Read Aloud Moments

I snapped this photo of Avril all wrapped up in a quilt listening to our family read aloud, since she looked so adorable and cozy.  We're on the last book in The Wingfeather Saga. We read a chapter or two several evenings a week first thing right after dinner.  Sometimes our parrot, Arcus, will join us and he'll choose someone to favor and allow them to pet him.  Tonight he perched on Norah's shoulder and shirt collar as she read and tried to imitate her voice by making a rumbling noise. When she's reading, he makes a noise just like an a.m. radio station that hasn't come in clear yet. When she pauses, he stops. He's a huge distraction, and we all laugh, just reinforcing his behavior.  

Sabbath

On Sunday afternoons, I usually find myself done with all my Circe, Challenge 3, or graduate school work for the week and I realize that I can do whatever I want for the first time in many days. It feels incredible to be so free for a few hours.  I usually always indulge by reading something I choose that's totally unassigned or unrelated to anything I need to read. Today, I chose to read an essay by Montaigne titled "On Books." With so much course work, there are several books on my shelf I am being kept from and this book of essays is one of those.  Sometimes I post here on the blog, choosing pictures taken throughout the previous week/s to write about. I'll clean something I don't normally get to. Today, I listened to a podcast and organized several bookshelves. I'll add events, people, or important book titles my timeline. I'll fill in my common place book with quotes I've read all week.  It's a lovely few hours and it feels truly restful, meditative, even celebratory.  

Directing Challenge 3 Update

I'm directing a Challenge 3 class this year for our Classical Conversations group.  Since I'm in my first year of graduate school for Classical Education and in my third year of the Circe Apprenticeship, I have to manage my time really carefully. Therefore, one or two days a week, I'll just devote myself to working through the Chemistry and Music Theory, etc. as my daughters are doing their schoolwork.  Sometimes I'll do the Chemistry experiments ahead of time just to ensure I know how to guide the students through the lab safely and effectively. This picture was an experiment designed to calculate and compare the various densities of liquids including maple syrup, vegetable oil, and water.  Really digging into the material as if I am a student is one of the best things I do for myself as a tutor. From that place of understanding, I can ask better questions.  

Graduate School Update

 

I am always reading a few books at any given time. 

I just outline a reading plan for the books, so many chapters a day, etc. 

That way, I can get through the books in time to incorporate the content in meaningful ways into my assignments. 

I am constantly using all the ink up in highlighters and needing new ones.

I'm almost always reading related articles or books, too. 

It's not uncommon to be quoting from multiple sources in one same assignment and to have to have them all open and strewn everywhere. 

I live in the midst of stacks now.

I can't remove the stacks, either.  

I am bound to need the book I put back on the shelf soon enough to regret cleaning up.    

Almost as soon as a new concept is learned, it has to be applied to some assignment, so my brain is always at work processing and applying even in the shower.  

Sometimes it's as much as I can do to just engage wholeheartedly in the singular, next task set before me without reflecting on what is actually happening or what I am retaining. 

But there are moments when I realize that I am learning so many new things and even truly mastering topics.  

I am sometimes weary, sometimes overwhelmed, but always grateful.  

Ginger-Tumeric-Lemon-Honey Tea

Ginger-Tumeric-Ginger-Honey Tea

Ingredients:

Fresh ginger

Fresh turmeric

Lemon

Honey

Equipment:

Cutting board

Knife

Cheese grater

Strainer

Tea kettle

Measuring Cup

Tea Mug

Spoon

Paper Towels

Directions:

1. Heat water. (I use an electric tea kettle.) 

2.Chop fresh ginger and turmeric into small pieces (approx. one square inch each). 

3. Slice the skin off these pieces of ginger and tumeric. (This is similar to taking the skin off potatoes or cleaning the rough outside off of carrots.)  

4. Use small cheese grater to grate the tumeric and ginger into the bottom of a glass measuring cup. (I hold the tumeric with a paper towel so that it doesn't stain my fingers.)  

5. Add a slice of lemon.

6. Pour the hot water over the grated ginger and tumeric and the lemon slice.  

7. Cover the measuring cup with a plate and let it sit for several minutes.

8. Clean up the cutting board, etc.

8. Strain the tea through a fine strainer into a tea cup.

9. Dispose of the ginger, tumeric, and lemon in the trash or garbage disposal and clean the strainer, etc. 

10.  Add honey to taste. Stir until its mixed.  Enjoy.  

Consistency Leads to Progress

It's that time of year when everyday is basically the same, but it is also that time of year when we make a ton of progress.  Adele's reading is improving quickly. Avril is writing two essays a week for Essentials by choice. I only assign one, but she wants to do two and finds that easy. Additionally, she will often research a topic and read or deliver another short essay, basically, to use for her Foundations class presentations.  She will most definitely be Challenge-ready next year.  Norah is getting As in college for her Challenge 3 work.  I'm thankful and I do enjoy spending my life teaching (and learning with) these girls.