The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
Still painting bathrooms (oh, old houses are so charming with their quirky walls and odd angles!). Trying to keep newly planted plants alive in the gasping heat (what happened here, May?). And thinking about The Spirit of the Liturgy (won't you read along? I have some encouraging words for you at the start of the post, and you will likely have lots of time to catch up!).
On to our links:
- The other day would have been Frankie Manning's 102nd birthday, I was informed by Google, and so I had to watch a video of this joyful Lindy Hop dancer's dancing —
- Very different, but still swing: the Carolina Shag
Look up some instructional videos and have your kids learn to dance swing. Trust me, this is the way to go!
- Do you have a child who has entered the “why” stage? Sukie passes along this Elizabeth Mitchell song to help you when you have simply run out of answers.
- If you've been reading Planet Narnia or the Narnia Code (both highly recommended!), you and the children might be interested in this video that pairs the music of Gustav Holst's The Planets with images of the planets. C. S. Lewis loved this music and wrote in his letters about going to hear it performed. I confess that I do not share Lewis' taste in music at all, but maybe you will! Perhaps viewing some medieval images and reading about the planets the way Lewis saw them would be interesting as well.
- An interview with David Hicks, who wrote the excellent book Norms and Nobility (probably best to try to find it at the library), on how to assess a college for your child.
- Another interview about education, with Karen Glass. I haven't read her book, but I enjoyed this interview, in which she discusses Charlotte Mason's methods, very much. (I would perhaps take exception to one point, in which she unfairly interprets Dorothy Sayers' characterization of the “poll parrot” and “pert” stages of development in children. Sayers didn't at all subscribe to a “child as data-machine” view. People forget that “The Lost Tools of Learning” was an essay, not a fully developed book. In a somewhat breezy manner Sayers seeks to encapsulate a whole rich history of education. She was merely remarking that working with a developmental stage in a child makes more sense than working against it; encouraging memory work when a child is receptive to it and, importantly, most takes delight in it, makes more sense than prematurely requiring what belongs to a later stage, namely, synthesis of subject matter. In any case, the rest of the interview gave satisfaction.)
- Rosie says, “Nothing like living in tornado country to turn you into a weather nerd. Explanation of a heat burst (a mini-heat burst was recorded near us the other night).” (Seems like it's a sudden and dramatic hot burst of wind? — Ed.)
- Is it compassionate to hasten the end of a person's life? Even if that person is seriously ill and suffering? Rosie's friend Adrienne's father is a Catholic doctor in Oregon. He is a strong and compassionate witness to the evils of assisted suicide. His beautiful wife recently died of cancer, so he's walked the walk. Read his testimony (it begins on page 6 of the issue — scroll down).
- Of course, this hoax begs the question of what is art then, but never mind that.
Enjoy the feast of St. Bernard of Montjoux!
From the archives:
People do enjoy this birthday cake.
Also, very seasonal right now: Strawberry-rhubarb pie, my favorite.
And if you have a bumper crop of rhubarb, make a nice beverage for the adults: Rhubarb shrub!
Jenny says
My two oldest children are doing–or just completed–a unit on astronomy. Part of the program requires the memorization of the names of the fifteen first-magnitude stars. We do a quick recitation with each child every day and then move on with the lesson. What is astounding is that my two year old can also recite the stars. We haven’t prompted or drilled her–I promise! She has just absorbed it and now insists on having her turn to recite. Now I don’t think that she properly understands what she is reciting, but the data is there.
Leila says
Exactly. Little children — and not so little ones (up to about 15 maybe, but not saying that it isn’t always a pleasure) — often just absorb things through their skin when those things are in the form of a ditty, a poem, a song, or any other form that tickles their fancy. Since they WILL run around after you repeating every darn thing you say, it seems prudent to channel this talent!
It goes deeper than that, though. I believe that real damage can be done to the intellect by forcing “creative thinking” before its time. Things must develop according to their nature.
Also, we simply don’t know what’s going on in a child’s mind! We can remember, but we can’t tell by observing or even by asking. Every once in a while, they will let on that they *are* synthesizing and experiencing creative movements of intellect. What we do notice is that they are using building blocks of all the information they have absorbed in what seems like passive form.
It’s another way of saying that all knowledge comes through the senses. Children just repeat things out loud in a way that adults don’t, but that is what I think Sayers meant by “poll parrot” stage, etc.
Charlotte says
Please pass along to Rosie that she might want to follow Steve McCauley’s FB page. He’s a DFW meteorologist who also teaches at three different local universities. He is wonderful when it comes to explaining what happens with our weather and the why behind it too. I let my teens follow him and they have learned so much from his posts.
Mrs. B. says
One of these days I just know I’m going to bump into Norms and Nobility on a library sale table, priced 50 cents…
The interview was interesting, and it reminded me that Leisure by Pieper is somewhere on that messy kitchen counter where all sort of things strangely want to go pile up (this state of denial on my part reminds me of the funny poem “Mr. Nobody”…)
It’s interesting that he says he would send his own children to a gap year program if he could do things over, and make that a given, not something to discuss. I wouldn’t mind if you expressed your opinion on this Leila. He seems to be very open to all sort of different things, but my hunch is that these days, if you don’t choose carefully, a year of experience “out there” in the world can have a negative influence just as much as a bad college experience.
Leila says
I love that Hicks says that about what he would do over — makes me feel less alone in this sense of having learned a bunch of things a little late in the game.
I totally agree that at least a year of working is a great idea. Apprenticeship would be best; hard physical work is also good. God does provide feedback to our plans 🙂 Sometimes the opportunity does not come up and the college acceptance (and scholarship) does. And of course, one must be prudent.
There’s no reason why this has to take the form of some sort of approved “program” — it would be better to have spent your children’s childhoods making as many connections and friendships as possible, and then cashing in on them! I don’t mean cashing of course 🙂 I just mean that your friends will want to send their kids to work with you and you can send yours to them. Or a friend or colleague will have some sort of business that really needs help from a strong and self-motivated young man, and somewhere down the road you will do him a turn, or just be really grateful to them, which is fine.
We’ve had kids give lessons, teach at a school, take courses, help at home. Friends have had their kids do landscaping, computer work, construction.
I would be not as enthusiastic about sending them off to an official and secular program — with that I agree.
Mrs. B. says
Oh goodness, I need to befriend Duncan Stroik, so I can send my aspiring little architect to be his apprentice!
But seriously, you make a good point: I can see how it could be another benefit of a St. Greg’s pocket, once everyone’s children are older.
Kathia says
Loved the article about Dr. Toffler. What he says here:
“I see now more than ever how God has the right plan
for us even though it involves suffering,” he said. “Jesus told
us to embrace suffering and be ready to ‘pick up your cross
and come follow me.’ This is not an archaic notion; it is
life-giving. It is paradoxical from the human point of view,
but from God’s point of view this tiny trip on earth is but a
fleeting moment of eternity.”
This… this is why my husband and I are trying to be as open to life as we can, despite our age and other difficulties. God keeps asking us, “What are you saving yourselves for?”
Also, if that Lindy Hop doesn’t make you want to dance, I don’t know what would!!
Leila says
Katia, yes, Dr. Toffler is so wise!
Katherine says
I have mixed feeling about swing dancing. I always enjoyed it in college, but haven’t done it since. My husband thinks it’s “uncivilized and ungentlemanly.” I think his main objection is how the men handle the women (and he doesn’t like jazz music). My daughters mostly enjoy swing dancing, but they see his point. They’ve had their share of being flung about, threatening dislocated wrists and sprained ankles. A daughter’s friend suffered a mild concussion when her partner tried to flip her over, miscalculated the catch, causing her to land head-first on the dance floor. Boys just get way too enthusiastic and take the “swing” part very literally (maybe those drum beats bring out the savage). And some of the moves can be a little too physically intimate for modesty. As a family, we much prefer contra dancing.
Amy Z says
I danced and taught ballroom dancing (waltz to swing and everything in between) in collge and even then felt that some moves are a bit intimate. Now, as a married mother of two littles, I feel that even more. However, the “being thrown about part” is in large part due to bad leading. Even with my training, I’ve been in danger of being injured due to a most enthusiastic and terrible partner, but my training saved me. There are ways to politely decline being flipped. We were always taught (in a secular public college) that the man could initiate the dance and the woman should set the distance. (I wish I could show you this in person). So even with more intimate dances like the waltz or the tango, I have had wonderful experiences with men who were great leaders and respected the protocol of allowing me to set a less intimate distance from him. Trust me, with a good leader, waltz or swing, can feel as smooth as butter and leave you with complete dignity in tact.
Leila says
Hm, maybe these boys need a little etiquette class!
There are different styles of swing, of course. As always, there need to be adults handing on the “collective memory” — though it will be hard to find parents of teens who know how to swing (in a few years, the kids who learned in college will be ready for the job).
However, contra is fun too!
Katie says
I’m not acquainted with all of Holst’s Planets, but somewhere deep in childhood I heard the theme from “Jupiter”, and I found it hauntingly beautiful; but I must have been too young to know quite how to ask the right questions to find out what it was. What a breathtaking surprise, then, to meet it again as a teenager in choir, this time as the setting to the hymn “O God Beyond All Praising.” (Since we’re speaking of C. S. Lewis, perhaps it’s distantly akin to his stirring to the idea of the North and ‘Balder the beautiful is dead, is dead’…)
Now it’s wrapped up in my grown-up life and marriage: a brass quintet played the theme as the bridal processional at our wedding, and I hum the hymn as a lullaby to soothe my babies late at night.
Kimberlee says
I’m sitting here talking to the computer…”Leila doesn’t like the Planets! Do you think she at least likes Jupiter?” O Merciful Redeemer is one of my favorite hymns; Katie’s description of ‘hauntingly beautiful’ is quite apt. We all cracked up at the museum piece! My teen daughter’s remark: ‘I knew people had lost their brains.’ I don’t have any little people to listen to Elizabeth Mitchell anymore. 🙁 But we do have two strawberry rhubarb pies cooling on the counter made by my eldest daughter, so there are advantages there. Tis the season. Oh, and the Lindy Hop was fabulous! You can’t possibly watch it and not grin like a fool. Thanks for the B&P and enjoy your holiday weekend!
Caitlin says
That was my thought, too! “Jupiter” is one of my favorites… No idea it had been set to a hymn! Got to look that up 🙂
Lisa G. says
Yes, but it isn’t the whole of “Jupiter”, it’s just a – oh, gosh – it’s about a minute long, I think. Somewhere between 45 seconds and a minute and a half long section which is hauntingly beautiful. I deliberately used the same phrase as those up above, but it’s apt. I’m not familiar with O Merciful Redeemer, but I’m guessing it’s the same melody as the Easter hymn “Three Days”, sung here:
Lisa G. says
Mercy, Leila – I had no idea my link would put this actually onto your blog! Sorry. I did a post on this. Remove it if you wish. Here was my post, with lyrics. http://searchingforabalance.blogspot.com/2011/04/easter.html
Lisa G. says
Okay, here’s a bit more about it:, and then I’m gone: http://www.lifelonglearningcollaborative.org/philharmonic/concerts–coversations/holsts-hymn-thaxted-from.html
Leila says
Lisa, the Haxted tune is lovely. Deirdre actually had the hymn O God Beyond All Praising at her wedding. The link you posted above has been taken down, but this one is the hymn played by a friend of a friend:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FswpyrxG3Fs
I just am not a fan of the kind of orchestral music that is exemplified in The Planets.
I don’t like Wagner either.
Lewis and I just don’t agree on music!
Lisa G. says
Oh, I wish it really was down! I feel like I’ve slapped a big elephant in the middle of your blog. Anyhoo, thanks for the link to “O God Beyond All Praising”. Funny how he stuck that magical melody into the middle of Jupiter. It just sweeps you away.
Leila says
The second of your links, I mean!
The other one is there, yes, and don’t worry 🙂 It’s fine as another example of the setting of the hymn.
Mrs. B. says
I just read the interview with Karen Glass. I agree with Leila that she’s being unfair to Dorothy Sayers: it reminded me of that scene in You’ve Got Mail when Kathleen Kelly/Meg Ryan is on tv trying to save her shop and reveals, full of righteous disgust, that Joe Fox/Tom Hanks told her books are just like jars of olive oil. Accurate but a trifle disingenuous.
Also, what does she mean when she says “much of today’s classical education looks back no further than the 20th century for its understanding of the [educational] philosophy” ? I think it’s another unfair generalization.
I wish homeschoolers devoted to teaching through Good and Great Books stopped fighting silly wars against each other, trying to prove the superiority of one method over another. My hunch is that if the books the children read and work on are truly good and wise, then our methods are more marginal than we think – or else it wouldn’t be possible to have great self-educated people like Lincoln or Franklin. I’m sure St. Thomas Aquinas got the full “poll parrot” treatment, but he seems to have turned out alright, unless we want to argue that, hadn’t he been denied “educational practices appropriate for a person”, he could have fared even better.
I am being quite sarcastic here, and I actually do think Charlotte Mason was brilliant. But I think that if we’re committed to passing on to the children a sound and wise body of knowledge (and a way to live that strives for holiness), we’ve done a lot already. This should reassure us, as it takes pressure off ourselves: we can be just mediocre at teaching itself, and still not ruin our children. Or is it wishful thinking?
Leila says
The truth as I have found it is that family life plus homeschooling leaves little room for purism as far as educational theory goes. For us, we definitely suddenly became devotees of Unschooling on those days that my plans hadn’t been made! I do like *thinking* about it all, though. And I do love Dorothy Sayers.
As I said, I haven’t read her book; I would guess that her critique of what most people think of as “classical education” has to do with equating it with the curriculum of a more elite prep-type school. I would agree with that, if indeed that’s what she means.
Luana says
Leila, would you please explain a little about what you said in the comments:
“It goes deeper than that, though. I believe that real damage can be done to the intellect by forcing “creative thinking” before its time. Things must develop according to their nature.”
It sounds very interesting, but I don’t understand what you mean. Thank you!