Who are you, my friend?

 

Y'all know I've been in a blogging slump for a while. For a couple of years now, really. I look back at my old posts sometimes, and I'm sorta in awe that I wrote them. I mean they're good - really good. I can't write like that anymore, and that makes me sad.

Nowadays, all I write is boring AO posts, and mostly even those are written so I don't forget something that I think some of you need to know, and because I feel that I should. There is no spark, no joy, no something special. Sometimes I think I should call it a day, but I find it really hard to just stop. I mean, I've made some really wonderful friends blogging, and I'd hate to lose touch with you all. So I keep trying, and I keep failing, and keep trying and keep failing and...well, repeat.

This Christmas I treated myself to Pip Lincolne's ebook, Shake it Up - 30 Days to a Rad, More True-to-You Blog. Pip is one of my blogging heroes. She is always up-beat, always fun, always interesting. When I grow up, I'm going to be Pip. Once I went into her old shop, Meet Me At Mikes, and she was there, and I wanted to tell her how amazing she was, but I was afraid she wouldn't find that cool, and so I didn't, and I've kinda always regretted that. After all, nobody hates being told they're awesome, right? Even an überblogger like Pip.

Over the Christmas holidays, I've been slowly inching my way through the inspiring ideas contained in Pip's book, working on the exercises, and trying to decide exactly what I want the pages of my blog to look like. One of the more interesting tasks was to define my Favourite Reader Profile. She wants to know who you are, or rather, she wants me to know. So for the last few days, I've been thinking about you, and just who you are.

Let me see how close I am.

One thing I know for sure, and that is that you're my dear friend. You're probably a homeschooler, or at the very least, you're homeschool friendly, and you're most likely a Charlotte Mason fan. You may use AO, and you like ideas that make your homeschool day run more smoothly.

You love books and reading, and you want your kids to love them too. You may have a bit of a book problem, and you delight in encouraging me with mine. You love photos of my library shelves, and ideas of books for you and your kids to read. My Japanese literature fetish leaves you scratching your head, but you're willing to give one a try. Your favourite books include 84, Charing Cross Road and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, both of which really fuel your desire for more book titles.

You're either an Aussie, or you like learning what makes my life different from yours. You love living vicariously through my travels, and my insatiable desire to see new lands amuses you. You wish we could travel together.

You don't watch much telly, but you love a good movie. You're a secret Dr Who fan, and you may just have looked forward to December more for the release of the new Star Wars movie than for Christmas. You've seen the movie, and are privately rather disappointed with what you saw. Christmas, on the other hand, was perfect because, you know, Christmas.

You love 70% dark chocolate, peanut butter and a combination of the two. You don't drink much, but are amused by my love of champagne. You join me in a love of good tea and coffee.

You are a Christian, and are interested in what makes my flavour of Reformed faith different from yours. The fact that my church practices exclusive psalmody and doesn't celebrate Christmas intrigues you.

You don't vaccinate your children. That's all I have to say about that.

Actually, I think I have nothing more to say about you, except to reiterate how much I love and care for you. When I write here, I write for you, and I want to write what you want to read.

How did I go? Did I picture you correctly at all? Tell me where I went wrong. I'd love to know you better, and hopefully, if I get I better idea of who you are, I might be able to get a better idea or how to make this blog one that you want to read and I want to write. I'd like that very much.

Oh, and Happy New Year. May God bless and keep you throughout 2016. You are very special to me, dear one. Thank you for being my friend.

 

AO6 Term 2 Schedule

Year 6 Schedule Term 2 by Jeanne

I'm suffering dreadfully from writer's block. I really am.   I have screeds of unfinished posts. I dream posts and then can't get them into print. I'm sorry, because I do miss you. A lot. I think of you all the time, my friends. I do swear that I have the best bloggy friends in the world. In cyberspace, even.

Part of the problem is trying to be something I'm not.  I keep trying to make myself write erudite Charlotte Mason posts, and I just can't do it.  So then the post seems amateurish, and I sigh and press save...or delete... and go to bed.  There are lots of great bloggers who can write this sort of stuff.  Not me.

We have been doing lots of nice things that I'd like to tell you about.  Bush walks and nature discoveries.  Our impressions of the Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures exhibition at the Melbourne Museum and our subsequent Afghan meal at a local restaurant.  I want to tell you about the map we're using for David Livingstone's journeys.  And about going to see Shakespeare's Henry IV last weekend. And what we did for Easter. And how Jemimah did in her End of Term exams. And about the lovely gift I received in the mail from Silvia. I really hope I might be able to tell you about some of these things very soon.

In the mean time, and because I think some of you will be waiting on it, here's our AO6 Term 2 Australianised schedule.  As you can see, we've dropped Beechick's Genesis book because I couldn't see how to use it in a CM way.  If any of you can help with this I'd appreciate it.  In its place I've substituted Ben Hur.  We've moved the Winston Churchill bio from Term 3 forward.  We actually began reading this in Term 1 where it fitted better with the history cycle, so we'll be finishing it up this term before beginning Ben Hur. Australian Backyard Explorer instead of School of the Woods and It Couldn't Just Happen.  We moved the former to free reads.  We've already read and loved the latter.  We're reading the full Iliad, not a retelling.  Otherwise, the term is pretty much as written.

So there.  I'll write more about our plans another time, but at least this is a start.

This writer's block is really worrying me, girls.  If there is anything that you think I might be able to write about without getting too bogged down in cleverness, can you please let me know in the comments?  I'd really appreciate that. 

I hope to be back very soon.

Vanity blogging

Hello everyone.

Our beautiful daughter was part of the team that won the Junior Girls Basketball Grand Final last night. We are very proud.

The other day a dear friend described the kind of blogging I do here 'vanity blogging'. I'd never thought of it like that before, and I've been thinking quite a lot about it this week. It is quite a confronting thought actually.

Now obviously a post like this is a bit boastful, I'll admit. But it's not me showing off about me, it's me skiting about my daughter's success, and she really loves it when people congratulate her on a job well done. I figure that I'm doing it for her. And the team, of course.

So what about other posts? My friend who mentions vanity blogging writes erudite academic philosophical posts. I love them, and I love her blog, and I love her, and I admire her wisdom greatly. Occasionally I write that type of post too. Only rarely, because I'm just not that sort of clever person. Sometimes I write about Charlotte Mason's philosophy of education, only I don't do it nearly as well as my friend. I don't really like telling other people what they should do. I don't mind explaining how I implement Miss Mason's philosophy in my home, but goodness - you're a grown up - who am I to tell you what to do in yours? (Not that my friend does this either, by the way.)

I think my forte is living a Charlotte Mason lifestyle. I am passionate about this type of education, I am well read about my subject, and I want to help others to live it it in their homes too. I love literature, I love science, I love geography, I love languages - both English and foreign, I love the performing arts, I love raising my daughter to glorify God and to enjoy him, I love the homeschooling life. I first started A Peaceful Day because I thought I had something to say about living a Charlotte Mason lifestyle here in Australia. I hoped I could help others Australianise predominantly American curricula to make them work for us here in the Antipodes. Mostly I wanted other Aussies to use Ambleside Online, because I believe it helps us better than any other curriculum to implement a type of education that is as close as possible as that that Miss Mason implemented in her own schools and correspondence lessons. That was my aim.

To this end I post about the books we read, the traditions we celebrate, the meals we cook, the holidays we take. I tell you about the Australian books that, in my opinion at least, measure up to the exacting standards Miss Mason had for books in her English schools. I blog about new books. Isn't it wonderful that living books are still being written!

On the way I tell you about some of my interests too, so that you know me as a person. A liberal education of the type that Miss Mason advocates allows us have to have varying interests as wide and diverse as wabi sabi aesthetics, South East Asian textiles, human genetics, gardening, Asian cookery, Reformed theology and travel in countries far and wide. I talk to you about these things because they interest me. They might not interest you, but at least it gives you an idea of the person behind the screen as it were. I love knowing more about the folks who write the blogs I read. I love knowing about the friends who read the blog I write as well. Maybe you like to know about me. I don't know, but that's why I write about myself.

For what it's worth, I don't write about my life because I have an overinflated opinion of myself. I do not assume you want to know all about me. Actually, if you do, you'll be rather disappointed. There are many parts if my life that are not very peaceful. They're not Charlotte Masonesque in the slightest. Those bits rarely get an airing in cyberspace, though. I don't need to air my dirty washing. I don't need you to know when I yell at my daughter and when I'm angry with my husband and when my best friend does something silly. Or when I do. They happen, but I don't need to write them down. I don't need to remember them forever, and I don't need you to either.

So is this blog mere vanity? Sometimes, I guess it is. If you'll look at my sidebar I tell you I've been nominated a few times for Homeschool Blog Awards. I'm pleased about that, and I'm really grateful to the lovely ones who nominated me and voted for me, but I'm under no illusion that my blog is in the same league as the ones who actually win that award. I am incredibly gratified if people follow me on Google Friend Connect or on our Facebook Page, and especially if you feel lead to leave me a comment. That really delights me because it means that someone is actually reading what I write.

Is that vanity? Maybe, but sort of not really because I don't write A Peaceful Day for me. I am not a journal keeper. I write it for you, and if nobody likes what I'm saying then I'd rather stop and spend more time with my family.

Have I succeeded in my original aim? Not yet. There are not hundreds of people using Ambleside Online's wonderful curriculum because of me. I do hope, however, that there are many who are implementing Mason's methods and who see how it looks in my home.

If that's what a vanity blog is then I guess A Peaceful Day is one. It's not why I write it though. I hope you know that.

Now. Back to Jemimah. Her team won the basketball. Without their best player. She's the one on crutches above. And with their coach in hospital. It was a close game, but a good one. And they won. My daughter won. And I, for one, am very delighted. And if that is what vanity is, well so be it. I'm not often thought of as vain, I don't think, but maybe I am after all. I'm certainly very proud of my daughter.

 

10 Friends

Hmmmm.  I'm thinking nobody is interested in Molière.  Which is sad, because I'm pretty excited about this play, and our concomitant study..

Or maybe, and this is worse, maybe I've been such a sporadic blogger recently that nobody is reading anymore.  Sigh. I will try harder.  Sorry.

I thought today I would acknowledge a few of those who have remained loyal friends by listing my most recent ten commenters.  I think you all know each other, but you never know.  Maybe some of you might discover some new blogs that you haven't read before.  And that would be super good.  They're all wonderful gals.  Truly. 

So let's make a start:

1. Number 1 is my dear friend Richele.  Being somewhat too busy to post recently, Richele's blog remains an archive full of inspiration and great ideas to incorporate into a CM education.  Head over and encourage her to write an update, will you?  I miss her.

2. Joyfulmum is number two.  I'm privileged to have met Rosemary IRL.   My family consider her family our good friends and we look forward to seeing them each year. Her blog documents her daughter Rebekah's education using AO.  I love reading about how another mum educates her only daughter, and she is always full of wisdom, deep thinking and good advice.

(3.) Number three was John, who dropped in to tell me that the Lone Pine in Melbourne was being removed.  Sad about that.  John probably doesn't consider himself a regular commenter on my blog, so I haven't counter him here.

3. Sarah is the real number three.  This gorgeous lady is the first blogger I ever met IRL, and our families have subsequently spent much time together.  Jemimah and Sarah's son Josh are special friends, and I love the way these two bring out the best in each other.  Lizards are a major shared interest!  Sarah is homeschooling her two kids using AO.  Her love for our Heavenly Father shines out of this lady and out of the pages of her blog.

4. Believe it or not, Joluise, is not a homeschooler!  She should have been though. :)  Number four is incredibly well read and knowledgeable.  A woman of great faith, I always learn something from this erudite lady's blog.  I especially enjoy her posts about Christian ethics.

5. The fifth, Louise, is also a real life friend and AOer.  She has homeschooled three of her four children, and her youngest is a year younger than Jemimah.  I love the fact that these two girls have so much in common.  Sadly Louise is not a blogger.  I wish she were.

6. Sixth is another real life friend, Deborah.  Are we seeing a theme emerging here?  Deborah has a home full of children, including her adult daughter and two grandchildren, yet she still finds time to school her children and to create wonderful paper crafts.  Her cards are just beautiful!  Deborah's blog inspires me to be more intentional about art and craft, as well as encouraging me in other stuff as well.

7.  I haven't met number 7, Ellen, but I think that she is, in fact, my long-lost twin.  It is uncanny the number of things this gal and I have in common.  Ellen is homeschooling her two girls using AO, and runs a term ahead of us.  I love reading what she thinks of various books before Jemimah and I get to them.  As an utter Anglophile, Ellen will no doubt be very jealous when she learns that I shall be in London in little over a week.

8. Number 8 is Ruby.  What can I say?  I love this gal.  A veteran homeschooler with two sons still at home, Ruby and I value our split-pea faith as members of very similar Reformed denominations.  Deep thinking and loyal, Ruby is just a wonderful friend.  I must say, you need to watch her wicked sense of humour, though.  This sweet, gentle lady can be cruel!

9. I've only known number 9 a few months, so Amber's blog is new to me.  She is a terrific photographer, and her children's homeschooling experiences reflect her creativity.   I have really enjoyed getting to know Amber.  I am sure you will too.

10.  And finally we reach number 10.  Chareen is a fellow Victorian homeschooler.  I would love to meet up with this lady on one of our visits to Melbourne.  Then I could call her an IRL friend as well!!  More eclectic in her homeschooling than me, Chareen nevertheless incorporates many of Charlotte Mason's methods as she educates her children.

I hope I still have other readers apart from these ten, but I do want to say thank you to every one of you who continues to read the ramblings of my deranged mind.  You mean more to me than you can ever know.  You Girls Rock!

Thanks for being my friends.  Whether you feature in my most recent ten or not, I love you to death. xxx

Words of Affirmation

Do you know your Love Language? Mine is Words of Affirmation. Hearing the words " I love you" from my family makes me blissfully happy - especially if they tell me why. An unsolicited compliment makes me feel wanted and needed; an apparently unwarranted criticism puts me straight into the doldrums.

My family knows how important it is to hear that I'm special to them, and my 'love tank' is filled to overflowing by their words, and by little unexpected notes and messages. I found a lovely poem tucked into my bed the other night, signed 'your affekshonet and loving dawter Jemimah'. Okay, her spelling might not be her strong point, but her heart's in exactly the right spot. Her poem, too, was perfectly delightful, and made me feel special and oh so loved.

Which is why all your lovely words on last week's post mean so very much to me. Thank you for encouraging me to keep blogging. Thank you for making me feel needed and appreciated. Thank you for making me feel that what I am doing here is worthwhile.

Your words have rejuvenated me.

Thank you, friends.

No, you can't see the love messages from my husband.

Should I stop blogging?

I was going to call this post 'I've lost my blogging mojo', only I thought I'd better google 'mojo' to find out its exact definition, and I'm glad I did, because mojo doesn't mean what I thought it did at all, even though I can use the word in a sentence perfectly well. Phew. So that's good.

Those of you who follow A Peaceful Day on Facebook (If you would like to, the link is here, and I'd be super excited if you would), will know that I've been considering whether it might be time to give up writing my blog.

Although I have some really dear, sweet, loyal commenters, it seems that the once vibrant conversation has been dwindling, and that makes me sad. I don't seem to have the energy or inclination to get out there and trawl the net for new followers when I don't have time to visit my bloggy pals as it is. My FB pals say that I should just write for myself, but I'm afraid I really don't write for me - I try and write for you.

I first started my blog because I thought I had something worthwhile to contribute. I am passionate about many things, and I thought that I might be able to pass that enthusiasm on to others. I love Ambleside Online, and I felt that my Australianised version might help other Aussies who were considering using it for their kiddos and who didn't want to reinvent the wheel and make it all fit together. I adore Australian Living Books - children's and adult's, old and recent - and I wanted to be able to make recommendations, without telling other people what they should or shouldn't read. (Okay, I love all books, regardless of their country of origin, I admit it.) I love chatting about travel and geography and history and food and gardens and homemaking and crochet and knitting and raising my covenant child in the Reformed faith, and I thought that this might make my blog interesting to some.

And so, on 4th September 2008, I wrote my first post. My first commenter was the wonderful Michelle, from Homeschooling Downunder a month or so later. I can still remember how excited I was when I read her encouraging remarks. I think that those early posts - the ones nobody read - were amongst my best. I was full of passion and enthusiasm, and I think it shows.

After that I settled into a kind of rhythm of blogging most days. It was a commitment, but one that I felt really motivated to put the effort into. I came to know some wonderful people, many who I now count as my dear friends, and I soon realised how much I had to learn about homeschooling, and what a wonderful resource the homeschool blogging community really was. They were my glory days, really.

When the flood came in January 2011, everything ground to a standstill. For a year I worked full time reestablishing our family business as well as educating Jemimah. Blogging dwindled to twice a week if I was lucky, mostly fitted in late as night, and our damaged computer made visiting other blogs really difficult. My cameras were stolen and I could no longer take decent photographs. I could no longer talk about my lovely home or our garden, or cooking or decorating or any of that yummily delicious stuff because...well... I just can't do that stuff any more until we get our home repaired, and that's gunna take time. Lots of time. It is little wonder that my followers began looking for scintillating content somewhere other than here. Hey, I understand, I really do.

I also get that it's not all about me. Lots of people that I call my friends no longer blog, and I miss them. I go down the lists in my sidebars, and a considerable number of the blogs that I used to read regularly haven't been updated in months. It's sad, and I really hate losing contact with some of those girls.

So anyhow, during the last week or so I've been prayerfully pondering my options. And just today I've decided that I think I'll keep blogging a while longer.

There are three things that helped me decide. One was a visit to the CMand Friends - ANZ Yahoo Group, where I discovered a group of ladies I don't know talking about A Peaceful Day's Australianised AO curriculum. That made me feel much better to know that people were actually using what I was doing. Secondly, my dear friend, Chef Penny from Our Crazy Adventures in autismland mentioned that she was going to use AO for her lovely daughter partly because it had worked for me. Imagine my name uttered in the same sentence as Tammy Glaser. Really! Finally I received a lovely email from my now-real-life-but-formerly-bloggy-pal Sarah. Sarah has always been one of my greatest encouragers, and the words she wrote, apart from making me cry, helped me to come to the decision that I like what I do, and that I'd really miss blogging if I stopped. I like having this secret life that my local friends don't know about, and I really like helping others, and I really love my cyberspace friends.

Which brings me to the tentative name I mentioned for this post. I seem to be having a bit of a problem with angoisse de la page blanche - a massive case of writer's block. It was the fact that I've spent too many hours staring at a blank screen that made me consider quitting blogging in the first place.

Help me girls! If you think it is worthwhile me continuing to blog, then what would you like me to write about? What erudite pearls of wisdom would you like me to impart?

Next post I'm going to tell how Jemimah and came to be watching Mickey Mouse cartoons tonight during our Mummy-Daughter film night, but you'll already know that if you've liked our page on Facebook anyhow. After that, then who knows. Any ideas?

Thank you to those of you who do make the time to leave an encouraging comment. It helps a lot. Ganeida, Ruby, Sarah, Rosemary, Mel, Erin, Therese, Jo, Rebecca...okay,I'm going to stop now while there are still lots of names to go in case I hurt somebody...you're all wonderful. I so appreciate you all. Thanks.

Goodnight Bloggers

See you in the morning.

Go Aussie Homeschool Bloggers!

Thank you to the kind person who nominated A Peaceful Day in The Best Homeschool Variety Blog category of the Homeschool Blog Awards. I consider it a real honour that one of you would think me worthy of nomination.

I would love it if any of you care to vote for me. You can do that by clicking on either of the links, or on the button above.

There are some other Aussies there as well. Ruby from Mumma's Place has been nominated in the Best Encourager category; Renelle from Dove's Rest is there in the Favourite Homeschool Mums. Kendra from Aussie Pumpkin Patch is also in the Best Variety category. Can anybody see any others?

Wouldn't it be exciting if an Australian Homeschool Blogger won an award? Oh my!

More Aussies: Eight Acres of Eden has been nominated in the Favourite Homeschool Mum category. Defying Gravity is in Best Nitty Gritty. Thanks, Erin! Rebecca tells me that Sparkling Adventures has been nominated in the Best Methods category. These three are new blogs to me. I'm off to check them out right now.

Go Aussies, Go!!

Tagged

This short film commissioned by the Australian Communications and Media Authority for its "Cybersmart" campaign, is really very good.

It's tragic that it needs to be made, mind you, but it gets its point across very well.

Tagged is about a group of girls who blog images, and then a film, in order to incriminate a school boy 'because he deserves everything he gets'. Of course it all spirals madly out of control - as these things do, and the consequences are far reaching and long lasting.

Will these kids be 'tagged' for ever?

The film is not for young children. The language and behaviour of these teens is frankly shocking to me at home in my 'bubble', but it is still well worth watching. On many levels.

Take a look.

Have a browse also at the Cybersmart website. There are tabs for kids of all ages, and lots of the points are relevant even to Jemimah. I'm going to have a chat with her about some of them today.

So far, I haven't allowed my nine-year-old to 'chat' online with people she doesn't know - even within the relatively safe confines of children's gaming sites. She can't 'add friends' either. I think her on-line experiences are safe. I hope they are!

What do you do? Where do you draw the line? The world is changing, and Cyberspace will surely be a far bigger part of our children's lives than it is of ours. I don't want Jemimah to be left behind, but nor do I ever want her to experience the kinds of consequences that are depicted so realistically in Tagged.

Tell me what you think.

The Jeanne Blog

I've come to the realisation that I'm never going to be a successful blogger. I'm never going to be terribly huge on Twitter or Facebook or Blogfrog or any other form of social media either. The reasons are myriad, not least being the fact that I'm just not a good enough writer to make my living at it.

The other main reason, though is that I fail to follow the rules for making your blog/social media presence huge. Firstly I don't follow the 'Rubbish in; rubbish out' rule - I fail to write only meaningful content on my blog. There is a huge amount of Jeanne twaddle here. It's part of what makes me me, this twaddle. Does anybody out there in cyberspace really want to know that Midnight Oil is playing on the telly while I'm writing? Really? Probably not.

The second reason follows on from the first - I fail dismally in choosing my blog's focus. I started out being a homeschooling blog, but homeschooling is not the sole focus of my life. I am madly obsessed with travel, and sometimes my blog sorta transforms itself into a travel log. Recently I had the crochet bug and my blog assumed a vague handicraft fuzziness. I gained some crafty followers around that time, but I probably lost a few homeschoolers, as they wondered idly what had come over me.

Sometimes I become consumed with my garden and I talk about roses and garden design and what's growing in our Kitchen Garden. I take photos of gardenias and the musk parrots in the gum trees. Later in the year when it gets too hot I forget the garden and gravitate inside to the aircon. I start to talk about my passion for cooking. I post pictures of Bruscetta with Homegrown Tomatoes and Basil drizzled with Balsamic and Olive Oil.

Always I am consumed by books. I try to blend my passion for Australian children's books with my homeschooling to salve my guilt that I haven't talked about homeschooling recently, and that's what I am supposed to be - a homeschooling blog. (Right?) My book collection is huge, and it gives me a fantastic amount of pleasure, but like my blogging, I fail to be able to confine my reading enough to transform myself into a book blog. I read a huge amount, but I rarely review my books. Which reader is going to be interested in a children's classic today and a mystery thriller tomorrow and the latest cookery or gardening tome the day after? And yet that's how my reading goes. I have no focus and no plan.

My latest passion is Japanese literature. I have an abiding passion for Japan. I love the country, the aesthetic, the food, the manga. I have read many, many Japanese design and philosophy books, and yet my introduction to its literature is recent. I read my first novel, Murukami's Wild Sheep Chase only last year. From that I've gone on to read six Murukami novels and the works of many other Japanese novelists, mainly under the tutelage of In Spring it is the Dawn, a blogger who is strong enough to confine her blogging to literature in general and Japanese literature in the main. I try not to wax too effusive about Japanese literature because I am not a book blog, and you're probably not interested in what my latest pash is, and yet I can't deny my interest all together and occasionally my enjoyment of a particular novel bubbles over into my posts. Probably a few more followers 'unfollow' me, thinking that I've lost my way. I probably have.

Sometimes I get frustrated that my followers fail to get any higher than 160. Sometimes the number is one or two higher; sometimes one or two lower. I wish I could become a really successful blog to justify the time I take in writing it. But when I stop to think about the fact that my blog is not about anything in particular, but all about me, Jeanne, then I am pretty grateful. I think it is really amazing that 100 or 150 or 200 and occasionally more people tune in every day to read what I have to say about nothing in particular. In fact that is overwhelming.

The thing that makes a great blog - a firm focus - is exactly the opposite of what makes me an interesting person. I am a multifaceted person of many, many varied interests and lots of general knowledge.

I love God, my husband, my daughter, Charlotte Mason homeschooling, travel, gardening, the arts, Reformed Christianity, cooking and dining, Asian travel, knitting and crocheting, children's books, Australian culture, Japanese aesthetics, South East Asian textiles, blogging, huggling by the fire, and now Japanese literature.

My blog is about all of these.

My blog is about me. It is the Jeanne Blog.

The fact that I have any followers at all is really the most amazing thing. Wow.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for following.

I'm so glad I have you as my friends.

(Which facet of Jeanne keeps you coming back? Do tell. I'd be interested to know.)

Homeschooling Meme

Our friends in the Northern Hemisphere are all gearing up for the new academic year, while those of us in the South have our eyes fixed firmly on the finish line - only a few short weeks away now. ( Or is that just me and mine I'm describing?)

In the midst of all the excitement, Mama Squirrel from Dewey's Treehouse has tagged me for this homeschool meme. To be honest I was kinda overwhelmed - she is such an Überblogger and all. Oh my! The thrill of it all!

The meme. Oh right.

It sorta works better at the start of a year rather than the almost end, but I thought I'd have a bit of a go at replying.

In case you're interested.

I guess Mama Squirrel might be, at any rate.

1. One homeschooling book you have enjoyed

I haven't read a lot of homeschooling books, but my favourite three are For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay; When Children Love to Learn by Elaine Cooper; and When You Rise Up by R C Sproul Jr.

The first one inspired me to consider homeschooling Jemimah in the first place. The second defined much of what a Charlotte Mason looks like chez nous. The third one helped me to find the goals of education from a Reformed perspective that I found very similar to my own. I reread all three of these annually.

Of course I also constantly reread all of Charlotte Mason's books too - especially Volume 6.

Any question that asks me to restrict myself to just one book of any genre is just plain silly anyhow. (Unless it is the Bible.)

2. One resource you wouldn't be without

Google? My home library? My iPod? My blog (because that's where I store everything)?

Apart from these, probably Anne White's Plutarch Study Guides. I can do most subjects by myself, but without these guides, our Plutarch study would be a failure, to be honest. Anne's ability to pick out what is important and her way of explaining what is going on in each selection is just about invaluable, and makes Citizenship one of our favourite and most successful subjects. I would not study a Plutarch life without her by my side. Maybe in a few years, but not now.

3. One resource you wish you had never bought

My timeline book. Not because I don't like it - I think it is lovely - but I bought it too early before Jemimah's ability to understand the chronology of time had developed. I felt guilty when I neglected this book and it caused my lots of angst when I gave up on it for a term. Now that she is older, we are using it with far more success. In hindsight I should have stuck with a timeline or with a book with pages that open out into a timeline like this one. I blogged about our struggle with time here.

4. One resource you enjoyed last year

Why does this silly meme keep asking for one of things? I'll answer this for this year, because last year is...well... a year ago, and I can't remember.

I am delighted with how Pet Shop Maths is going. It is painless and fun. Jemimah is not learning anything new, but she is consolidating and practicing her skills and learning about maths as a practical subject not a theoretical one.

I also love Minimus Latin. Spelling Wisdom is doing great things, and though I wouldn't say Jemimah 'enjoys' using it, she is seeing fruit for her labours, so I am pleased with it. She is happier with The Silver Spoon for Children. She has been cooking her way through this book for our Kitchen Garden subject, and she has had a ball. Her Daddy and I have enjoyed the results as well!! I'll blog about this sometime.

I've loved most of the stuff we've used this year, but I'll stop now.

5. One resource you will be using next year

I'm going to follow Mama Squirrel's lead and try Mission Monde for French. We will start with a lower level than she is using with Crayons, her daughter, though. We will begin with Mission Monde Level 1, which is Grade 4 standard. I like the Mission focused sound of this course.

Most other things we will continue from this year.

6. One resource you would like to buy

A new camera. But that will have to wait a little longer. I have just succumbed to the lure of an iPad, and I will let you know how useful this is as I begin using it. Right now it is still a novelty.

7. One resource you wish existed

An Australianised Ambleside Online. That's why I'm creating one as we go.

8. One homeschool catalogue you enjoy reading

I only read two. I like the list of Free-read type books in the Sonlight catalogue, and the list of Christian books in the Veritas Press one. (Oops, just found myself distracted there by Veritas. Bad girl.)

9. One homeschooling website you use regularly

AO, of course. And MEP maths. I know I'm not using this this term, but we will continue where we left off next year. Still really recommend this programme.

10 Tag six other homeschoolers

If you would love to play along I would love to hear from all of you!

I am especially interested to hear the answers of these ladies though:

Renelle from Dove's Rest
Richele from Barefoot Voyage
Ellen from The Bluestocking Belle
Laura Lou from Wasted Textbooks
Erin from Seven Little Australians and Counting
Amy from Marigold Cottage

You can read Mama Squirrel's answers here.

Brandy's answers are here.

Anyone else?

Aaaaaaarrrrrrgggggghhhhhh!!!!

Just lost a whole post!!

I don't have time for this stuff!

Meh...computers - who needs 'em?

Maybe I'll try again later.

Perhaps nobody is still reading my blog anyhow. I never post anymore anyhow.

Need coffee.

Now.

Do you like me?

Did you know A Peaceful Day has a Facebook page? We do! We do!! I've set it up as place to add snippets of info that are relevant to whatever I'm blogging about mainly - extra videos, questions, additional photos - things like that.

Anyhow, apparently I need 25 fans to create a username. I wonder whether you might press the 'like' button for me? If you like me, that is. If you don't, well that's okay as well. Sniff. Sigh.

The 'like' button is in the left sidebar. See it there?

What do you think of Facebook? Love it or hate it? Usually I love it. Jo doesn't. Susan does. What about you?

Friends and followers

I don't have Followers on my blog. I have Faithful Friends. Occasionally one of these friends 'unfriends' me, and I fret a little, wondering what I've done wrong. Did I know you by name? Did we have a relationship, or did you lurk there, joining as silently as you left? Do I follow your blog? Should I unfriend you as well?

I wonder.

There is a lot of talk nowadays about the value of cyber-friendships, and yet that group of Faithful Friends knows much more about my day-to-day life than many of those whose telephone numbers are listed in my speed-dial.

Amongst my Facebook friends I have both real life and bloggy pals. My bloggy pals are much more likely to comment on my status updates than the real life ones. Why is this, I wonder? Is it because you are more intimately involved in my day-to-day life through the pages of my blog, or are you more computer literate?

I wonder.

Sometimes a bloggy friend with whom I have a daily relationship will announce suddenly that blogging is taking up too much of her time and that she's going to take a break. Mostly that break becomes permanent, and I mourn the loss of one who has become a close friend, even though we've never met. After all, I don't speak to any of my 'irl' friends on a daily basis, and yet everyone would understand if I were sad at the loss of one of those friendships.

Today Jemimah and I travel to Avalon Airport to collect the beautiful Ruby and her two young men. I am terribly excited. Ruby and I both homeschool and we both blog. We attend churches of (almost) the same denomination. But we share much more than that. We share a great love of family. We both have a dry wit and a love of words. We know secrets about each other.

Like most friends we have differences too. She is so wise and I wonder whether she finds me frivolous and shallow. I wonder how my non-Christmas observing friend will cope in our home of over-exuberant Christmas cheer. Will our friendship be strengthened or weakened by this time we spend together? Will our friendship change by transforming itself from a cyber-friendship to one enjoyed in real life?

I wonder.

To all of my Faithful Friends out there, thank you for that friendship. Thank you for pressing the 'follow' button. Thank you for praying that our home would be safe from yesterday's floods. It was. Thank you for caring that our cameras were stolen. Thank you for your kind words as we mourned my dear father's death. Thank you for missing me when we're away. Thank you for encouraging me to write. Thank you for supporting me on our homeschool journey. Thank you for your help. Thank you for caring.

You are certainly true friends to me. That I don't wonder about at all.

20 Questions

From Meet Me At Mikes. Can you tell I'm on holiday? (Gleeful cackle)
Let me know if you join in, won't you? Pip would like to know too.

1. Sweet or Savoury?
2. Dresses or Jeans?
3. House or Apartment?
4. Shop Online or Offline?
5. DVDs or Downloads?
6. Cocktails or Juice?
7. Chocolate or Strawberry?
8. Laptop or PC?
9. Magazines or Newspapers?
10. Facebook or Twitter?
11. CDs or MP3s?
12. Kids or Pets?
13. Macaron or Cupcakes?
14. Walk or Run?
15. Breakfast in Bed or Breakfast Out?
16. Market or Supermarket?
17. Sourdough or Grainy?
18. Heels or Flats?
19. Late nights or Not?
20. Coffee or Tea?

1. Sweet or Savoury? Savory. Corn chips get me every time. It's the salt. On the other hand, Godiva chocolates take some beating.
2. Dresses or Jeans? Jeans. I do have legs though...mostly in summer.
3. House or Apartment? House. Not enough room for books in an apartment.
4. Shop Online or Offline? Both! Bookshops are good any way you shop.
5. DVDs or Downloads? DVDs. Mostly for Jemimah.
6. Cocktails or Juice? Cocktails. Of course. Juice is fattening :)
7. Chocolate or Strawberry? Chocolate. Every time.
8. Laptop or PC? PC. I use both though.
9. Magazines or Newspapers? Magazines. Definitely.
10. Facebook or Twitter? Facebook. Twitter is fun as well, but more of my friends use FB.
11. CDs or MP3s? MP3s. but I often buy CDs and upload them to iTunes.
12. Kids or Pets? Both. I can do with all the love I can get!
13. Macaron or Cupcakes? Cupcakes, although a macaron from Ladurée is divinely wonderful.
14. Walk or Run? Walk. Running is against my religion...
15. Breakfast in Bed or Breakfast Out? Out. In bed is nice too, though.
16. Market or Supermarket? Market but I don't get there often. Preston is my local in Melbourne.
17. Sourdough or Grainy? Potts Sourdough. Mostly I make my own white loaves now. Totally unhealthy, but extremely delicious, and it makes me feel like a good housewife.
18. Heels or Flats? Birkies don't come with heels...do they?
19. Late nights or Not? Late nights. I. Am. Not. A. Morning. Person.
20. Coffee or Tea? Both. Tea first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Coffee mostly in between.

Homeschool Blog Awards

A Peaceful Day has been nominated in the Best Homeschool Methods as well as the Best Variety Blog categories of the 2010 Homeschool Blog Awards. I'm pretty chuffed about that, let me tell you. Thank you so much.

If you read my blog, you might consider voting for me. I would appreciate that very, very muchly indeed. My goodness me!!

Click here to cast your vote. It's easy!

The Very Big Bang

Hello.

On Friday our computer exploded with a very big bang and a mighty smelly billow of smoke and it is no more. It gave Jemimah and me a terrible fright, and made my Beloved fairly grumpy.

I want you to know that life is not very peaceful in our Peaceful Home without our computer. MEP maths done on the little laptop screen is not fun, and we do not like singing folksongs without our backing band. Our iPod lies silent and desolate. School today took a very, very long time.

I do not like not being able to upload the photos from this weekend to show to you all. Jemimah's Dance Concert photos are beautiful, and I want you all to ooh and ah over the no-knead bread that I've baked. I have even mastered the Ripple. Finally. Maybe that has something to do with less time spent on the computer, but if so, you did not hear that from me. There is nothing good to come from this state of affairs. Nothing at all. Big Bangs are never, ever good news, y'hear? Never!

Shall I go on? I have no email. I have no Facebook. I have no Twitter. I cannot read your blogs, and I should not really be writing my own whilst I am being paid to do other more meaningful (to some) worky type things. I feel bereft of all human comfort and support.

I know that I lived a full and fulfilling life before I was connected to cyberspace. I am sure that I was even happy for some of that time, but that was all a very long time ago. So long, that I can't really remember it.

And now I am not happy, Jan.

Not happy at all.

The photo above is of some scones that Jemimah made at Christmas time. I do not know why it is on my work computer, but it is, and I think it brightens up this particularly dismal post just a tad. There is a particularly nice photo of my darling Mum and Dad as well, which makes me a little bit happy. Well, it makes me smile at any rate.

Nothing makes me happy today.

A Hello and a Thank-you

Hello there, my lovelies.

Thank you so much for patiently waiting for my return. I've missed you all, and it's nice to be here. It has been a huge couple of weeks for our family, but we're now coming through the other side, stronger than we were before. Scarred and wounded and violated, but nicer, and more considerate, and more conscious of the importance of strong family bonds and great friends.

My Dad had many, many friends. As I looked around the many hundreds of people that had come to give thanks for my Dad on Tuesday afternoon, I couldn't help but feel a certain amount of pride for this man who to me was just Dad, but to these people was a colleague, or a fellow Gideons member or the President of their Probus club, or a work mate on a farm, or a childhood pal or ...well...or something. My Dad did lots and lots of stuff, and in everything he did it was the friends he made that were important to him.

But there were a smattering of people there on Tuesday who didn't know my Dad very well at all, and no, they weren't just there for the free feed - or I don't think they were - they were there because they were friends of mine...or of my brother...or of my sister. They were there because we were hurting and they cared. It was so good to see them, and they were such an incredible support on that terribly sad day.

I have just returned from the post office where I posted a couple of the Orders of Service to friends that I truly believe would have been amongst that number at the Church in Geelong to support me if they'd lived nearer and been able. I've never even met these girls, but they're amongst my closest friends and I know they care about me just as much as the friends who hugged me and held my hand on Tuesday.

I know them because of A Peaceful Day. I know them because I blog.

Many of the people I've come to know through the blogosphere blog no more. Too time consuming, they say. Time that should be spent with family or homeschooling or cleaning the house. Unnecessary, addictive, and unproductive. Oh, how I disagree! Blogging for me is a lifeline. Blogging is me time. It is time spent with good friends. For me blogging is terribly, terribly important.

In the past three weeks I've been too busy to write much, but I've lapped up your sweet messages and condolences like rain soaking into the parched sands of the desert. I've read them over and over. I've popped in to many of your blogs too - not to comment, but just so that I know what's happening in your lives and to keep some sanity in my own.

I live in a small country town. There are no homeschoolers and few Christians. As a family we are very private and keep to ourselves a good deal. You girls, to me, are my community. You are my friends. You make me happy.

Blogging makes me happy. And when I'm happy my family is happy. The ironing may not get done, but in the scheme of things does that really feature that highly? Not to me it doesn't.

I'll be away for the next ten days or so spending time with my Mum while Jemimah and her Daddy hit the slopes of Falls Creek for their annual Daddy-daughter ski trip. But there is no chance that I'll be gone for good. If I did that I'd lose all of you.

Thank you for hanging in there for me.

Thank you for leaving me nice messages.

Thank you for making me laugh.

Thank you for being my friend.

Thank you for being YOU!

With love,

Jeanne xxx

Blogger commenting issues

It seems A Peaceful Day is not the only blog experiencing commenting issues.

Please know that I am receiving your comments via email, even if they are not showing up on the screen.

Don't stop writing me nice messages, will you? I appreciate every one of them.

And you. I appreciate every one of you too.

Keep Calm

Oh yes, this is very fun.

You can make your own motivational slogan poster based on the old British Keep Calm and Carry On poster. You know - the one produced by the British government in 1939 at the beginning of World War II, to raise the morale of the British public in the case of invasion. Yes, that one. Anyhow, to carry on, you can make one here.

In this time of terrorism, climate change, economic crisis and erupting volcanos, we here at the Ministry of Information feel it is important that you, the British people, have something to cheer you all up. Really, you're all a miserable bunch who ought to know better.

Therefore we are proud to bring you the Keep Calm-o-matic. Just enter the pithy saying of your choice, choose a few simple options, and before you can say 'Alastair Darling has funny eyebrows' you'll have your very own Government-approved motivational slogan.

Here were some of my alternative choices:

• Keep calm and crochet
• Keep calm and enrol her in school
• Keep calm and eat chocolate
• Keep calm and sing
• Keep calm and blog about it
• Have a paddy and yell

What would you choose?

Of course, once again I found this at The Book Chook's place. How does she find this stuff?