Thoughtworthy (First Aid, Christmas List Addition, Deep Dives, and MORE!)

:: 1 ::

Turns out, reading a first aid book during Circle Time was a good idea! It never feels like Thanksgiving until I officially have a second degree burn. It’s what I do! This time, however, instead of bumbling around trying to take care of myself, the response from my children was astounding. We had read the burn chapter a week earlier, and they were chomping at the bits to use their newfound knowledge. One of them started running cold water to cool it down. Another ran to get the calendula gel. A third started searching around for “supplies” and a fourth pondered the freezer and whether I would need ice if the cold water didn’t cut it.

I can honestly say this is the fastest healing burn I’ve had in years! I highly recommend calendula gel. It’s nice and cooling, just remember sometimes it needs to be diluted so as not to sting.

The only downside is that my children now want to hurt themselves, just to see how it turns out. Yesterday, it was paper cuts. Maybe someone should get one on purpose to see if Staphysagria is really a good remedy for it? I’ve already informed them it’s dumb to get hurt on purpose just so they can practice what they are learning, but they still hope someone injures himself soon.

:: 2 ::

Need something new on your Christmas list? Just a reminder about Common Place Quarterly! I think it’s the perfect gift for a Charlotte Mason mama. ♥ I mean, people!! This is an EIGHTY PAGE Charlotte Mason magazine printed at collector’s edition quality levels. What’s not to adore?

And, yes: they ship internationally!

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I’m finishing up one of my big projects and so excited to share it with you! ♥ The first Deep Dive session will be in January. This is for Charlotte Mason Boot Camp alums only. We’ll be studying — taking a very deep dive into — Charlotte Mason’s two ways: the Way of the Will and the Way of the Reason. I really can’t wait for this session! It’s going to be so great! ♥

Registration will open up at the end of December so stay tuned!

:: 4 ::

Have you downloaded and printed your winter Mother Culture Habit Tracker yet? If not, you better hurry! December starts tomorrow! (Can you believe it?) While it is never too late to start a good habit, there is something satisfying when you start at the beginning of the month.

Just fill out this form to download yours:

:: 5 ::

This month in 2016:

Children need to learn to read their school books for themselves. This is part of the act of learning — foraging ideas from pages they have to decipher on their own. With that said, we don’t want to just dump our children in the deep end, so here are some times on moving in the right direction.

:: 6 ::

This week’s links collection:

• A Pact with a Thief, a Deal with the Devil: The Vatican’s Pending Agreement with China from The Public Discourse
  • I’m not Catholic. I fail to see why this is a good idea: “What we currently know of the agreement is that the Vatican will cede selection of bishops in China to the Communist Party. In exchange, the CCP will recognize the pope as the official head of the Catholic Church, and regular relations between the two states will be renewed.”
  • So let me get this straight, in exchange for recognition, an anti-Christian regime is going to choose bishops? Hmmm…
• Students Want to Write Well; We Don’t Let Them from Los Angeles Review of Books
  • HE USED A SEMICOLON IN THE TITLE!!!
  • Please note: Calling the education budget an “austerity budget” in the state of California is LAUGHABLE. Plus, real education with real books isn’t really that costly.
  • With that said, decentralizing schools so that teachers can really teach and locals can really hold schools accountable sounds good to me. Plus, you all know I’d love to help kill the five-paragraph essay.
  • Personally, I think there’s a lot wrong with this article, but still some gems worth mining. The author ignores that most schools don’t read actual books (which would allow children to know what good writing even sound like) and many teachers can’t read at an adult level. The inability to write is part of the deeper problem of illiteracy run rampant.
• The Steward of Middle-earth from The Weekly Standard
  • I had to stifle a little sob when I read this. It’s not everyday we witness the end of an era.
  • This is amazing: “‘Myth-making is normally done . . . by ancient peoples whose names we don’t know,’ Malcolm Guite says. ‘It’s just we happen to have the extraordinary example of a bloke suddenly appearing in the 20th century who became by himself the mythic equivalent of an entire people. And produced it all.'”
• Ghost Voters from National Review
  • “California’s San Diego County earns the enchilada grande. Its 138 percent registration translates into 810,966 ghost voters. Los Angeles County’s 112 percent rate equals 707,475 over-registrations. Beyond the official data that it received, Judicial Watch reports that LA County employees ‘informed us that the total number of registered voters now stands at a number that is a whopping 144 percent of the total number of resident citizens of voting age.'” All told, California is a veritable haunted house, teeming with 1,736,556 ghost voters.
  • Please make it stop! Ugh. I don’t care — not ultimately — whether my state is “competitive in presidential elections.” No! I care that the elections are HONEST.

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Finally, YES, AfterCast will be back soon. I’ve worked on it this week, actually. Make sure you’re subscribed in your favorite podcast player so you don’t miss the start of this new season!

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