Mother Culturing: Third Quarter 2022

What we need is a habit of taking our minds out of what one is tempted to call “the domestic rag-bag” of perplexities, and giving it a good airing in something which keeps it “growing”… Is there, then, not need for more “Mother Culture”?

“MOTHER CULTURE” PARENTS’ REVIEW – VOLUME 3

O SUNS and skies and clouds of June,
And flowers of June together,
Ye cannot rival for one hour
October’s bright blue weather;

When loud the bumblebee makes haste,
Belated, thriftless vagrant,
And goldenrod is dying fast,
And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

When gentians roll their fingers tight
To save them for the morning,
And chestnuts fall from satin burrs
Without a sound of warning;

When on the ground red apples lie
In piles like jewels shining,
And redder still on old stone walls
Are leaves of woodbine twining;

When all the lovely wayside things
Their white-winged seeds are sowing,
And in the fields still green and fair,
Late aftermaths are growing;

When springs run low, and on the brooks,
In idle golden freighting,
Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush
Of woods, for winter waiting;

When comrades seek sweet country haunts,
By twos and twos together,
And count like misers, hour by hour,
October’s bright blue weather.

O sun and skies and flowers of June,
Count all your boasts together,
Love loveth best of all the year
October’s bright blue weather.

~ October’s Bright Blue Weather by Helen Hunt Jackson ~

And so we enter my favorite season of the year! As always, this time of year, I am very much ready for slowing down, cooler temps, and changing the leaves.

Looking back on the summer, I feel like it was a blur as we dealt with some challenging things in our family that are being carried into the fall. In early July, before all the stress started, we rented an RV and made a trip to Lake Minatare for a few days. We did a lot of swimming and visited Scotts Bluff National Monument and Agate Fossil Beds National Monument to get C her Junior Ranger badges, which we all enjoyed (and very much made us want to get an RV!). It’s amazing to me how much the shoreline has changed since we last visited in 2018, and while it was still fun to get in the water, it wasn’t quite as nice as last time.

After the busyness of the early part of the year, I am thankful things slowed down a bit. In August, B turned 12, and we started our new school year, which has been going well. In September, I turned 42, and not much else happened other than that.

And now on to the books!

Books

For Me

The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal. I’ve had this on my TBR pile for a few years now, as generally, anything with “Minnesota” (the land of my childhood) in the title gets my attention. I very much enjoyed this one and plan to explore his other books.

A Philosophy of Education by Charlotte Mason. I finished this in July with my Idyll challenge group, and we had our last of two years of meetings in August. I have now read all of Charlotte Mason’s volumes and plan to read them again.

The Bookshop on the Shore by Jenny Colgan. I read Colgan’s first book in this series (The Bookshop on the Corner) a few years ago. I needed something lighter this summer, and generally, books about books (or bookshops) fit this bill, so I listened to the audiobook version while going on walks. It’s not amazing literature, but it was a nice little escape.

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez. I read 100 Years of Solitude a few years ago, and it was so bizarre and unlike anything I had ever read before. Parts of it have stuck with me, particularly Márquez’s almost poetic writing style. This one fit the bill for two reading challenges I’m doing this year (Back to the Classics and Reshelving Alexandria), so I decided to try it and managed to get through. I did not enjoy it as much as 100 Years of Solitude as the protagonists were enormously unlikeable. The male, in particular, did morally and ethically horrific things, which I know makes for an interesting read for some but was hard for me to enjoy, let alone stomach reading. Honestly, I know this is “great literature,” but I wouldn’t recommend it.

The Mindful Christian by Irene Kraegel. I have followed Irene Kraegel’s site for a few years ago when I started reading more about mindfulness and was excited when she announced she was publishing a book. There were many things I very much took to heart from this book, and I hope to begin including some of the practices she suggests in my daily routine.

The Great Troll War by Jasper Fforde. Fforde is one of my favorite authors, and I have been a huge fan since I read The Eyre Affair in 2001 when it was first published (and if you’re a bibliophile of any kind, I highly recommend the entire Thursday Next series!). In 2010, he began publishing this The Last Dragon Slayer YA series, which has also been a fun read. Sadly, this is the last book in the series (we had to wait seven years for it!), but I think he ended it well. It started a little slow for me but picked up quickly, and I love that he included himself in it. Also, I would like to have a quarkbeast someday.

The Forger’s Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century by Edward Dolnick. This was very well-written and such an interesting story. I plan to explore Dolnick’s other books.

For the Kids

The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare. I pre-read this for B, and as it was a favorite of mine in Junior High, I was happy to see it on the AO Year 6 free reads list. He has read it twice, so I think it was also a good read for him.

The Call of the Wild by Jack London. Another favorite from my childhood that is on the AO Year 6 free reads list that I pre-read for B. I don’t remember this being quite so violent, but a good story nonetheless.

The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen by Lloyd Alexander. Alexander was a favorite author when I was younger (I loved the Vesper Holly series), but I had never heard of this one on the AO Year 3 reading practice list. It’s an excellent story overall, but there is one entire chapter that is particularly violent, so I definitely don’t plan to share it with my Year 3 daughter just yet. I’m still debating whether to offer it to my Year 6 son. I know Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain series is highly recommended in Charlotte Mason circles as well, but I’m feeling cautious about that now too. If anyone else has thoughts on this, I’d love to hear them!

Men of Iron by Howard Pyle. Another pre-read from the Year 3 free reads list. As with all Pyle books, this was so good, but due to content, I only let my Year 6 son read it at this point and will save it for my Year 3 when she’s older.

The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. I picked this up last year when Barnes and Noble was having a sale, and it became a read-aloud before bed for C. I’ve only ever seen the movie, so this was not quite what I was expecting, but we both liked it.

A Toad for Tuesday by Russell E. Erickson. This was a quick pre-read for both kids and a great little story. Both of them enjoyed it.

Homer Price by Robert McCloskey. I pre-read this for both kids, and they both liked it. McCloskey’s illustrations are just beautiful, and this book is filled with them.

The Sword in the Tree by Clyde Robert Bulla. Another pre-read for both kids. We’ve enjoyed some of Bulla’s other books, and while this one wasn’t as good, the kids still liked it.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. I pre-read this for B as it’s on the AO Year 6 free reads list. I was a little intimidated by the subject matter for my son, but it was so well-written and done that I am very happy to hand it over to him. I’m surprised that I never read this as a kid as it was published when I was nine, and I know it’s been very popular ever since.

On the Blog

My Favorite Resources for Charlotte Mason Homeschooling: Art and Handicrafts I continued with series I started in the spring of all of my favorite Charlotte Mason homeschool resources.

Leonardo da Vinci Picture Study for Homeschoolers And I released a new Picture Study Aid in July!

My Favorite Resources for Charlotte Mason Homeschooling: Music This includes resources for hymns, folksongs, composer study, and online piano lessons.

Western Region NPS Junior Ranger Programs (AZ, CA, NV) This was the second post in a series I started a while ago with an interactive map for all of the National Park Service Junior Ranger programs throughout the United States.

Charlotte Mason Homeschool: Our Plans for Sixth Grade It was that time of year and I shared my plans for my son’s sixth grade year….

Charlotte Mason Homeschool: Our Plans for Third Grade (Take 2) … as well as my daughter’s third grade year.

My Experience Doing the Idyll Challenge I finished the 2-year Idyll Challenge of reading through Ms. Mason’s volumes in August. I’m very glad I did it.

My Favorite Supplies for Homeschooling One last post in the homeschool favorites series (at least for now): supplies!

How to Save Money While Homeschooling (& free printable book budget sheet!) Inflation is making buying things these days challenging. In this post I shared how I save money on homeschooling necessities.

Mary Cassatt Picture Study for Homeschoolers I also finally released a Picture Study Aid for one of the most searched-for artists on my website!

Letting Go of Reputation (Commonplacing from ‘Celebration of Discipline’) And I shared another favorite quote from Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline about allowing God to take care of our reputations.

In the Shop

I’m still busy in the shop and will have a few new things in the fourth quarter as well!

Enjoying

Back to Eden Gardening I feel like I’m late in the game to discover this as the original documentary was made ten years ago, but I’m just thankful I found it! Growing things in our yard has proved to be incredibly challenging since we moved into this house 6.5 years ago. This process of gardening, by using a LOT of mulch, makes so much sense, and I definitely want to give it a try.

Vitamix Our 8-year-old Ninja blender finally bit the dust a few months ago, so when Vitamix was having a 50% off sale in September on their blenders, I splurged and got one. I love it, and it will make some of my kitchen time much more manageable.

How to Choose the Right Size Mylar Bag I buy quite a bit of bulk food items from Azure Standard to save money, but I’ve never really been able to figure out how to store anything in mylar bags. If I store 25 lbs of oats in a 5-gallon mylar bag with oxygen absorbers, what happens when I finally have to open it only to dump part of it into a 1-gallon jar? I couldn’t wrap my brain around it, so I didn’t bother with mylar bags…until I watched this video. This idea is genius!

Journaling I used to keep incredibly long, detailed journals when I was a teenager but fell out of the habit when I went to college. I’ve tried to pick it up again over the years, but it’s never really stuck. Recently, I was fascinated by this series of excerpts from Alan Rickman’s private journal and inspired by how short they were. I decided to try it myself with just a paragraph a day and have been able to keep it up so far. I also love the drawings he included and hope to do something like that also.

Nourishing Meals The woman behind one of my favorite cookbooks now has a website with weekly releases of new recipes as well as meal plan ideas! I usually don’t pay for things like this, but I would say that our whole family has liked about 95% of the recipes we’ve tried from her books and website, so it’s worth it to me in this case. If you’re looking for whole food, nourishing recipes to try, I highly recommend her site.

Bird Sightings

We’ve seen many more large flocks of birds gathering together to head south for the winter even though we’re still experiencing temperatures in the high 80s. Two of these were massive flocks of grackles that landed in our yard, which means I can switch out our tray feeder from safflower to a sunflower seed blend since the grackles will decimate an entire tray of bird seed in half an hour if given the opportunity. We’ve been trying to be better about keeping the feeders filled with a good variety of food so that a wider variety of birds visit us more often. Lately, in addition to our regular house finches, we’ve also been getting a white-breasted nuthatch and northern flickers (one of my favorites). We also got a random Stellar’s jay with just one foot who stopped by a few times but haven’t seen him since. Hopefully, this winter offers more!

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