I hold on because I have to

God knows I can't really do this teaching stuff. I don't have enough knowledge to lead my children to great heights of learning, to the depths of wisdom. In talking with my friend, Sandy, this evening I likened the feeling to the desperation of being at sea without a boat. I can't touch bottom, I can't even see the sides. But because I have seen God's work in my life I can trust him to hold me up even as I see him pulling me deeper out. My reaction is to grab for the scrap of wood or broken raft floating by so that I don't sink. But I will sink eventually with those choices. I desperately do not want to be out of the water on a broken raft when God wants me in the water trusting him. I need to watch him, keep my eyes on him, hang on to his rope. It will never break.

Two people today have told me this is good to hear. One was Sandy. One was me. Sometimes I just need to put my thoughts and feelings into words. Thanks Sandy for helping me do that.

It works

The 7th Annual Charlotte Mason Educational Conference was of course wonderful. It always is a time to be inspired (and often overwhelmed) by such a large group of people who do their best to put into practice the wisdom of Charlotte Mason in their homes and schools.

This year the sessions started out with a day of "immersion" in a school setting. I chose the multi-age homeschool session with Nancy and was thrilled with it. One of the best parts was the realization that we already do very much what Nancy showed us.

Now that's encouraging!

After all these years of reading, studying, trying to let go of my learned ways of education to fit in with what I sensed to be a whole view of education I have confirmation that this way works. And this "confirmation" is not in truth unexpected. I have been thrilled during these years lately to see my children blossom and thrive. They exhibit few of the "I hate school" symptoms that some of my friends describe. They are interested in life and in the simple thrills of the world around them. They relate well to those in their spheres of influence. They are thinking, relational, growing creatures and--this is the best part--they love to share it with Pieman and me. They take us along for the ride. They open our eyes to wonder and together we laugh in delight.

Watercolour painting by my mother-in-law of a photograph taken by Pieman of English seaside beach huts. She too is learning a new joy in her life. It never needs to stop.

Charlotte Mason was a real person

I'm looking forward to a wonderful education conference in just a few weeks on Charlotte Mason and her way of seeing life. I love how the atmosphere of the conference makes it a vibrant learning time for anyone involved in education, whether homeschoolers, teachers, or parents. The more I read in Charlotte's 'pink books'* of her thoughts and ways, the more I see that she lived in real life and understood how things work and yet was able to also see the ideal way to bring out the best in life. There may be a 100-year gap from her time to mine but the truths are timeless.

As the Childlight USA conference planners at Gardner Webb University gear up for the 7th annual Charlotte Mason Education Conference in North Carolina the blog has been rich with thoughts on Charlotte Mason and the way she has impacted the authors' educational philosophies and their lives. I just thought you might be interested in reading some of the blog entries.

*Pink covers on the reprinted 6-volume set of Charlotte Mason's writings. The original look so much nicer but they are of course more difficult to find. I've only seen one copy on someone else's bookshelf (I tried not to drool on it.) Most people read the pink ones or the free online version and I believe there may be some newer-covered versions and there's even a Kindle version.

Food, Family and Flowers

Well, if you want to see the posts I just posted....they're over here. I managed to be on our other blog instead of the regular one. And the other blog is sadly neglected so I guess it's not a bad thing to have posted over there. They (2 posts) even have photos.

What I didn't write over there is that I've managed to dodge rain drops and get half of the tomatoes planted out in the back garden. Of the 57 plants I grew from seed, I've given a dozen or so away, killed two and have plans to give a few more. The front garden is host to a beautiful crop of healthy dandelions and a few onions that got missed last year. If it stays dry for more than a day Pieman might even be able to get it tilled so that I can plant out the giant pumpkins the kids are growing. Wait. So the kids can plant out the giant pumpkins they are growing. I have a few flowers to scatter about too and more vegetables...squash, peppers, cauliflower, onions, carrots, and more lettuce and peas on a staggered schedule. My neighbour just assured me that this is a more typical weather year for around here than last year's beautifully gorgeously warm and sunny spring and summer. I'm not happy about that. But let me tell you...only 3 weeks until we reach North Carolina and please, let it be hot!

update

Preserved lemons are yummy.

I've added them to rice dishes, to stew, to salads. I've mixed them in with the reheated combination-of-leftovers-concoction-to-clear-out-the-fridge. They helped immensely.

I have transferred them from their pretty mason jars to a plastic container in the fridge since I think the lemon juice acid might rust the jar

lid. And since they keep months or more in the fridge I'm sure to get through them before they go bad. Seriously, there is a lot of lemon juice in that jar. I am so glad I tried these.

In other news...we have snow. I grew up in New Brunswick and the final blast of winter always came in the form of a "St. Patrick's Day snowstorm." Well, this year, we've had Saints Patrick, Brendan, George, Fred, Mary...(ok, I'm making up the names now but do you hear my frustration?) Enough said on that.

All this crazy weather sure makes us wish we were back in Costa Rica....

I don't know what kind of flower this is but it's startling.

Some food shots

Happy Birthday CTM! This was his choice of cake and it disappeared fast.

The hot dog won for looks...

...and the black car came in 2nd for speed.

preserved lemons

Don't they look pretty?

I'll have to wait a month or more until they're ready. I've never used preserved lemons but have heard rave reviews. Since I had all the ingredients except the lemons and those happened to be on sale this week...well, it had to happen today.

birthdays that mark time

Seriously! She's fourteen? I know it's cliché to wonder where that time has gone but it has zipped by so fast. I tried to heed those warnings from older moms. I tried to stop and enjoy them as babies, toddlers, little ones. I wanted to savour it all. But there were diapers to change, bellies to fill, tears to wipe and all the rest too. I have enjoyed these "golden years" as my three kidlets have been independent from me and yet not too much yet. They no longer need their noses wiping but sometimes still the tears. And now she's fourteen. I'm not ready to take the gold out of the days. Rather I'll buff it up nice and shiny. I watch her grow, see those thoughts starting to sound so adult-like. I see her learning to navigate the world with integrity. And I'm proud of her. So proud.