Mrs. Happy Housewife

Today is Flag Day, the date which honors the adoption of the "Stars and Stripes" as our nation's flag.

"Resolved that the flag of the thirteen United States be Thirteen stripes alternate red and white: that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation."

 - Continental Congress

June 14, 1777

You might commemorate the occassion by flying your own flag, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, singing the National Anthem, seeing how our flag has changed in 233 years, and learning the Flag Code.

You might also enjoy some Flag Day crafts and activities.

Two interesting Flag Day websites are USFlag.org and National Flag Day Foundation.

Don't forget to read this article about President Obama's Flag Day proclamation. As has been customary through the years, this entire week has been declared National Flag Week. In his proclamation, Obama urges Americans to fly Old Glory and publicly pledge allegiance to the flag, from today until Independence Day, as a celebration of our national heritage. A very good idea and one that was put forth by another recent President. 

The blog silence betwixt this post and this post was due to a vacation. Not mine, but the children's. They went off to Puerto Rico for two weeks with a pair of grandparents and H and I were left to our own devices. It was the longest we've been without children since D came along fourteen years ago.

An outsider might think we had ourselves a second Honeymoon...but they'd be wrong. This ship is set up for a crew of four and the absence of two left the First Mate (that's me) exhausted trying to keep this ship afloat. Thank goodness for a Captain who helped pick up the slack. So, while I did suffer a tinge of Empty Nest Syndrome, I was frankly too tired most of the time to pay it any mind.

While I was working like a pack mule, my girl got a chance to put her Christmas gift to use and came back with some lovely photos - if I do say so myself. These are three of my favorites:

Some more of D's photos are over at Flickr. As for the children, they're now home safe and sound and I'm nearly recovered from their vacation.

To my Dearest Love,

Today is our Fifteenth Anniversary and I love you much more than I did then. I loved you with a childish love, irrational and selfish; I love you now with a purer love, refined by adversity and maturity. You are my golden dawn and my silver moonlight. You are my true north and I am hopelessly, boundlessly, eternally devoted to you.

Happy Anniversary to my best friend, my knight-errant, the Captain of my ship.  

For those who have followed the saga of Rifqa Bary, a new development has arisen: Rifqa now has advanced uterine cancer. To compound this poor child's suffering, her own lawyers hid this diagnosis from her, yet consulted with her astranged parents and their CAIR lawyers. It was decided that Rifqa would not have a hysterectomy, although the Mayo Clinic says this procedure is recommended in almost all cases of uterine cancer and I imagine it would certainly be the course of treatment for advanced uterine cancer. In addition, her lawyers saw fit to bring her parents into her hospital room while Rifqa was awaiting surgery. She became so agitated that her parents had to be removed from the room.

With a grim prognosis, an illegal immigration status unrectified, her own lawyers working against her, and her eighteenth birthday growing ever closer, Rifqa needs all of our prayers.

Additional information can be found at American Thinker.

This garden visitor seems to like my new Marigolds as much as I do. The Marigolds were my Mother's Day present and I think our guest is an Eastern Amberwing. This species dragonfly is a wasp mimic and is also one of the smallest dragonflies in North America. According to my readings, this is a female. The males have completely amber wings and the females have clear areas on their wings.

A different view, and quite lovely photo, of a female Eastern Amberwing is shown at the Botany Garden of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Their website also provides a photo of a male. 

More on my garden later.

There is Good and Evil.

The path we have chosen is evidenced by how we treat our fellow man.

There is always a chance for redemption.

Science does not exist without faith. 

Love is powerful.

We all die...and death is only a doorway along the path our souls travel.

These are the truths I found in the six years of "Lost" and, though I disagree with the show's belief in a limbo-land betwixt death and the Great Hereafter, I can understand that worldview.

There is, however, one misstep in the Lost theology that is too great to ignore, one truth that renders all others useless: it is only through Christ that we may be found.

He is our chance for redemption. He is the path that we must choose.

Many these days tend to shy away from the "Him or nothing" belief; it seems so black and white and lacking of mercy. But He is the mercy and faith in Him and His death in our stead is the one and only way to ever pass on from this world into Paradise.

Love is powerful and the greatest love of all is God's.

We may be lost, but God knows right where we are and he can lead us Home.

Monday: Hamburgers, baked beans, tater tots

Tuesday: Teriaki Stir-Fry

Wednesday: Dijon-breaded Chicken (Saving Dinner p.90 ), baked potatoes, green beans

Thursday: Sweet & Sour Meatballs, egg noodles, peas

Friday: Polenta Pie (Saving Dinner p.157)

Saturday: Lemon Roast Chicken (Saving Dinner p.208), California Medley veggies, rotini

Sunday: Chinese & egg rolls

My "Chinese" is no more Asian than fortune cookies, but it was a recipe I learned early in my marriage and was the first meal I served to a dinner guest. I still like it and it's simplicity is why it was one of the first dinner recipes I taught my children.

The ingredients are few:

Chicken breasts, rice, Chinese vegetables (or substitute with broccoli), Catalina dressing (or substitute with French dressing, minced garlic, soy sauce.

Cook chicken breasts in skillet. Add Chinese vegetables or broccoli to skillet and cook. Add dressing, soy sauce, and minced garlic to chicken and vegetables. Heat thoroughly. Serve over rice.

I know many homeschoolers are currently finishing their school year and looking towards planning next year. Therefore, I thought now might be a good time to explain how we homeschool.

First, I choose our course of study and books. I use Charlotte Mason and AmblesideOnline (AO) as a guide. Though we are eclectic homeschoolers, I would say we are Charlotte Mason followers at our core. If you have not heard of Charlotte Mason or her educational ideas, please read AmblesideOnline's Introduction page. In a nutshell, I would say a Charlotte Mason education is filled with good books and beautiful things.

Second, I don't follow AmblesideOnline's booklists explicitly. You'll notice that their Year 8 is not exactly like my Year 8. One reason for that is that I make substitutions according to what is available to me. Another reason is that AO travels through World History in only two rotations. I chose four rotations - each lasting three years. Potatoes, Potahtoes. Both choices are valid.

Third, I make checklists for each term. These checklists itemize every chapter to be read and lesson to be completed.  In a few cases, as in the Free Reading section, the checklist merely lists a book title. The date when the assignment is finished is to be written in the blank next to the assignment.

Here are our current checklists:

Year 5 - Term 2 Checklist.doc

Year 8 - Term 2 Checklist.doc

And here is a snippet for Year 8:

Utopia by Sir Thomas More.

_____ Of the Cities

_____ Of the Magistrates

_____ Of the Sciences, Crafts, Occupations

_____ Of their living

_____ Of their journeying

_____ Of Bondmen, Sick Persons, Wedlock

_____ Of Warfare

_____ Of the Religions

I let the children complete assignments at times of their own choosing. The Montessori part of me believes that it stifles a child to always demand that Geography lessons take place every Tuesday and Thursday at 9:00. However, we are currently working on "Together" subjects (such as Plutarch and Shakespeare) at 2:00 each day, but we chose this time as opitmum for all, much as a college student would sign up for Intro to Criminal Justice - choosing the best fit for her schedule from the days and times offered.

A new addition to our school this term is a wooden recipe box filled with index cards. This idea was born out of my need to give my children a visual reference as to how much work should be completed each week. We all have ADD or ADHD here and it is very easy to become distracted. It would be very unpleasant to arrive at the last week of school and still have most of a seven-page checklist of assignments to complete. Not that I'm saying this has happened. Oh, no, we have never hopped down all the delightful bunny trails of knowledge to suddenly find responsibility staring us solemnly in the face. Ahem.  

Anyway, I divided each book or subject's assignments among 12 weeks and wrote one index card for each time an assignment should be completed during a week of school. For instance, Plutarch's Solon has twelve sections and one should be completed each week. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet has 24 sections and two should be completed each week.

When a child completes a lesson of Solon and writes the date on his checklist, he should also move a Solon index card to the Done area of the recipe box. At the end of the week, all of a child's cards should be in the Done area. On Monday, all of the child's cards are moved back into his or her own section of the recipe box and the process begins again.

We have found the card box to be a very helpful in keeping us on track with our educational goals and it looks like we will continue using it.

I hope this post has helped explain how we homeschool and helps others on their own homeschooling adventure. Please let me know if you have any questions. You can comment here or, if unable, send a missive via email: mrshappyhousewife at yahoo dot com.

I am still working on the 100 Species Challenge (looks like Melissa Wiley is also). Now that everything is growing and blooming again, I'm hoping to work much more on the challenge. For those who have forgotten, the goal is to identify 100 species of plant life in your area.

Number three on my list are Rain Lilies: 

I've already counted this species, but I can't help showing these new photos. Last Friday, the children and I dug up scores of bulbs around our yard to plant in pots. When wild plants show up in the yard, I try to rescue them from the lawnmower.

Digging up the bulbs was very educational because we got a chance to see how large bulbs would form bulbous growths that, with time, would separate from the mother bulbs to form bulblets.

I am hoping to plant these bulbs in a flower bed next spring. As for now, they have been saved from the mower and the weedkiller spray as my husband and I do not agree on what constitutes a "weed".

I do not think anything this lovely could ever be called a weed. I am trying to help my husband understand that there is a difference betwixt a plant blessing and a plant nuisance.

I think he must be coming around to my way of thinking because he kindly spared mowing a Rain Lily in the front yard which I had overlooked. Or perhaps he did that just because he is so indulgent of my gardening fancies. 

For a Christian, every day is Earth Day because God made the Earth and everything in it and set it under the stewardship of man.

For a bit of "earthy" scripture (courtesy of my Twitterfeed today):