Encouragement while moving away

Found while sorting and tossing tonight -- this one's a keeper!

You can kiss family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.

                      -- Frederick Buechner  (by way of Aunt Carrie, many months ago.)

I'm holding onto this idea and encouragement of my friends here, because sometimes I think I might lose my nerve and not be able to do this move.  I know I'm going to miss everybody here so much!!

Found gems

I found the following quotations when I was excavating in my bedside table drawer, getting it emptied and ready for packing today.  Sorting and tossing over these many weeks has been both a chore and a blessing...

Desire is the flow of life we yearn to swim in, the urge to be one with Spirit, and the way to stay in touch with this flow is through knowing what we want without insisting that we get it.  It is staying with the feeling of desire, following it with curiosity, that leads us ever closer to what we most want.  --Jennifer Louden

and

The spiritual law at the core of our being requires that we reach out.  We are fulfilled to the extent that we are in relationship.  We cannot disobey or even resist this law without suffering.  So wondrously are we made that we are happiest when we are loving and miserable when we are not loving.  --Elizabeth O'Connor in "The New Community" (quoted in the Charlotte Observer, date unknown.)

Both of these quotes speak so much to where I am right now, that it was eerie to find them.   The first one makes me think about how long I didn't even know what desire was...  this feeling of desire is so important that is we lose it, we are like a ship sailing without a rudder, and there is no telling where we might end up.  The second one affirms the act of loving. Our culture might tell us that the most important thing is to be loved, but actually our own acts of loving and reaching out are crucial to our happiness and well-being.    

For all you "smart" phone users out there

I just had a disturbing thing happen...  I received a text message yesterday that looked like this:

     IQQuizApp Fun Facts billed @ $9.99/mo 3msgs/wk renews on 05-01-2012. Reply HELP for help, 
     Reply STOP to cancel. Msg&Data Rates May Apply. 8888906150 for help

So of course I immediately replied "STOP"...but then today I realized there was this mysterious $9.99 charge on my Verizon phone bill, which actually happened from another one of these messages last month!  I thought I had replied STOP to that also and for sure I didn't ever authorize a charge...so I called Verizon just now and got it all straightened out very easily.  The kind lady that helped me immediately removed the charge from my bill, made sure the one from yesterday won't be charged, and blocked "Premium messaging" on my phone (which I figured out I could have done myself -- it's free, either way -- except I didn't know what it was.)  Anyhow, it's disturbing that this kind of thing goes on, and apparently it isn't illegal.  So here's a heads up to all of you with "smart" phones to watch out for this kind of thing, and if you're on Verizon you can circumvent the nastiness by blocking premium messages on your account on the Verizon website or calling them and asking them to do it.

LP nostalgia... input welcome!

Okay, I've been doing some research...  A couple of the records I have are just about irreplaceable (well, of the ones I've chosen to research) and a couple others are hard to find.  But I don't have a turntable and am not likely to get one, ever.  I can do a little more research and see if anyone in this area is making copies of these for $$ or I can send them to one of you.  The records are:
 "17 songs from The Pooh Song Book, starring Jack Gilford"  (Jack Gilford's Wikipedia bio is very interesting...) This music is special to me as it is the first music for children I remember listening to.  (We had an old 78 of the music when I was little; this record is not the one we had, but the music is the same.)
"The BabySitters", is an album of "folk songs for babies, small children, parents and baby sitters" by the group, The BabySitters which was Alan Arkin, Keremy Arkin, Lee Hays, and Doris Kaplan.  The group only made this and two other albums, in the late 60's, and then Vanguard made a compilation CD of these in 1991 which is unavailable.

Other albums which I have but am getting rid of I'm not too worried about, as Peter, Paul and Mary and Simon and Garfunkel are pretty widely available, and the few other albums I have I am not so attached to. 

One other that I have a sentimental attachment to: my Dad's copy of The In Crowd, by The Ramsey Lewis Trio. Unfortunately, the autographed jacket is badly damaged on one edge, though the record itself appears to be unaffected by the damage.  The autograph is intact: "To Frank -- Ramsey Lewis".

Where do I go from here?

Kay McSpadden

Kay McSpadden's columns are some of my favorite.  I'm posting the link here so I can find it easily when I am away from home but I also recommend her column to anyone who appreciates good writing and interesting stories from the world of education.

Responses to/comment on Harper's March 2012 breastfeeding article

Just going to link to a few of the responses here...  I think the readers of my blog know where I stand on breastfeeding!! 

Commonweal/Mollie Wilson O'Reilly

Karen le Billon

Mom, JD  (I don't agree with all of this writer's take on LLL, but she nails it on just about everything else.)


When did I get like this?

Elisabeth Badinter - a bit of background info

Recent flashmobs...

Sydney, February 2012

(Not exactly a flashmob but still wonderful)

Gotta share

Gene Kelly...

National Sweater Day (Canada)

Books, part 4

Random books, by category:

Preganancy/childbirth/parenting:
  The Complete Book of Pregnancy and Chidbirth (HC),  
  The Experience of Breastfeeding,   
  Breastfeeding your Baby (large format with great photos), and  
  The Crying Baby, all by Sheila Kitzinger.  
      (click on the link for MUCH more info about this great author.)

  Loving Hands: The Traditional Art of Baby Massage, by Frederick Leboyer, MD
      (beautiful large format quality paperback with photos)

  Special Delivery, a guide to creating the birth you want for you and your baby,
       by Rahima Baldwin (a guide I used when planning for my third experience) 

  Emergency Childbirth, by Gregory J. White, MD (small, spiral-bound book.  A classic.)

  The Continuum Concept; In Search of Happiness Lost, by Jean Liedloff


Very Random:
Always Looking Up, by Michael J. Fox
Cleopatra's Nose, Essays on the Unexpected, by Daniel J. Boorstein

Books about TV/Media:
What To Do After You Turn Off the TV, fresh ideas for enjoying family time,
         by Frances Moore Lappe and family
Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television and In the Absence of the Sacred,
       both by Jerry Mander
The Plug-In Drug;Television, Children and the Family, by Marie Winn (not the revised edition)

Homeschooling Books

Again -- up for grabs.  Unless noted all are paperback books.  Sorry there are not more annotations, but I have a lot going on this morning...  Feel free to ask me for more info about any of them.

(There may be more, but I'll make a separate post if this is the case. These were all in one box.)



Back issues of Growing Without Schooling, Pennsylvania Homeschoolers, and a few other related
  items; 50+ issues/items including several "recommended books" lists; mostly mid- to late-90's
  and a few from early 2000's.  They are in two magazine holders :-) )


By teachers, about school experiences and alternative schools:

  An Underground History of American Education, by John Taylor Gatto
  The Exhausted School, ed. by John Taylor Gatto (a collection of pieces from The First   
    National Grassroots Speakout on the Right to School Choice at Carnegie Hall, Nov. 13, 1991)
  Deschooling Society, by Ivan Illich
  Our Children Are Dying, by Nat Henhoff

  How to Survive in your Native Land, The Way it Spozed To Be, 
     and Notes from a Schoolteacher (HC),  all three by James Herndon
  The Lives of Children, by George Dennison (1969)


About individual homeschooling families:

  ...and the children played, by Patricia Joudry
  Child's Work, by Nancy Wallace

College and/or college & homeschooling:

  And What About COLLEGE? by Cafi Cohen
  College Admissions/A Guide for Homeschoolers, by Judy Gelner
  Colleges that Change Lives,  by Loren Pope (revised edition)
  Teenage Homeschoolers: College Or Not?, by Pat Farenga (a pamphlet)



Philosophy/methodology:

  For the Children's Sake, Foundations of Education for Home and School,
       by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay (NO we are not related!! ...but if I had a nickel for every time
           someone asked me that question in the 80's and 90's I'd be rich!)

  Home Style Teaching, A Handbook for Parents and Teachers,
         by Dorothy and Raymond Moore (HC)

  I Learn Better by Teaching Myself, by Agnes Leistico
  The Relaxed Home School, by Mary Hood
  
Resources/methods:

  The First Home-School Catalogue, by Donn Reed (second edition, revised)

  Open Education, a Sourcebook for Parents & Teachers,
      ed. by Ewald B. Nyquist and Gene R. Hawes

  Who Does What When? and Who Did What When?
      (curriculum planning and record keeping in the home school) and
     Building Blocks for Mathematics: Being at home with math,
      both by Kate Kerman (both are small booklets but packed full of ideas)
  On Learning to Read; The Child's Fascination with Meaning,
    by Bruno Bettelheim and Karen Zelan.  (HC; this is the book that was a great resource for me
    when I was teaching my children to read, especially Joseph because he was the first.) 

  Division Learning Wrap-ups -- okay, this isn't a book, but it was in with the books
  The Words You Should Know, 1200 esssential words every educated person should be able to use 
    and define, by David Olsen

Books by John Holt :
  Learning All the Time (2 copies -- 1 HC and 1PB)
  Freedom & Beyond

  What Do I Do Monday


Other books published by Holt Associates, the organization formed to continue John Holt's work:  

  The Beginner's Guide to Homeschooling, by Pat Farenga
  Child's Work, by Nancy Wallace
  Teenage Homeschoolers: College Or Not?, by Pat Farenga (a pamphlet)

Books, part 3

Okay, more books found in boxes, on shelves, etc.  Let me know asap if you want any.


Light, A Quarterly of Light Verse (Winter 2007-2008, Issue 59)
[This includes the poem Still Life with Dead Microbes, by David J. Rothman,
  and the poem Librarians on Skis by Jim Siergy:

   Shush
   as they
   schuss.         

I might have to keep this. :-)  ]


Alphabet / Pour les tout petits, texte de Marcelle Verite; illustrations de Josette Boland, 1947.
   [Why do I have this??? It was in a box of books labeled "Save for Em and Frances" that also contains music books...  Oh, never mind -- I am going to seal this box and send it to F & E.]

POGO's Will Be That Was, by Walt Kelly (the two Pogo classics G.O. Fizzickle POGO and Positively POGO in one volume)  [Pogo was my Dad's favorite comic.]

[Wow -- a discovery: Sweden, Land of Many Dreams (HC) discovered in a box that has been closed up for at least 4 years...  I had no idea I had this!  May have to keep it...]

Numeracy

Just wanted to share this excellent, though short, article:

Numeracy: The Educational Gift That Keeps On Giving?

 

 

Books, part 2

More books found today, same format as previous post:
Exercise:
Yoga for Busy People, by Dawn Groves (HC)
Walk Yourself Thin, by David A. Rives
The Book of Pilates, by Joyce Gavin (HC)
The Wisdom of Menopause, by Christiane Northrup, MD (HC)
Age-Proof your Body, by Elizabeth SomerMA, RD (HC)
Walking, a complete guide to the complete exercise, by Casey Meyers

Miscellaneous, excellent condition:
Gardening Life, by Lee May (HC, autographed)
Great Lakes Lighthouses, by Bruce Roberts and Ray Jones (large format photo book)
A Year with C. S. Lewis (HC, daily readings from his writings)
Fierce Pajamas, An Anthology of Humor Writing from The New Yorker
Latin for Americans (1943 -- this was my mother's Latin textbook)

Who Cooked the Last Supper? The Women's History of the World, by Rosalind Miles
Take Heart, Catholic Writers on Hope in our Time; Ben Birnbaum, ed.

Books...

I'm going through boxes of books, and am going to get rid of most of them.  I'm going to start posting titles here in case any of the readers of this blog might want any of them.  Here's the first list:
(all books are paperback unless otherwise noted [HC means hardcover]; also, all books are older than 20 years unless otherwise noted.) 
Children's Books
The Forbidden Forest, by William Pene du Bois  (HC)
The Twenty-One Balloons, by William Pene du Bois
The Book of Dragons, by E. Nesbit 
Henry Reed's Journey, by Keith Robertson, pictures by Robert McCloskey (HC)
Homer Price, by Robert McCloskey
The Adventures of Benjamin Pink, written and illustrated by Garth Williams
Ginnie's Baby-sitting Business, by Catherine Woolley
Blue Willow, by Doris Gates
The Practical Princess and other Liberating Fairy Tales, by Jay Williams
Paddington books -- 4 of them
729 Puzzle People, by Helen Oxenbury Spiral-bound, pages split in thirds horizontally
Mardie, by Astrid Lindgren
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic, by Betty MacDonald, pictures by Hilary Knight

Parenting Books   (books I used a lot or loved are starred)
Between Parent & Child, by Haim Ginott
**Liberated Parents, Liberated Children, by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
   (this is based on the work of Dr. Hain Ginott but much more readable)
Calm Birth, New Method for Conscious Childbirth, by Robert Bruce Newman (2005)
The Secret Life of the Unborn Child, by Thomas Verny, MD
**Learning a Loving Way of Life, LLL --- a selection of mothers' and fathers' stories published in
    the first 26 years of LLL News [2 copies]
**What Every Pregnant Woman Should Know - The Truth about Diet and Drugs in Pregnancy, by
      Gail Sforza Brewer with Tom Brewer, MD
**Every Child's Birthright: In Defense of Mothering, by Selma Fraiberg
*Raising Cain (& Abel Too), The Parents' Book of Sibling Rivalry, by John F. McDermott, MD (HC)
**Siblings Without Rivalry, By Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish (HC)
Confessions of a Happily Organized Family, by Deniece Shofield   [no, I didn't misspell that!]
***Growing with Children, by Joseph and Laurie Braga
**The Child under Six, by James L. Hyme, Jr.
*How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of your Doctor, by Robert S. Mendelsohn, MD
The Politics of Breastfeeding, by Gabrielle Palmer
How to Really Love your Child, by Ross Campbell
**The Gesell Institute’s Child Behavior, by Frances Ilg, MD and Louise Bates Ames, PhD
Fresh Milk, The Secret Life of Breasts, by Fiona Giles (2003)
Child & Family Reprints (small booklets):
     Child Spacing (Herbert Ratner, MD, 1982);
     The Childbearing Experience: Is Anatomy Destiny? (an article follooed by comments by some of
         the LLL Founding Mothers and others, 1970);
     Spring, 1969 issue with various articles on fertility, motherhood, family, etc.
**On Discipline, a symposium -- LLL reprint from 1973 LLL News
****Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, LLLI (1981 edition)
**The Other Side Makes Chocolate, by Joan McCartney (Cartoons about breastfeeding)
Breastfeeding Source Book, by Marilyn Grams, MD
***You Can Breastfeed Your Baby...even in special situations, by Dorothy Patricia Brewster
Scientific American -- February 2002 issue, with article "TV: Are You Addicted?"
The Block Book, Elisabeth S. Hirsch, ed.  (all about how playing with blocks contributes to
     children's development)
National Forum (Phi Kappa Phi Journal), Fall 1979 -- "Children in Contemporary Society"
      -- 10 articles including an article by Selma Fraiberg

That's all for now -- let me know asap if you are interested in any of these!

learning math, or not learning it, as the case may be...

I have this student, let's call him M. He is the student, of all my current [18] students, who gives me the most trouble. Actually, he is the only one of my current students that resists real learning, and this has been on my mind for the past few weeks... though it has been an issue ever since I started working with him about nine months ago. And I think I have finally figured out what is going on.

M. is a student with a lot of energy and spirit. He can be funny, though sometimes in a snarky kind of way; he is basically a kind person and can work hard. School has not "broken his spirit", and he is full of life and vitality. I'm guessing that when he is with his friends he is the life of the party. But M. is convinced that the study of math is a useless pursuit, a tremendous waste of his time, and he resists every effort I make to help him see beyond the surface of his math course (currently Algebra 2; last spring I tutored him -- or attempted to -- through Geometry.) He sees math as a series of unrelated processes to be learned, or rather endured. The math he sees is lifeless, as though he were having to memorize a string of unrelated symbols that are ever morphing into something even more incomprehensible -- a Sisyphean task -- and he seems to be putting up with this practice, a form of torture from his perspective, only because he has not as yet been able to convince anyone that he shouldn't have to do this. When I think about our sessions I have an image of M. throwing himself up against a brick wall time and again, failing to get over the wall but instead bruising himself on it and getting more and more annoyed at the wall that is in his path, all the time turning a deaf ear to my encouragement to look over to the side and see the ladder he can climb to get over the wall without too much trouble. It's the same ladder I direct my other students to, and they generally see the sense in taking this route....

I am, unfortunately, worn down by this, and about to give up on him. I've told his mother that I will give him one more chance (tonight) to show me that he is willing to really learn and have a good attitude in our sessions. I'm worn out from the battle. But I woke up a little while ago, in the middle of the night, with kind of a Eureka moment, and I wanted to capture this in print before I go back to sleep. What if M. could be convinced to harness his natural enthusiasm and energy in this endeavor towards looking for the reasons behind the processes he struggles to memorize? What if he could see that if he spends his efforts on real learning (getting the big picture, understanding why) instead of on resisting learning (attempting to memorize a collection of unrelated and tedious skills), he would be able to move through and past the courses that have given him the most trouble and get on to the things that he desires to spend his energy on?

I am good at helping students understand the "Why?" of things, and I believe this is the key to real learning. Perhaps I can get him to step back from the battle that we engage in every week and think about the meaning of functions, or the pattern of what he is doing... This is the biggest challenge I have encountered in my tutoring work: helping students to get out of their own way so they can learn. Somehow M. needs to see that he must put his energy into real learning instead of against it in order to be successful. Or maybe it is too late -- perhaps he has fought learning for so long that he is convinced that he can't or doesn't need to do this, and no amount of effort on my part can convince him to change his attitude or his modus operandi. We shall see.

Sad news

It seems like I have been posting sad news far too often this year. This time it's my sister-in-law, Jody, wife of my brother Bill.... she passed away yesterday, August 26, after a six-month struggle with cancer.
A memorial service will be held at McKneely & Vaughn Funeral Home, Amite, LA, on this Sunday, August 29. Visitation at 1 pm, service at 2 pm.

Jody was a dynamic, strong, smart, and beautiful woman with many interests and talents. She was a loving, supportive wife to my brother for 25 years, and cared for countless cats and dogs throughout her life. She had a lovely sense of humor, and she was a sharp lady, great listener, always ready with a smile and a wink, even in her last days. She will be sorely missed and fondly remembered.

Trying to unwind

Just thought I'd share some of the fun things I have been doing to unwind from the rather stressed state I've been in lately...

***Watching/listening to Joshua Bell videos that are on his website. I liked this one just now -- his facial expressions are wild! ...and of course the music is wonderful. I got back into listening to Joshua Bell yesterday when I was remembering the time he played in the L'Enfant Metro station in DC a few years ago. (The article I just linked won a Pulitzer prize. Ooh -- I just found the full audio recording of that performance!)

***Swimming in Lake Wylie, courtesy of a serendipitous invitation from my friends Mary and Phil this morning -- very refreshing!

***Going to see "Karate Kid" yesterday, and reveling in the delightful-as-always Jackie Chan...not to mention the excellent new talent in this film, Jaden Smith. It was wonderful, though at times brutally real.

I don't have a lot to add right now... time to go eat a very late lunch and read the Sunday paper...

Personal Finance - some references

I recently found myself in a conversation with some young people about personal finance.  Here are the books, authors, and radio show I mentioned:

The Real Life 101 Handbook, by Mike Duralia

Debt U: How Higher Education Breeds a Lifestyle of Debt, by Logan Abrams

Radio show - Charlotte Talks - where I heard both of these authors interviewed.

Other personal finance references I have found helpful:

The Wall Street Journal Guide to Personal Finance (4th ed.), by Kenneth M. Morris and Virginia B. Morris
This guide is concise and easy to use, a good reference, especially for explaining terms used in financial matters.

Your Money or You Life, by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin
This book was recommended by the late John Holt years ago, and I purchased it then but have not read it all the way through.  It's going to the top of my stack right now.

Mary Hodge Lackie blog

Click here to get to Mary's blog

Mary Therese Hodge Lackie, 1927-2010

Early this morning my Mom died. She was, and remains in our hearts, an amazing woman whose life and love had a positive impact on untold numbers of people. She taught people (including me) to read, to think and express those thoughts clearly, to cook and bake; she entertained and informed through her writing and acting and storytelling; she preserved history with her photography and collecting. She created beautiful and interesting homes over the years and welcomed friends, family, friends of family, students, seminarians, neighbors, colleagues -- all -- to feel at home with her there. She threw herself into raising her family... she gave us so much... and we are all grateful for her presence in this world and in our lives.

Mom, I already miss you so, so much.

Note:  go to the blog we set up for Mary at http://maryhodgelackie.blogspot.com/

Women writing, effecting change in themselves and in the world

This weekend is not going as planned, due to snow canceling Emily's plans to visit for the long weekend. But I've had 24 hours to get used to the idea, and have decided to take the "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!" approach. So I'm enjoying a slowed-down world of snow and ice and bright sunlight outside, quiet music playing inside... a day of open time for reading, cooking, writing, and maybe a walk in the snowy cold after while. (I'm trying not to think the T word, but reality will sink in and I'll probably get started on that project this afternoon!)

An e-mail popped up a few minutes ago with links to four articles by and about women writers and women writing. On a quick glance, they look to be really good, full of hope and ideas! I share them here in hopes that my readers will find these articles thought-provoking also. (If you are not Catholic, please don't be put off by the fact that the articles were published in a Catholic newspaper -- they are not, for the most part, about issues only of interest to Catholics.)

Women Writing for (a) Change
Heidi Schlumpf looks at Mary Pierce Brosmer, who run a school called Women Writing for (a) Change, which teaches collaborative writing as a creative, therapeutic and spiritual practice.


Contours of the daily and domestic
Melissa Musick Nussbaum says that she is drawn to writers -- they are women -- who observe the contours and appreciate the significance of the daily and the domestic.

Ethnic bias is no longer an option
Diane Scharper recommends five women writers who, she says, "can provide us with salutary insights into ourselves as we live in a world full of international tensions."

How the remotely possible could become real
Maureen E. Daly reviews a book titled Ordained and in it finds a plan on how to pressure a pope into calling a worldwide council and revising the rules of ordination.