John Paton - missionary to cannibals

I can't belive how much we are enjoying The Story of John G Paton: Or Thirty Years Among South Sea Cannibals, written in 1892 by his brother, James. Each reading brings with it such gloriously inspiring quotes for the commonplace book. He was truly an amazing man.

Today's chapter was about the death of one of the New Hebridean Christians, Namuri.

To him, Jesus was all and in all; and there were no bands in his death. He passed from us, in the assured hope of entering into the Glory of his Lord. Humble though he may appear in the world's esteem, I knew that a great man had fallen there in the service of Christ, and that he would take rank in the glorious Army of the Martyrs. I made for him a coffin, and dug his grave near the Mission House. With prayers, and many tears, we consigned his remains to the dust in the certainty of a happy resurrection. Even one such convert was surely a triumphant reward for the Missionaries, whom God had honored in bringing him to Jesus. May they have many like Namuri for their crown of joy and rejoicing in the great day!

Such inspiring words.

Here are some of my favourite quotes:

On his father and family worship:

...There was one other mark and fruit of his early religious decision, which looks even fairer through all these years. Family Worship had heretofore been held only on Sabbath Day in his father's house; but the young Christian, entering into conference with his sympathizing mother, managed to get the household persuaded that there ought to be daily morning and evening prayer and reading of the Bible and holy singing. This the more readily, as he himself agreed to take part regularly in the same, and so relieve the old warrior of what might have proved for him too arduous spiritual toils! And so began in his seventeenth year that blessed custom of Family Prayer, morning and evening, which my father practised probably without one single avoidable omission till he lay on his deathbed, seventy-seven years of age; when ever to the last day of his life, a portion of Scripture was read, and his voice was heard softly joining in the Psalm, and his lips breathed the morning and evening Prayer,—falling in sweet benediction on the heads of all his children, far away many of them over all the earth, but all meeting him there at the Throne of Grace.

On catechising and keeping the Sabbath:

We had, too, special Bible Readings on the Lord's Day evening,—mother and children and visitors reading in turns, with fresh and interesting question, answer, and exposition, all tending to impress us with the infinite grace of a God of love and mercy in the great gift of His dear Son Jesus, our Saviour. The Shorter Catechism was gone through regularly, each answering the question asked, till the whole had been explained, and its foundation in Scripture shown by the proof-texts adduced. It has been an amazing thing to me, occasionally to meet with men who blamed this "catechizing" for giving them a distaste to religion; every one in all our circle thinks and feels exactly the opposite. It laid the solid rock-foundations of our religious life. After-years have given to these questions and their answers a deeper or a modified meaning, but none of us has ever once even dreamed of wishing that we had been otherwise trained. Of course, if the parents are not devout, sincere, and affectionate,—if the whole affair on both sides is taskwork, or worse, hypocritical and false,—results must be very different indeed!

Oh, I can remember those happy Sabbath evenings; no blinds down, and shutters up, to keep out the sun from us, as some scandalously affirm; but a holy, happy, entirely human day, for a Christian father, mother and children to spend. Others must write and say what they will, and as they feel; but so must I. There were eleven of us brought up in a home like that; and never one of the eleven, boy or girl, man or woman, has been heard, or ever will be heard, saying that Sabbath was dull and wearisome for us, or suggesting that we have heard of or seen any way more likely than that for making the Day of the Lord bright and blessed alike for parents and for children. But God help the homes where these things are done by force and not by love.

On leaving home:

My dear father walked with me the first six miles of the way. His counsels and tears and heavenly conversation on that parting journey are fresh in my heart as if it had been but yesterday; and tears are on my cheeks as freely now as then, whenever memory steals me away to the scene. For the last half mile or so we walked on together in almost unbroken silence,—my father, as was often his custom, carrying hat in hand, while his long, flowing yellow hair (then yellow, but in later years white as snow) streamed like a girl's down his shoulders. His lips kept moving in silent prayers for me; and his tears fell fast when our eyes met each other in looks of which all speech was vain! We halted on reaching the appointed parting-place; he grasped my hand firmly for a minute in silence, and then solemnly and affectionately said:

"God bless you, my son! Your father's God prosper you, and keep you from all evil!"

Unable to say more, his lips kept moving in silent prayer; in tears we embraced, and parted. I ran off as fast as I could; and, when about to turn a corner in the road where he would lose sight of me, I looked back and saw him still standing with head uncovered where I had left him—gazing after me. Waving my hat in adieu, I was round the corner and out of sight in an instant. But my heart was too full and sore to carry me farther, so I darted into the side of the road and wept for a time. Then, rising up cautiously, I climbed the dyke to see if he yet stood where I had left him; and just at that moment I caught a glimpse of him climbing the dyke and looking out for me! He did not see me, and after he had gazed eagerly in my direction for a while he got down, set his face towards home, and began to return—his head still uncovered, and his heart, I felt sure, still rising in prayers for me. I watched through blinding tears, till his form faded from my gaze; and then, hastening on my way, vowed deeply and oft, by the help of God, to live and act so as never to grieve or dishonor such a father and mother as He had given me. The appearance of my father, when we parted,—his advice, prayers, and tears—the road, the dyke, the climbing up on it and then walking away, head uncovered—have often, often, all through life, risen vividly before my mind, and do so now while I am writing, as if it had been but an hour ago. In my earlier years particularly, when exposed to many temptations, his parting form rose before me as that of a guardian angel.

On his decision to depart for the New Hebrides:

"The cannibals! you will be eaten by cannibals!" At last I replied, "Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms, I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by cannibals or by worms; and in the Great Day my resurrection body will arise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer."

The old gentleman, raising his hands in a deprecating attitude, left the room exclaiming, "After that I have nothing more to say!"

The last words of his wife:

She cried, "Oh, that my dear mother were here! She is a good woman, my mother, a jewel of a woman."

Then, observing Mr. Copeland near by, she said, "Oh, Mr. Copeland, I did not know you were there! You must not think that I regret coming here, and leaving my mother. If I had the same thing to do over again, I would do it with far more pleasure, yes, with all my heart. Oh no! I do not regret leaving home and friends, though at the time I felt it keenly."

Soon after this, looking up and putting her hand in mine, she said—

"J. C. wrote to our Janet saying, that young Christians under their first impressions thought they could do anything or make any sacrifice for Jesus, and he asked if she believed it, for he did not think they could, when tested; but Janet wrote back that she believed they could, and (added she with great emphasis) I believe it is true!"

In a moment, altogether unexpectedly, she fell asleep in Jesus, with these words on her lips. "Not lost, only gone before to be forever with the Lord"—my heart keeps saying or singing to itself from that hour till now.

The fact that he was Reformed Presbyterian is the reason that I chose thise book to read to Jemimah, but now I want to hold this book up high and yell, "Read this!"

It is truly inspiring, and you'll be glad you did.

We're reading it as part of our Australianised AO5.

Easy peasy pesto

For Butter Fly - our recipe!

2 cups basil leaves firmly packed
2 tabs pinenuts toasted until golden in 1 tab oil
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tabs parmesan cheese grated
salt,black pepper

Blend basil, pinenuts, garlic, seasonings and olive oil in food processor until smooth, scraping down sides once or twice.

Stir in cheese.

Easy peasy!

Store in takeaway containers in the freezer. Use sparingly - pesto has a powerful flavour!

Serve with spaghetti or gnocchi thinning the pesto with a tablespoon or so of pasta water to make it easier to combine with the pasta. Also wonderful with goat cheese feta and cherry tomatoes added, or mixed with a little cream. We eat it as is as a dip with crackers and tomato as well.

Today

Today, it is raining, and the Avoca River is back on Flood Watch. I am watching the river levels with interest. Not alarm, but interest. I am wondering whether the swimming pool is going to overflow and whether I need to call Mr PD for instructions on how to let out some of the water before it does.

Today, I will be reading aloud the next few chapters of Howard Pyle's The Story of King Arthur and his Knights. This is a really great book. Merlin has just been beguiled and brought down by the evil Vivien, and that has made me rather sad.

Today, Jemimah will complete MEP 5a and I am feeling really proud of her efforts. She has been working on special quadrilaterals, including parallelogram, rhomboid, trapezium, deltoid, square and rectangle this week, and it has been a nice break from more mundane maths problems. She has good spacial and geometric awareness, and we will be testing it using this fun online quiz. My score was 4.17 first time round. What's yours?

Today, we are turning the majority of our basil crop into pesto and freezing it for the long cold basil-less winter months. Jemimah and I make a fine team with chores like this.

Today, I am keen to finish my book, Kokoro by Natsume Sōseki. It is a sad and lonely book, but somehow draws you in.

What does today hold in store for you?

Today starts to look funny once you have written it a few times.

Read every day

I read every day. Do you?

As an introvert I need time alone to refresh and regenerate, otherwise I get grumpy and not very nice. Sometimes I blog, but mostly I read. What do you do for you every day?

Does reading help you lead a better life?

Culling the bookshelves

Our book rearranging is coming on well.  We've just about finished the children's literature shelves in the new Reading Room, and I'm currently working on the far less desirable task of putting the decimated Study shelves back together.  There are just so many titles that have no home.  Where do you put a book on friendship, for example, or another on the history of our old home town?  Do picture books of poems go under poetry or kid's books, and what do you do if the book in question is too tall for either shelf?

It is little surprise, therefore, that the photos I've chosen to illustrate today's post are of the Sitting Room shelves, which required very little arranging in the current reshuffle, and still look relatively okay, rather than the shelves that are causing me so much trouble. 

So, these shelves contain our Design books.  Here you'll find books on interior design and decoration, Asian textiles, Japan and the Wabi Sabi aesthetic, hotel design, craft and gardening.  You'll also find a collection of Time Life books on Myths and Fables of the World because they don't fit anywhere else.  You can click the photos to read the spines if you want to, which you will if you're anything like me.

Do you cull your books? It may come as a surprise to you to discover that I do.

Truly.

There are, of course, some tomes whose life on my shelves is pretty much assured until...well...until my death anyhow, but there are other publications that don't get onto those same shelves in the first place:

Trashy novels - unless they're hardbacks, when they may get a bit of a reprieve, at least for a while. The kind of twaddly junk that Mr PD and I consume on aeroplanes and whilst lying on the beach is never likely to be read again. Mostly they don't even find space in the suitcase on the trip home. Occasionally we might get rid of something we regret this way, but rarely, and it is always possible to purchase it again, if you're sorry for too long.

Fashionable cookery books. A quality 'how-to' book, like The Joy of Cooking or Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion or David Thompson's Thai Food has a life longer than most, but a book containing the latest and greatest will be incredibly passé after five or ten years. Look at your old cook books carefully to decide if they deserve the shelf space. Some will - I love my old copy of Charmaine Solomon's The Complete Asian Cookbook and vastly prefer it to her new updated version of the same book because it was written at a time when Asian ingredients were difficult to come by, and her suggested alternatives still made a tasty and authentic dish.

Design books fit into the same category. With a few exceptions, interior design books have a life of ten or so years. Pink and blue were replaced by blue and yellow were replaced by taupe and grey. Once gone, chuck the handbook.

Travel guide books don't even get on to my shelves once we arrive home. They live for a while in a milk crate until all the photos have been labelled, and then out they go. Within a year they will be obsolete, and if I ever go to that same place again I'll purchase another up-to-date copy.

Magazines.  I rarely keep magazines.  I did have a full set of Donna Hay, but they were destroyed in the flood.  I also keep my Kateigaho mags on Japanese art and culture.  Other mags stay in the magazine rack for a while and are then donated to the nearest waiting room.  Sometimes I keep a title or ten for a while while I'm working on a special project, but inevitably I get sick of them and out they go.

Parenting books about a certain stage your kids are going through. Once they're through and if you've all survived, chuck 'em or pass them on to another parent facing the same issues. Mostly a new and better advice book will be available by then anyhow. I really will never need to know what to expect when I'm expecting ever again.

Text books that do not fall into the Living Book category. I will never need a third grade maths book again, but one of my homeschooling friends might. Pass it on or sell it.

Certain books will be forever special. I never cook now from Cuisine of the Sun written by Roger Vergé back in 1978, but it will forever remind me of the enchantment of my first three star Michelin meal at his restaurant, Le Moulin de Mougins on the French Riviera.It will always be special to me. A small esoteric title, Arabic for Hospital Staff, remains, tucked up on the highest shelf, rubbing shoulders with an old Odyssey Guide to Guizhou Province in south-west China. So many memories are hidden in the pages of both of these worn and unassuming little books.

Every year my library grows by a metre or two, and so culling for me is a constant and necessary process. I will probably never want to get rid of that Aussie classic, but lots of the others have a definite life span.

It is no secret that I love books. There is no doubt that my library will continue to grow throughout my life. And as my collection grows, there will always be a need to weed out those titles that are taking up the valuable space that is needed for something else.

The books that you chose to keep will be different for all, but the books that I've listed here will always be consumable for me. And if I'm wrong, then a new copy is as close as the library.

Do you cull different books from me? What funny little treasures get a place on your shelf just because they're special to you? Do share.

I Speak for the Trees!

Will you be seeing The Lorax with your kids? I guess we will.

A swoonworthy list of gifts

It's Jemimah's birthday today. She's 10 years old, and is terribly excited. She also maintains that one should not have to do school on one's birthday, so we'll see how we go with that.

She is having a couple of girlfriends over for BBQ, swim, play and sleepover. It is my first sleepover for other than cousins, so we'll see if we've bitten off more than we can chew at...oh... about 9.00 pm tonight.

Last week I asked on Facebook for ideas for birthday presents for 10 year old girls. I received some fabulous replies, although most of them were above the budget we had allocated and the gift we did purchase is not included. Anyhow, I though some of you might find them useful for gifts for your own or others, and so here they are in the words of my friends:

• A well-stocked Sewing Basket. Love this one from Cath Kidson!
  
  
• Mystery books like Ruby Redfort: Look into my Eyes by Lauren Child or Philip Pullman's The New Cut Gang.
  
  
  
  
• Anything that requires glue.
  
  
• Cook book, oven gloves, apron and kitchen utensils; mini food processor.
  
  
• Jet boat ride in Sydney Harbour.
  
  
• A hammock.
  
  
• Hand crafted Monopoly set with wooden (or indeed Gold) pieces, presented in wooden boxes. (I'd hate to think of the price however.)
  
  
• Begin a collection. eg piece of china. Some of my friends had large collections by the time we were married and a few have done that sort of thing for their daughters. Other people find out they are collecting, either a set or eclectic and add to it over the years. Imagine a piece of Wedgewood's Harlequin Collection every year!
  
  
• A sewing machine of her own, along with Quilting stuff. Wouldn't you just die for a Singer 160?
  
  
• A chess set. My son was ogling a LOTR chess set the other day, while I was swooning over an Alice in Wonderland one. Expensive - $200 - $300 for the pieces alone, but something they will treasure for the rest of their lives.
  
  
• A little book called Sewing School and a couple of Cath Kidston 's books 'Sew' & 'Patch' which would be a nice addition to a sewing basket.
  
  
• A fun book of sewing crafts she could do.
  
  
• Tools for a tool bag each year, in case future hubby doesn't come so equipped, lol!
  
  
• A beautiful wooden boxed set of chalk pastels and some lovely textured papers (large) and books on art and famous artists.
  
  
• A worm farm and a mushroom kit!
  
  
• A microscope and slides so she can look into the tiny things in life. It's always fun studying things found in the garden, or fungi and things like that. Even a birds feather is full of live things.
  
  
• An iTunes card.
  
  
• A flying trapeze lesson. I think you can buy via Red Balloon.
  
  
• More grown up art supplies, a new beautiful journal.
  
  
• A KINDLE fire or Ipad with a lovely Very Bradley case http://​www.verabradley.com/
  
  
• A nice literary t-shirt!!

So there it is - the swoonworthy list for fantabulous gifts for 10 year old girls.

What would you add? What would you like to buy for your daughter if money were no object? What would you like for yourself? Quite a few of these ideas appeal to me. Most of them actually - except the trapeze lesson, perhaps.

A wrinkle in Wrinkle

"But what is it?" Calvin demanded. "We know that it's evil, but what is it?"

"Yyouu hhave ssaidd itt!" Mrs. Which's voice rang out. "Itt iss Eevill. Itt iss thee Ppowers of Ddarrkknesss!"

"But what's going to happen?" Meg's voice trembled. "Oh, please, Mrs. Which, tell us what's going to happen!"

"Wee wwill cconnttinnue tto ffightt!"

Something in Mrs. Which's voice made all three of the children stand straighter, throwing back their shoulders with determination, looking at the glimmer that was Mrs. Which with pride and confidence.

"And we're not alone, you know, children," came Mrs. Whatsit, the comforter. "All through the universe it's being fought, all through the cosmos, and my, but it's a grand and exciting battle. I know it's hard for you to understand about size, how there's very little difference in the size of the tiniest microbe and the greatest galaxy. You think about that, and maybe it won't seem strange to you that some of our very best fighters have come right from your own planet, and it's a little planet, dears, out on the edge of a little galaxy. You can be proud that it's done so well."

"Who have our fighters been?" Calvin asked.

"Oh, you must know them, dear," Mrs. Whatsit said.

Mrs. Who's spectacles shown out at them triumphantly. "And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."

"Jesus!" Charles Wallace said. "Why of course, Jesus!"

"Of course!" Mrs. Whatsit said. "Go on, Charles, love. There were others. All your great artists. They've been lights for us to see by."

"Leonardo da Vinci?" Calvin suggested tentatively. "And Michelangelo?"

"And Shakespeare," Charles Wallace called out, "and Bach! And Pasteur and Madame Curie and Einstein!"

Now Calvin's voice rang with confidence. "And Schweitzer and Ghandi and Buddha and Beethoven and Rembrandt and St. Francis!"

"Now you, Meg," Mrs. Whatsit ordered.

"Oh, Euclid, I suppose." Meg was in such an agony of impatience that her voice grated irritably. "And Copernicus. But what about Father? Please, what about Father?"

"Wee aarre ggoingg tto your ffatherr," Mrs. Which said.

"But where is he?" Meg went over to Mrs. Which and stamped as though she were as young as Charles Wallace.

Mrs. Whatsit answered in a voice that was low but quite firm. "On a planet that has given in. So you must prepare to be very strong."

- A Wrinkle in Time, chapter 5 "The Tesseract"

The other day Jemimah was reading aloud to me from Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper. This is what the book said:

He would have said "Thank God!" if his jaws had been free. A moment or two later his limbs were at liberty, and his captors, each gripping him by an arm, were hurrying him with all speed through the forest.

Only when Jemimah reached this point she quickly substituted "Thank Goodness!" for the words in the first line. "It's swearing," Mummy, she remarked simply, when questioned, "I just don't like it."

A few days later we reached 'that passage' in A Wrinkle in Time. The one that's quoted above. After a split second's panicked thought I decided to read it as written. I read to the end of the quote above and then paused to talk to my family. Well? What do you think? I asked. I went on to explain that this book, A Wrinkle in Time is the 22nd most frequently challenged book of 1990–2000, and that the most common objection was to the words I had just read.

Me:- Well? What do you think?
Jemimah:- I don't like it. It's taking God's name in vain.
Mr PD:- Christ is the conqueror of darkness; it's including him with other men that I have a problem with...

And so I am now going to rescind the comments I made in last week's post, and say that I am worried about A Wrinkle in Time after all. Is it okay for me to change my mind?

Now don't forget, it is probably 35 years since I last read Wrinkle, so I guess I'd forgotten a bit. Maybe my opinions on such things have changed a bit since then as well, although obviously Jemimah at 10 can see quite clearly already.

The fact is, that since I've been reading this book I've felt quite uncomfortable a number of times. not because of the story, which I still think is fabulous, but because of the inclusion of things of my faith, like direct quotes from Scripture, used in a way that just don't mesh with my beliefs. A Wrinkle in Time is a SF story. It is not, nor can it be, true, and adding Christianity to a story that includes Jesus merely as one of a number of men who have been fighting to defeat evil is rather an anathema to me.

Back to Jemimah's comments on Twain. Do you feel as she does when reading aloud the words of characters who use God name? Obviously if the character is blaspheming you probably do, but what if the author has the character saying words with feeling and belief, as the King is saying in the Twain quote above? What then? I'm afraid I think like Jemimah that it is speaking the name of God without thought and awe and reverence, and that to me is taking his name in vain.

Familiarity breeds contempt,' says the proverb, and contempt of God, his word and commandments, is a very dangerous state of mind indeed. A frivolous, superficial approach to God is dangerous, and once we start treating God's name with less than the respect it deserves, then we are treating it with contempt and we are taking it in vain. Sometimes we do this when we know the words of a Psalm or hymn particularly well, humming the tune and singing snatches of the words as we go about our day's work. Are we really praising God when we do this? Really?

Clearly, then, it is not only in reading literature that we are in danger of throwing around God's name frivolously. We all know people who punctuate their every sentence with 'Praise the Lord!' It has become a redundant phrase like so many profanities are, used when you can't think of anything else to say. 'I'll pray for you,' is another, when you say it all the time without having any intention to pray in reality.

As Christians, the way we use God's name reflects what we believe about him. It is not to be used to make a story more 'real'. It's just not. Like Jemimah puts it so succinctly, it's swearing, Mummy.

Malachi tells us to 'stand in awe of his name. Mal 2:5 I don't think A Wrinkle in Time does that. And so, now I'm going to advise you to be careful of this book.

I am not worried that this book promulgates New Age ideas. The book is a work of fiction, and children are quite aware of that. They know that the adventures in it are imaginary. I do not believe that children will be influenced unduly by the Happy Medium's crystal balls, nor by the possibility, be it ever so slight, that the three women are witches. I do not believe that the book is a Handbook to the Occult.

However, after having read it, I do believe it is dangerous, because it uses his name, but it does not acknowledge our God with awe and trembling. It does not keep him holy. And Jesus is not just one of the many man warriors against evil.

In her book, Walking on Water:Reflections on Faith and Art, L’Engle responds to the criticism of this passage by saying, “To be truly Christian means to see Christ everywhere, to know him as all in all. I don’t mean to water down my Christianity into a vague kind of universalism, with Buddha and Mohammad all being more or less equal to Jesus - not at all! But neither do I want to tell God (or my friends) where he can and cannot be seen!” She may be right, but to me this book fails to make this distinction. It fails to differentiate between Jesus and those others clearly enough. And to me that means that she dishonours his name.

Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.
Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.
Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Look to the Lord and his strength;
seek his face always.
Psalm 105:1-4

Our new Reading Room

Our new Reading Room is a happening thing, see?

It is so exciting.  Currently this room contains only children's literature - world to the left; Australian books to the right, only it's not quite as rigid as that, which is okay because this is our family reading room and not a public library.

We arrange our books loosely according to topic - Christian books, poetry, books on books, visual arts, travel writing, history, cookery books, reference, art tomes , picture books, Japanese literature, and grown-up literature  all have their own sections elsewhere.

In these shelves they're sort of ordered according to whether we've read them already or not.  There are a couple of boxes of future AO years' titles, and a box of Newberys.  There are a few boxes of 'you can read these anytime' books.  Two boxes are full of our NYRB Children's Collection.  They're the mostly except for one red ones you can see below.  Have I told you I collect this beautiful series?

So far we're only half way through packing the shelves, but Susan's been sharing the repacking of her bookshelves on Facebook this weekend, so I thought I'd share mine as well.  Mutual Apreciation and all that.

How do you arrange your books?  Colour?  Size?  Alphabetically? The Dewey System?  School year?  Can you find a book when you're looking for it?  I mostly can, but I'm going to love it when they're all arranged neatly on their shelves. 

I'd love to see some of your bookshelves.  Why don't you post some pics as well?

Oh, if you click on the photos you'll be able to read the titles.  I love doing that - it's as if I'm visiting with you in your home!  Yay.  Gotta love books!

AO5 Term One

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And so as of this afternoon we're midway through AO5 Term One. Already. Wow.

You know time is going so much faster now than it was only a year or two ago, that it won't be long before it's going backwards, and Easter will fall in front of the Christmas of the year before. Which will be okay, provided my birthdays start going backwards as well. I'd like to be a year younger this year than I was last, all the way back to... ooh... around 28 or so. I do not want to be younger than that, thank you very much.

So much has happened in the past six weeks. Life has been full to craziness, but school has been happening, and things are getting learned, and books have been read, and plays have been seen, and laps have been swum. Some of it has even been going rather swimmingly well, to drag in a linking phrase, and I thought I would tell you a bit about what we're doing to make Ambleside Online our own.

First up, the schedule. You may recall that I was finding it rather difficult to Australianise Ambleside Online's Year 5. So much so, that even the weekend before we were due to start Day One, I hadn't quite managed to finalise the booklist. Which is why, for the first time, I've only completed as far as the Easter Break, instead of doing the whole year at once. Finally at the eleventh hour I had an epiphany as I realised that the reason AO5 was so hard to Australianise is because the books were far less America-orientated than it has been in previous years, and there was, as a consequence, far less to Australianise, and therefore I just would not be able to use all of the books I owned that pertained to our time period. Once I figured that out things fitted into place like magic, and bingo it was done.

Year 5 Schedule Term 1

I replaced Wild Animals I Have Known by Ernest Thompson Seton with an Aussie Natural History book, Bushland and Seashore,  see my review here, and one of C K Thompson's books, Red Emperor.  We love all the books by this author.

Of Courage Undaunted: Across the Continent with Lewis and Clark by James Daugherty was omitted in favour of a bio of Reformed Presbyterian missionary to the New Hebrides, John G Paton.  It is an inspiring story of courage and commitment in the face of amazing adversity.

We replaced the American History choices with selections from an old book, The Story of Australia by Joseph Bryant,  and chapters from History of Australia by Manning Clark, illustrated by Meredith Hooper.  This latter is a super, super, super history book, and I really don't know why it is not more utilised by Aussie homeschoolers.  Both our choices are highly recommended.

Apart from these three, I think we're doing AO5 as written, and most of what we're doing is going well. I'm not really happy with our geography choice, A Child's Geography of the World by Virgil Hillyer, because the first chapters, at least, are more American geography than world geography, but I ordered the alternative choice,The Book of Marvels: The Occident and/or Second Book of Marvels: The Orient by Richard Halliburton from England before Christmas, and it has not yet arrived.  I'm beginning to wonder if it is lost, but the original quote estimated a shipping time of 60 days, so I'm trying to be patient.  In the meantime, we're reading Hillyer and not expecting narrations.

All the lovely Australian books that I planned to use for this time period I've moved into Free- reading.  Currently we're reading Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington to fit into our history topic, the settlement of Western Australia, and it has fitted extremely well. Mary Durack's The Courteous Savage will follow. We'll try to fit in John of Sydney Cove as well - if we have time.

Most days we read something Australian.  Sometimes it's a novel, sometimes it's a bit of history; at other times it's geography and some mapping.  Some days we do a bit too much America, but mostly we don't.  So far I think it's going great.

I'll try to tell you about the other stuff we're doing in another post.

Any questions?

A Wrinkle in Time

This is our latest Newbery Challenge read-aloud, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, winner of the Newbery Medal in 1963 (a very fine year). It's a gripping tale, and we're all hanging off every word.

I adored this book and its sequels as a child - did you? Have you read it since?

Does anybody know if it is really, as the trailer implies, similar to Harry Potter, The Golden Compass and The Giver, none of which I've actually read? Certainly at number 22 on the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000 it is quite as controversial as these three books are themselves. It has been banned for containing witches who practice black magic, although in fact the old women in the book are not really witches at all, not even Mrs Which, who is only named that to distinguish her from Mrs Whatsit and Mrs Who. (Well okay - I think she is a traditional black broom-flying witch for a second or two in there somewhere, I remember.) It has been banned for containing crystal balls too, but they're not crystal balls as we know them. Sometimes it is condemned for being overtly Christian in content; at other times for fostering occult practices and for supposedly Satanic overtones.. Goodness - you can't win! Some think it is too Christian; others that it is not Christian enough. L'Engle herself is charged with being too devoutly Christian by some writers, and too liberal by others. (I'm inclined toward the latter view after reading this interview.)

Which brings me back to my question - did you love A Wrinkle in Time as a child? Do you like it now? Do your kids? Do you think it is too Christian or anti-Christian? Is it banned in your home?Does the fact that good triumphs over evil and love wins over hate count for anything? Loyalty, courage, friendship family, and bravery are predominant themes. Siblings even like each other! Does this stand in the book's favour?

Personally, I am not adverse to censoring my daughter's reading matter if I am concerned about her readiness to receive the content, be it because of adult themes or world views contrary to ours that are presented in a confusing way. I am not worried about A Wrinkle in Time. Are you?

A Wrinkle in Time is 50 years old this year. There are 10 million copies in print. It can't be all bad now, can it?

Here's an excerpt.

Come and talk to me. Thoughts anyone?

Procrastinating

Hello.

I should not be writing to you, I should not. I should be packing for our weekend away at the beach, I should. We are heading to Anglesea for a camp with folk from our local church, we are. That's the one that we go to when we're not with the Reformed Pressies in Geelong, it is.

Normally I love this annual camp, but this year the weather forecast is miserable with rain and cold, and so I am not feeling quite as excited as I would otherwise be. At least we are sleeping in dorms - the idea of tents would be too much to bear.

Somehow I don't think we'll be swimming or canoeing or doing too many hikes through the scrub, but I do hope we'll get outside a bit, and Jemimah is desperate to have a few thrills on the flying fox. We will have plenty of opportunity to fellowship with like minded people; to sing praises to God; to study his Word; and to be refreshed with interesting conversation. I've packed some great books too, so I plan to ensconce myself in the corner of the lounge with an interesting book or three, a big mug of coffee and a piece of homemade slice. If the food is as good as past years I'll be well happy.

Actually, as I write, I can feel the anticipation starting to build. We're going to have a great weekend away. I'd better start packing.

Dickens in an Age of Distraction

Yesterday was the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens' birth. Here's a cute little video about his...um...rather strange...life.

Do you read Dickens? Do you have a favourite? Mine's The Pickwick Papers. So funny.

This year I'll be introducing Jemimah to Dickens as part of AO5. We'll be reading Oliver Twist in Term 2, and A Christmas Carol in December. I'm sure she'll love them because they're her sort of humour. She loves caricature-like characters like Basil Fawlty, who are larger than life with exaggerated features and characteristics. This is so Dickensian.

Claire Tomalin, the author of the recent biography, Charles Dickens: A Life, has caused a bit of a furore this week by saying that although Dickens' novels, with their depiction of unfair society, were still "amazingly relevant", current education methods did not allow children to develop the concentration and attention span required to read his classic, but lengthy, books. Teachers, of course, have disagreed, but I'm afraid I think she's right. Have a read of both and see what you think.

The idea of a short attention span arising as a consequence, not only of television, but also of social media - twitter, Facebook, Google+ and even blogging is the introductory premise of Alan Jacob's book, The Pleasures of Reading in the Age of Distraction. He says:

I find myself particularly intrigued by the younger generation who have heard their cohort called "The Dumbest Generation," who are continually told that their addiction to multiple simultaneous stimuli renders them incapable of the seriously focused and single-minded attention that the reading of big thick books requires...Told over and over that they can't read, they begin to wonder why they should even try...I have heard talk like this from people up to forty and in a few cases older. Many say that they used to be able to read but since becoming habituated to online reading and the short bursts of attention it encourages - or demands - simply can't sit down with a book anymore. They fidget; they check their iPhones for email and twitter updates...

Sound familiar?

What about you? Has your attention span diminished since you started spending much of your life online? What about your children? Could they concentrate well enough to read Dickens? Could you?

I think Jemimah can, but I really don't know. I'll let you know later this year!

In case your attention span has diminished so much that you can no longer read Alan Jacob's book, here's a Vimeo video of him talking about The Pleasures of Reading in the Age of Distraction. Enjoy.

February Dragon

On this day three years ago, Saturday 7th February 2009, the worst bushfires in Australia's history swept through Victoria claiming 173 lives, injuring 414 people, consuming over 2000 homes and almost totally destroying the towns of Kinglake, Marysville, Narbethong, Strathewen and Flowerdale. 7,562 people were displaced and 78 townships were affected.

The fires became known as the Black Saturday Bushfires, and today in the affected areas people gathered to remember. The looked at the past, but they also looked at the present - and the future.

It takes time to recover from a natural disaster of this magnitude. Today some people have rebuilt their homes; others have moved away; others have yet to begin. People will take a long time to forget.

Colin Thiele's novel, February Dragon, is the story of the tragedy of bushfire and the toll it inflicts each year on hundreds of innocent people. I read the closing pages aloud to my family this afternoon and had to stop several times to wipe tears from my eyes. Here is some of what I read:

The fire had swept past them and was now far ahead, breaking across the distant stubble in a low red wave. Behind them, and all around, was a world of smoke and blackness - black for cinders, black for ashes, black for mourning. The smoke and the stench still covered everything; and dotted all over the landscape like bitter red roses on the black earth were burning things - logs and fallen trees, stumps and limbs, fence posts and farm buildings.

Some were small and idly glowing, others were fountains of fire streaming with flame in the wind. Every now and then a tree crashed down the slope of the Big Scrub with a wild shower of sparks like a gigantic roman candle. The air was dirty with smoke and ash, the sky hidden. And now that the monster had rushed past and devoured everything there was a strange silence, the ominous silence of desolation, like the landscape of the moon...

...Columbine was hanging on to his mother's hand. "Come on, Mum," he said. "I'm tired, let's go home." Mrs Pine's eyes still seemed to be smarting from the fire. "Columbine," she said softly, "don't you understand? There is no home."

February Dragon is a powerful story with a message that all Australians need to hear. It is the story of how the stupidity or arrogant carelessness of people can cause a terrible tragedy. A tragedy like Black Saturday. It is also a really good story. We read it this year as part of our Australianised AO5. Do search out a copy for your children.

My year of reading

You know I read a lot, right? You know I am eclectic and read a wide range of genres, right?

I read by whim. There is no rhyme or reason to my selection except that it appeals to me at that time. Sometimes I get a pash on a certain author. Right now that's Murakami. Except for 1Q84. I did not have a pash on that book at all. Sometimes I get addicted to a genre. Like books about books, or books about Japan, or books about Charlotte Mason or books about my faith. Sometimes I read literature, at other times it is a long line of non-fiction titles. As long as I am reading, I am happy.

Which is why it is surprising to discover that have never kept track of the number of books I finish in a year. It may by 50, it may be a lot more. I really don't know.

And so this year I'm going to find out. From the 1st of January I've been keeping a list. I'll show it to you in a moment, in case you're a little bit interested. Not that you should be, mind you, but I like books lists, and maybe you do too.

This year I'm also trying to be a bit intentional about what I read. I'm going to spread myself around a little, so to speak. You know I'm participating in the Haruki Murakami Reading Challenge hosted by In Spring It Is The Dawn. Jemimah and I are doing the Newbery Challange as well. It's linked in my sidebar. Apart from that, by keeping a list of my reading I hope to ensure that I read a good mix of things. Like Australian authors, and indigenous writers, to name two. A friend has asked me to join her in reading Les Miserables as well, and I've rashly said yes. We'll see...

Anyhow, this is what I read in January:

The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai

I'm going to blog about this one separately at some stage. A very thought provoking and somewhat confronting book that really challenged me about the books I 'allow' my daughter to read. If you decide to read this before my review, research carefully first...

The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund De Waal

A beautiful family memoir describing 19th and 20th Paris, Vienna and Japan through the eyes of the wealthy Jewish Ephrussi family. Highly recommended. A lovely book.

You Gotta Have Balls by Lily Brett.

Meatballs, girls, meatballs. An Australian-Jewish father and daughter living in New York learn to appreciate each other better, and learn to like themselves better on the way. A lighthearted read with occasional crude language. Fun.

The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do

An inspirational autobiography about Aussie comedian, Anh Do, this easy-to-read book is just delightful. In parts laugh out loud funny, and at other times brought me to tears. Beginning with his parents' escape from Vietnam on a leaky boat, Anh tells about their struggle to survive in a new, and sometimes racist Australia. We all know how well he has done, but the story telling how he got there is remarkable. I hope he writes more. Don't miss reading the children's picture book version of Anh's story - The Little Refugee - written in conjunction with his wife, Suzanne. Jemimah and I loved it.

South of Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami

My first Murakami novel for 2012 fortunately redeemed the faith I have in him as a novelist after the tedium of 1Q84.

It is a bittersweet story of boy meets girl, loses girl, dreams about girl, remeets girl...

We were, the two of us, still fragmentary beings, just beginning to sense the presence of an unexpected, to-be-acquired reality that would fill us and make us whole. We stood before the door we'd never seen before. The two of us alone, beneath a faintly flickering light, our hands tightly clasped together for a fleeting ten seconds of time.

If you haven't read Murakami, this would be a nice way to begin.

The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction by Alan Jacobs

I adored this book. What more can I say? I agreed with every word. Well, almost.

"Read at Whim," Jacobs says. I totally agree. Read it.

Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan First Series by Lafcadio Hearn

If you're a true Japanophile, at some stage you have to read some Lafcadio Hearn. Born in Greece to a Greek mother and Irish father, journalist Hearn moved to Japan in 1890 and remained until his death in 1904. In Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan (1894) he details local traditions, as he first sees them. I have long been interested in old traditional Japan- the ways that have now disappeared - but I was incredibly disappointed with this book because Hearn has a total obsession with Japan's religious past, and the book is filled with long, detailed, and incredible tedious accounts of Buddhist and Shinto temples and beliefs. I love learning about Japan, but I really do not want to learn about their religion. Not in this depth anyhow.

At the same time as I was reading this book I also read one of Hearn's Fairy Tales, The Boy who Drew Cats (1897) to Jemimah and Princess Mini-me. Jemimah and I thought it kinda cute; Mini-me, who is not familiar with Japan didn't understand it at all. See what you think.

War Horse by Michael Morpurgo

I read this before I saw the movie. It is wonderful, as is the film. I recommend them both. It's the story of World War I on the Western Front through the eyes (but not anthropomorphised voice) of a horse. Great for Jemimah's age and up.

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by Frank Baum.

The beginning of the tradition through the imagination of the creator of The Wizard of Oz in 1902. This was a Christmas read-aloud that we didn't quite finish. It is a fun addition to the Christmas basket.

The Twenty-one Balloons by Pene du Bois

Our first Newbery Challenge book for the year was fantastic. It's the story of a retired school teacher who decides to travel around the world by balloon, and crash lands on Krakatoa just before it erupts. It's fabulous, and it will be one of those books that enters into family lore I am certain. Jemimah and I adored this book.

My Reading Life by Pat Conway

Author, Pat Conway, talks about the books that have influenced him and shaped his life. It's a fabulous book and produced a long 'to read' list by the time I reached the end. If you like books about books you'll love it.

I'll tell you what though, this man pulls no punches. I would not like to be related to Pat Conway. No sir.

The Idea of Home: The Boyer Lectures 2011 by Geraldine Brooks

Pulitzer Prize winner, Geraldine Brooks reflects on what Home means in 2011. Four individual lectures: Our Only Home, A Home on Bland Street, A Writer at Home and At Home in the World. A quickie, but a goodie.

The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger

My first graphic novel may look like a children's book, but it's not.
One night after a fight with her boyfriend, Alexandra is walking the streets of Chicago and comes across a bookmobile. But this isn't just any bookmobile - inside it is her own personal library, containing every book she’s ever read...and nothing else. It is dark, obsessive and shocking, and a great read. For adults. Apparently Niffenegger is going to turn this into a full length novel. I can't wait!

And that, she says, is that.

Don't expect a list like that every month, will you? I read a book a day for the first ten days of January while I was on holidays and hardly a thing after. Oh well, thems the breaks.

I hope you find something there that tickles your fancy a little bit.

If not, then at least you know what I've been up to this past month. Maybe you'll like some of my February reads instead. And maybe not.

What have you been reading?

Bushland and Seashore

I don't know why it is that we haven't heard more of this book in Aussie Homeschool circles. Subtitled An Australian Nature Adventure, Bushland and Seashore is just that - an adventure in words and pictures into the world of unspoiled Australia. It's a beauty. Written and sublimely illustrated by Aussie-born artist, Robin Hill, this is the book of a born naturalist. His paintings are accurate, and his observations of Australian wildlife are detailed and fascinating. He manages to paint stories of the most simple of Australian landscapes.
As it says in the Introduction, written by Graham Pizzey (whoever he is):

Robin Hill has immersed himself in Australia until it comes out of the pores of his painting and his writing. His method has been "to gaze so long and often that there is a penetration of fur or feathers or bark". For a naturalist, this is the essence of field observation. For a natural artist, it is the essence.

Chapters are divided into regions: Seashores; Scrub and Heathlands; Forest Country; The Open Plains; Swamp and Stream; The Arid Inland. The writing is elegant, the vocabulary expansive but not ridiculous. Written primarily for adults, it is easily understood by my AO5 daughter, and we are using it this Term One of AO5 as a substitute for the North American Wild Animals I Have Known by Ernest Thompson Seton. Her narrations of the first few chapters have been excellent.

Sadly, there is an evolutionary bias in the Introduction and the first two chapters. I have used this as an opportunity to discuss our alternative beliefs. I believe it is important for my daughter to understand both what we believe, as well as the predominant belief of today, that of old earth evolution. It has not been an issue to me, but I like to warn you before you purchase the book.

Published in 1962, Bushland and Seashore was Highly Commended as Picture Book of the Year by The Children's Book Council of Australia in 1963. (A very auspicious year, me thinks.)

Out of print, of course, Bushland and Seashore is available at a reasonable price from Abe. I recommend it.

Mr. Morris Lessmore...

... is just delightful.



You can get the iPod App as well, like we did.