Our Old Friend Homer

This week Anna is finishing a six week literature unit based on Homer Price by Robert McCloskey. This unit is always a little sentimental to me because I remember reading the "diamond bracelet in the doughnut story" when I was in elementary school. And this will probably be the last time I do this unit. That makes me a little sad.

Some of the topics we covered were:

highway signs

the history of radio and television

simple machines

fictional story formats

The Iliad and The Odyssey

chemical elements and the periodic table

cartooning

telephones ~ history and how they work

history of the Red Cross

fiction writing

county fairs

birds and eggs

political parties

Rip Van Winkle

women's suffrage

I kept lousy records on this unit, so that's something I will need to work on with next one which will be about Betsy Ross. Homer Price was really a lot of fun and very low stress. We'll take a couple weeks off before we start Betsy, and I will let Anna pick a history and science topic to study on her own.



At the Cross

Mawwidge is Waht Bwings Us Togever Today

The Generous Wife had a post today about The Love Dare. I have never read it, but it reminded me of my favorite marriage books, For Women Only and For Men Only by Shaunti and Jeff Feldhahn. Russty and I read these together and got a lot of them. Some of the subjects covered are:

What goes on in a man'/women's mind

How important is sex

What your husband/wife wants you to know

Both books are short and easy to read. This was key for us because Russty has a short attention span when it comes to books. I would definitely recommend reading this as a couple, but if your spouse isn't game, just read the one meant for you. You'll learn a lot about the person you're married to. Do you have any marriage books that have helped you?

WORDful Wednesday

Russty asked me to do something for him this morning. It was a simple task. Look in the box under the bed that has all the CD's in and find a particular song. I knew the song and what CD it was so it was a fairly easy task. What I didn't know was that I would be thrown into a fit of 90's nostalgia that would have me creating playlists and looking up artist web sites all morning. I remembered being a twenty year old bride and leaving home for the first time, becoming a mom, and fumbling through a faith that was finally my own and not just something I believed because I was raised to believe it.

Move in Me by Michael W Smith is a song that reflects my faith journey. I couldn't find a good video of it, but the lyrics are amazing by themselves. The song is on the album My Utmost For His Highest which you can download here, and the lyrics are below.

I am only human
Struggling to find
Confidence in all that I believe
You are only holy
You are love defined
And you have said to ask and I'll recieve

So I have come to pray
That you will come and fill
The hunger here inside me to grow
Stronger in the faith
There's a longing and a need
To have you ever closer
Come fill me

Cause when you move in me
It's like a symphony
The timeless melody
That soothes my soul
Though silent I can tell
That you're alive and well
Cause I can feel you move
In me

What they try to tell me
Is that your love is false
And faith is just a way
I choose to feel
And that there was no meaning
To You upon the cross
And I should reach for something that is real
And when those words are said
The questions in me start
And I don't have any answers
Until I stop thinking with my head
And start listening to my heart
And there I find my assurance
I tell them

Everlasting God

             This song has such a great message. I'm trying to remember these truths right now.

~He reigns forever

~He's our hope and deliverer

~He's the everlasting God

~He doesn't faint or grow weary

~He defends the weak

~He comfort those in need

Isn't That a Wonderful Beginning?

As I said in an earlier post, I tend to judge a book by its opening lines.

"Alice pouted as she looked out her bedroom window" doesn't really pique my interest too much. I have actually written down some of my favorite opening lines so I can go back and enjoy them later. Does that make me strange? Possibly. Or maybe just quirky. Anyway, here are some of my favorite opening lines.

It was ironic. I lay in my jail cell on a squeaky iron bunk, gazing at the stained mattress above me, and I remembered the day I first understood the meaning of the word ironic. (Though Waters Roar ~ Lynn Austin)

"Ah you ladies! Always on the spot when there's something happening!" The voice belonged to Mr. Mallett, one of our church wardens, and its roguish tone made me start guiltily, almost as if I had no right to be discovered outside my own front door. (Excellent Women ~ Barbara Pym)

While Pearl Tull was dying, a funny thought occurred to her. It twitched her lips and rustled her breath, and she felt her son lean forward from where he kept watch by her bed. "get..." she told him. "You should have got..." You should have got an extra mother was what she meant to say. ( Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant ~ Anne Tyler)

Waiting is a complicated longing. I lost my father when I was fifteen, and I've been waiting ever since.(After the Leaves Fall ~ Nicole Baart)

So what are your favorite opening lines?

Tis So Sweet

This is one of my favorite songs: