Yarn-along: March 9th edition ...

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a single photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~ Ginny, Small Things

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Here's my offering this week:  we're finishing up our read-aloud, Airman, which I highly recommend (especially for boys, but my now-11yod loves it, too) and then we'll move on to A Whole Nother Story, a book that sounds very much like the type of crazy story Howard Whitehouse writes (we read his triology this past fall).  For my reading, since we're starting our Lenten Journey today, I've got the classic, Abandonment to Divine Providence, Houselander's Way of the Cross and Fr. Barron's Conversion on tap.

My knitting for the past few days has been lots of swatches -- squares for the upcoming Olde Liberty Fiber Faire, swatching a new design I've got in my head:

... and I picked up a sampling of worsted weight yarns yesterday from Dog House Yarns in Culpeper.  I'm the morning speaker at Dog House Yarns' upcoming knitting retreat (out at Graves Mountain Lodge on April 9). I'll be speaking about substituting yarns, what different fibers do, and generally discussing "the ins and outs of using this for that"; the swatches I'll knit from the yarns shown below will help illustrate just what different fibers do!  I'll also be signing copies of my Great Yarns books and doing two break-out sessions in the afternoon ("short rows" and "tips and tricks").

Come join Ginny's yarn-along ... and go check out the links to all the lovely ladies who post about what they're reading and working on ... the fiber pictures will have you drooling!
 

Unit Study: Dickensian Christmas!

So, we've started our Dickensian Christmas unit on the 1st Monday of Advent (11/27/10).  We started out by reading A Christmas Carol ... a classic that would help the kids get used to Dickens' sentence structure and language -- a stave a day meant that we finished the book (novella) in this first week.  Each day, we had copywork from that day's chapter and the kids also drew a picture to accompany the copywork.  I chose the copywork by how each one summarized the chapter:

• I have always thought of Christmas time … as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time … -- Stave I
• Mr. Scrooge it was … His partner lies upon the point of death, I hear; and there he sat alone. Quite alone in the world, I do believe. -- Stave II
• “They are Man’s,” said the Spirit, looking down upon them. “This boy is ignorance. This girl is want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy…” -- Stave III
• “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.  I will live in the Past, the Present and the Future.  The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me.  I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.” -- Stave IV
• He was at home in five minutes.  Nothing could be heartier.  His niece looked just the same… Wonderful party, wonderful games, wonderful unanimity, won-der-ful happiness! -- Stave V
We also watched an excellent A&E Biography on Charles Dickens.  This was a very well-done biography, covering his early life all the way through his "first break" and on to success and then despair and a sad old age.  We watched the dvd on Monday before we even started reading, making sure we would get the era and man set in our minds before beginning the reading.
 
To finish off the week, we watched the latest Disney version of A Christmas Carol -- this is animated (computer graphics) and is the closest I've seen to the actual Dickens' text.  It is quite scary in some of it's elements ... particularly the Ghost of Christmas Future -- but because it's computer graphics (rather than live action), the makers of the film could be much closer to the text.  For instance, this is the first film version that shows the Ghost of Christmas Past as a candle flame that extinguishes itself as it finishes its mission.  Excellent but definitely not for the under 8 set!
 
Next week, we will read the Christmas Party chapter in Pickwick Papers, read The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New One In.  We'll also discuss the aspects of a Victorian-era Christmas (a bit of history there) and why Dickens is considered the "father" of Victorian Christmas celebrations -- a case of being in the right place at the right time! We'll also start making some Victorian-style decorations and possibly a dish or two. 
 
Blessings and hope your first week of Advent ... whatever you're studying ... was as successful and enjoyable as ours!
  

Yarn-along ...thanks, Ginny!

As always ... I agree with Jennifer ... any reason to write about knitting and reading!  Ginny, over at small things is doing a yarn-along where you have to post a pic of what's on your needles and what you're reading ...

So, here is mine:

The books:  read-aloud to my little cherubs is The Island of Mad Scientists by Howard Whitehouse (a wonderful, fun book, the third in the series  about Emmaline and Rubberbones) while I'm currently reading Why He is a Saint: The Life and Faith of Pope John Paul II and the Case for Canonization by Slawomir Oder (which I've just started but am finding surprisingly readable by a Polish priest). 

On my needles is my first design for Spring Gate Farm, a cashmere goat ranch nearby -- this is a gorgeous fingering-weight pure cashmere in brown ... perfect for the man's scarf design I'm working on (I'll keep you all posted for when I get this design up for purchase). 

Thanks, Ginny for such a fun reason to write about knitting.  [BTW, I believe we're nearby neighbors with many mutual friends! Maybe one of these days I'll get to meet you in person.]

BEST read-aloud in a long time ...

... well, TWO actually! 

There are times when you go to the library, take a chance on a book, and it becomes a family classic!  Well, this happened to us and we had such fun with Howard Whitehouse's

The Strictest School in the World: Being the Tale of a Clever Girl, a Rubber Boy and a Collection of Flying Machines, Mostly Broken.  The title alone gives you a clue to the luscious use of language in this book about young people, wonderful (and horrible) adults, and flight.  The writing is replete with picture-sentences that sparked giggles and out-right belly-laughs.  The bad people are REALLY bad and the good people are REALLY good.  I love that! Oh, and scattered throughout the novel are whimsical drawings of the characters and events by Bill Slavin.  Set in Victorian England, this book is great for history, science (especially the physics of flight), and literature.

We were thrilled to find that Whitehouse and Slavin teamed-up and wrote a second book for the Mad Misadventures of Emmaline and Rubberbones which is a sequel that equals, if not betters, the first book!  The Faceless Fiend: Being the Tale of a Criminal Mastermind, His Masked Minions and a Princess with a Butter Knife, Involving Explosives and a Certain Amount of Pushing and Shoving picks up where the first one left off.  But this time, the children are "homeschooled/unschooled" (well, ok they have a tutor, but trust me, it's more unschooling than anything!).  And they have a few more good guy characters and some really BAD bad-guy characters. 

These are classic family read-aloud fun. 

And, guess what ... although our library doesn't have it (which means I'll have to BUY it), there is a THIRD installment of these crazy adventures: 
The Island of Mad Scientists: Being an Excursion to the Wilds of Scotland, Involving Many Marvels of Experimental Invention, Pirates, a Heroic Cat, a Mechanical Man, and a Monkey.  Yes, I AM ordering that today ... with two day-shipping ... we should have it in time for Monday school ....  

 

Advent: Plans for Week 3

Plans for Week 3 of Advent 2009 in the heart of our home ... [please note:  for resource "codes", please see Week 1 plans]

Advent 2009 -- Theme for this year is Christmas Around the World ... here are the countries we'll be visiting

Chapter Book Read-alouds this week: 
The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens
Top o'Christmas Morning by Alta Halverson Seymour

Saint of the Day:

Sunday, Dec 13 -- Gaudete Sunday (3rd Sunday of Advent); St. Lucy
Monday, Dec 14 -- St. John of the Cross
Tuesday, Dec 15 -- St. Nino
Wednesday, Dec 16 -- St. Adelaide
Thursday, Dec 17 -- O Wisdom
Friday, Dec 18 -- O Lord
Saturday, Dec 19 -- O Root of Jesse
Sunday, Dec 20 -- 4th Sunday of Advent; O Key of David

Countries this week:  Colonial America, Mexico, Latin America, British Isles (Ireland, Scotland, Wales)

Sunday, Dec 13th -- feast of St. Lucy -- make St. Lucy Braid

Monday, Dec 14th -- St. John of the Cross (make hot gazpacho with homemade tortilla chips). DB: 15-16; W: 14-16 -- "Breads and Pastries", "The Christmas Dinner" and "The Battle of the Mince Pie"; Colonial America (CSRW -- pg 94-100).  Make shepherds for Nativity.  Jesse tree:  doorway of King Solomon's Temple.  Read part 2 of The Cricket on the Hearth.  Evening:  stories and hot chocolate.

Tuesday, Dec 15th -- St. Nino.  DB: 17-18; W: 18-20 -- "Significance of Exchanging Presents", "Santa Claus", and "Cherished Customs: Old and New"; Mexico (CSRW -- pg 40-45).  Make townspeople for Nativity.  Jesse tree:  Raven for Elijah.  Read part 3 of The Cricket on the Hearth.  Evening:  game and popcorn.

Wednesday, Dec 16th -- St. Adelaide (make German Christmas cookies).  DB: 19-20; Latin America CAW 96-116; Lankford 24-25.  Make angels for Nativity.  Jesse tree: bear for Elisha.  Start Top O' Christmas Morning (pg 7-40).  Evening: hot cider and stories.

[note:  today starts the chanting of the O Antiphons leading up to Christmas Eve.  We will shift from "saint of the day" to using our O Antiphon house and studying the each antiphon.  We will also begin to get the house ready for Christmas -- clean house top to bottom, formal Nativity on the mantle, begin Christmas baking/treat-making for giving]

Thursday, Dec 17th -- O Wisdom.  DB 21-22; British Isles CAw 33, 76, 95; CSRW Ireland 24-31; JW 22-37, 79-102.  Make shepherds for Nativity.  Jesse tree:  candelabra.  Clean house from top to bottom.  Christmas Treat:  homemade caramel popcorn and pretzel kisses.  Evening:  performance and tea.

Friday, Dec 18th -- O Lord and Ruler.  DB 23-24 (finish). Lankford 16-17.  Jesse Tree:  lily.  Set up Nativity on Altar and move chairs for tree placement.  Christmas treat:  sweet and spicy nuts and candy cane crisps.

Saturday, Dec 19th -- O Root of Jesse.  Jesse tree:  tablet/pen. 

Sunday, Dec 20th -- 4th Sunday of Advent; O Key of David.  Jesse tree:  baby in manger.

We humbly beg You, O Lord, to listen to our prayers; and by the grace of Your coming bring light into our darkened minds.  You live and reign for ever and ever.  AMEN!