cock-a-leekie soup was started in the crockpot in the morning and allowed to cook all through the day. Then while the moms went shopping, we children--the royalty at the feast, of course--made the pork pastys. They came back with the beef pastys, steak and kidney pie, shepherd's pie, and--though we told them not to--the haggis, from a local Celtic store.

If you're wondering how we ate all that food, the answer is--we didn't. But we did manage to try nearly everything through the second course. The pork pastys were well-liked. The beef pastys were good, and so were the roast lamb and pork. The shepherd's pie was declared excellent. The haggis, tasted with some apprehension, was pronounced to be not half bad, and the steak and kidney pie was pronounced edible (mostly).

Some of the more unusual dishes that we had, with descriptions and some pictures:

Cock-a-leekie Soup
Chicken, leeks, prunes, and rice in a chicken broth, with cloves and pepper to season.

Salat of Cos Lettuce with a lytel mynt added þer-to
Romaine lettuce and fresh mint with a vinegar-and-oil dressing.

Pastys of Pork


Meat pies filled with pork, turnips, and onions, seasoned with parsley and garlic.

Pastys of Beef
Meat pies filled with beef, carrots, potatos, onions, and various seasonings.

Shepherd's Pie
A pie of mashed potatoes, beef, and--vegetables, I think.

Haggis with Neeps and Tatties

(shown here with a piece of our bread)

Canned haggis served with rutabagas and potatos. The haggis was a heavily spiced meat dish, rather like sausage. The ingredients listed on the can are: Highland Beef, Hydrated Pin Oats, Water, Refined Beef Suet, Liver, Spices, and Onions. Traditionally haggis would be served inside a sheep's intestine, like a sausage, but that's illegal in the US.

Manchester Tart


A tart with a layer of jam on the bottom, then a layer of breadcrumbs, and a layer of meringue on top. I'm pleased with the way my first meringue turned out, but the breadcrumbs were very dry.

Pokerounce


Toasted bread drizzled with spiced honey and topped with pine-nuts.