8 June 2010

The Fourth Turning:

Times can be thought of as chaotic, circular, or linear. The ancients thought of time as chaotic, no rhyme nor reason; time came to be thought of as circular when the ancients linked natural cycles. Seasons repeat, the sun comes up goes down and then comes up again. Linear came to be during the middle ages when Christianity pulled hard away from Paganism. Americans view time as linear. I have always thought of time as circular. I love how God has made seasons for us. Even down to a day. I am so grateful some days that the sun went down and I get to start over the next day.
Circular time is usually divided into two or four sections. The Etruscans first came up the with idea the the Romans called the saeculum, meaning a long life, or approximately 100 years. The saeculum is divided into four seasons of life, birth, maturation, middle age, and death. These coincide with Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. They are each approximately 20-25 years in length and separate generations. The ideas of each generation change, but cycle back through after four generations.

How to read a book

The rules for reading fiction are different but coincide with the rules for reading non fiction. They will help us learn from the book by helping us have the experience the author wants us to. The part I didn't understand very well, was the criticism part. We can't agree or disagree, we either like or dislike a work of fiction, but we have to go beyond like or dislike and why. We have to "objectify your reaction by pointing to those things in the book that are good and bad and why."

The BOM

I read about Enos. I admire his so much. He is an example of saying so much in a short amount of space. His love for the Nephites and the Lamanites is admirable. I do find myself praying for those I love, but rarely pray for those I don't know and/or are my enemies.

The Lost Memoirs....

Jane, her sister Cassandra, and her mother are left destitute after her father dies. They move from brother's house to brother's house until her brother Frank asks them to live with him and his new wife and share expenses. Frank has announced that he and his wife are moving and it was not said, but seemed clear that the family needed some privacy.

Back in the Saddle

I am going to start using this blog more. I am going to use it as a sort of commonplace blog. I will keep a record of what I study during the day. I just finished several books and am still working on a few. Here is a list:

A Farewell to Arms by Hemingway (20 pages left)


How to Read a Book (much more complicated than I thought)


The Fourth Turning


The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen (love her)



And as always:

The Scriptures

Charlotte Mason Series

Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning

Today:

A Farewell to Arms:

I do not like this book. I think that the protagonist and his lover are two of the most selfish and cowardly people I have read about. I may just have them wrong, but I don't see much that can be called redeeming. I only have 20 pages left and can't wait for them to be over. Catharine is getting ready to have her baby and they move closer to a hospital. They spent some sickeningly loving months in the mountains and now that spring is here they are getting to where it is cleaner and safer for her to have her baby.

How to Read a Book:

The focus today was on how to use a dictionary and encyclopedia. Both are to be used sparingly and only after you have done the necessary work to understand what the author is trying to say. Adler suggests that we should read both of these reference books for pleasure. I do like to look at the dictionary every now and then, but I do not usually do that with an encyclopedia. This was a short day because I was just finishing up a chapter that I started yesterday.

Book of Mormon:

I read most of Jacob 5 today. This is the parable of the olive tree. This is not one of the most interesting parts of the BOM. I was also distracted by Abby, she wanted me to take lots of breaks to read her stories. She loved the books so much that she saved them in her "tubby" for later.

That was all that I got to today because we spent most of the day wild flower hunting at Big Hollow. We found lots and lots of them.

New outlook

I have had a difficult summer. This pregnancy has been so hard on me, I do not' want to go into all of the details, because I have been dwelling on them too much lately. I am finally feeling well enough to focus on studying again. I finished some things that I started in the beginning of summer, but did not get to and now am ready to get started on new projects. For a while, I thought that I was just not ready for a scholar type education. I spent some more time early this spring just trying things out in a LOL style. I now feel restless with this style of learning anymore. I still feel like I do not want to do all of the things that make a student a scholar, such as writing everyday, but know that I have to and even want to see if I can over come this feeling and challenge myself.
Here are the concerns that I have that are causing me anxiety. First, I am still unsure of my "scholar abilities". Second, I feel that I am so far behind where I should be at this point. I also wonder if I have enough time to make it worthwhile. Something that has surprised me is that I am not a good writer. In college, I was good at writing. I wrote all the time and my professors loved and praised my writing. Now that I do not have a "topic" to write about, I have no idea what to write or how to do it. I sit down to write and my mind wanders. This is the part of scholar phase that I am struggling with the most.
I have been mostly reading classic fiction books because I have always loved fiction. Looking back over the books I have read I realize that they have made a difference in my life. I am a better person for reading them and understand myself better. I have really appreciated the group that I go to at Nicholeen's house. I have really benefited from the things that we have read and the discussions also. I do not know if I would have read many of them on my own. I want to venture into other genres myself but do not know how to do it.
This does not mean that I am giving up on my hand work. Iforgot how relaxing and rewarding that it. Now that it will be getting cooler I can work more on quilting and things to stay warm.

The Princess Academy

Donna Goff started The Princess Academy in response to concerns she had about her youngest daughter. She wanted a way for her to learn about true womanhood and believed other mothers wanted the same for their daughters. She wondered if those mothers didn't know how to begin. From this she created a primer for mothers called The Princess Academy and The Hope Chest Journey Rediscovering the Lost Arts of Godly Womanhood (A Primer for Mothers).

She not only included mothers and daughters, but also single women and those that do have have any daughters. These women are those who are "seeking Th refinement of Godly womanhood through developing in beauty and grace from the inside out," (from page 1 of the Primer).

The program consists of several types of groups, called Princess Circles, to help with the journey and make friends. The first is Little Princesses for girls age six through nine and their mothers. The next is called Princess Academy, this is for young ladies age ten through thirteen and their mothers. Maidens consist of girls age fourteen to eighteen and their mothers. Another circle is called Prairie Princesses. These are women and mothers and daughters of any age who focus on provident living skills. The Art of Queenship is a group for adult women single or married.

These groups are meant to teach girls as well as their mothers about how beautiful it is to be a woman, especially when we embrace our divine rolls as princesses of our Heavenly King. They will learn the are of Home Making and not the falsehood of homemaking. They will be better prepared to be a help meet to their husbands and have the know how to make their homes happy.

I love the idea of this. I was ill-prepared to be a wife when I got married and not prepared to be a mother when I had my first child. I do not want my girls to have to learn the skills necessary to be successful women the way I did, it was long and sometimes painful, and still on going.

Hand sewing

For the last two weeks I have been looking over forgotten projects and planning how to finish them. I did not remember how relaxing and fun it is to sew by hand. Lately I have been hurrying through projects on the sewing machine just to get them done not worrying very much about how they look. I forgot that I am actually good at sewing, especially by hand. I make beautiful quilts, clothing, and even toys when I take the time to slow down and use my hands instead of a machine. I am also able to do this and still spend time with my family and it takes very little concentration.

I have started a new scrap quilt made only from fabrics I already had at home and have designed (by this I mean copied most of a design I found online and changed it a little) a scout quilt that I am going to make for my husband for Christmas. I pulled out a quilt I pieced while I was pregnant with Lola and started to quilt after she was born, but put it away when I found out she could not be set down until she was asleep for the night. I am quilting the one now and then when I get cold, but it is too hot to have a quilt on my lap for too long. I am piecing the scrap quilt while I wait for the fabric for the scout quilt to come in the mail.

I have looked forward to the time when I could teach my daughter how to sew from the time I found out that my first baby was a girl. I thought that it would be a long time in the future even now because of time and the dexterity of the girls, but even my three year old can sew a running stitch if I thread the needle for her. I am really enjoying being able to teach them something that I am actually good at. We are having fun and I am really looking forward to them being able to finish something that they can actually use, such as a blanket for their doll or a toy.

I will post some pictures of the quilt that I am quilting now and the others as they come together. I love to document not just the end, but the process as well.

Sorry about the bad pictures, taking them by myself was not a good idea.


Here is a close up of the quilting.


Another close up.

A different kind of scholar

I have tried for the last two weeks to continue with my scholar studies like I always have been, but have found it impossible. I guess that my weak, little, pregnant mind was not meant for those things. What I mean is that I am learning more about seasons and how they differ from person to person and over a lifetime. This pregnancy has been a trial to say the least, but I am finally learning lessons that I am sure I could not learn any other way. Most importantly how much I need my Father in Heaven and how little I can actually accomplish on my own. I have learned to slow down and trust my body. I am learning to let myself not be in control of everything. There are many more, but that will be for another time. One very important idea that I have been reminded of is that I have talents other than those the world considers scholarly, but are scholarly none the less. The Lord has reminded me that these things are important as well and that now is the time to revisit them and cultivate them. None of these things take much concentration and so they are perfect for me right now because I have the attention span of a gnat (I am worse than my baby sometimes).

Back from the break

I have taken a break from doing much of anything for about two months. I am ready to get back into the swing of things. I will not be near as intense, but I will be studying and being an example to my children. My goal is to write two to three times each week. I have set other goals, but I need to work for a week or two to see how realistic I have been. I tend to make bigger plans than I am capable of much of the time, so we will just have to see. Luckily I have been reading a little bit so I will have something to write about today.