7 Quick Takes

—1 —

I was in Living Faith yesterday. And here’s a post with photos to illustrate the point of that entry. 

— 2 —

Here’s a forthcoming book that looks great!

The Light Ages: The Surprising Story of Medieval Science

In this book, we walk the path of medieval science with a real-life guide, a fourteenth-century monk named John of Westwyk – inventor, astrologer, crusader – who was educated in England’s grandest monastery and exiled to a clifftop priory. Following the traces of his life, we learn to see the natural world through Brother John’s eyes: navigating by the stars, multiplying Roman numerals, curing disease and telling the time with an astrolabe.

We travel the length and breadth of England, from Saint Albans to Tynemouth, and venture far beyond the shores of Britain. On our way, we encounter a remarkable cast of characters: the clock-building English abbot with leprosy, the French craftsman-turned-spy and the Persian polymath who founded the world’s most advanced observatory.

An enthralling story of the struggles and successes of an ordinary man and an extraordinary time, The Light Ages conjures up a vivid picture of the medieval world as we have never seen it before

Well, a bit overwrought, but if it enlightens folks, have at it!

Available in the US in November.

— 3 —

Speaking of books, as I mentioned before, I’ve been tracking my book sales since the Covid-soused pre-Easter plunge. (Tracking in the only way I can, through the metric Amazon provides authors, which tracks…something. I really have no idea what. I think it’s more than Amazon sales, but I’m not sure).

The cratering reached its worst point the last week of April, when sales this year were about a tenth of what they were last year. Maybe an eighth. No First Communions, no Confirmations, not much Easter visiting and associated gifting from grannies. This year’s sales lagged behind last’s until the second week of May when the tables began to turn.

All summer, slowly but surely, this year’s sales started to surpass last year’s. By mid-summer this year’s cumulative sales of all my titles (as recorded by this metric) were regularly double or triple what they were last year each week.

It’s interesting to me because it’s my way of tracking parish life – obviously what was happening was that parishes were slowly opening back up and beginning to celebrate these sacramental milestones again. And then, as summer waned, folks started looking for religious education materials and supplements. This week’s big sellers were Prove It God, Prove it Prayer (both with sales about ten times the usual – it seems to me that they were required by some classes or schools) and the book of Heroes (sales 7 x what they were the same week last year) and Sign and Symbols (3 x this week last year).

It’s fascinating because at this rate, my sales during this six month royalty period are probably, after a disastrous start, going to even out and end up being commensurate with last year’s.

As I said, it’s mostly interesting to me as a sort-of concrete way to “measure” Catholic parish and catechetical life in these very weird times.

And guess what – you don’t even have to pay a dime for this title!

Mary Magdalene: Truth, Legends and Lies – normally priced at an exorbitant .99 – is absolutely, positively free through Saturday midnight.

Pretty exciting stuff, all around.

— 4 —

Speaking of Catholic parishes and the pandemic, if you know of a parish that’s truly worked hard to serve the needs of its people and the community during this time – nominate them to be recognized for this! Here’s an article about the effort, and here’s the site.

— 5 –

Yes, there’s good news out here in Catholic land – I’ve tried to highlight some local parishes that I believe have really stepped up – but I also will co-sign Phil Lawler’s stance here:

As much as I applaud him for bringing our Eucharistic Lord out onto the streets of the city…

As much as I thank him for taking the lead (when so many other prelates remain silent) in insisting that religious worship is “essential activity”…

As fully as I agree with him that the response from city officials—or rather, their failure to make any response—is an insult to Catholics…

Still I wonder: If the archbishop thinks that the city’s restrictions are unreasonable—if he thinks that it would be safe to celebrate Mass for a larger congregation in the city’s cathedral—why doesn’t he take the obvious action? Why doesn’t he go into his own cathedral, invite the public, and celebrate Mass?

Before I go any further let me emphasize that I do not mean to single out Archbishop Cordileone for criticism here. On the contrary, I mean to praise him. The question that I ask of him could apply, far more pointedly, to all the other bishops and priests who have meekly accepted unreasonable restrictions on the administration of the sacraments—to the bishops and priests who have not raised public objections, have not mobilized the faithful, have not organized Eucharistic processions.

Give Archbishop Cordileone full credit for speaking truth to power: for telling the faithful who joined him last Sunday outside the cathedral that city officials “are mocking you, and even worse, they are mocking God.” Credit him, too, for the public campaign that has urged faithful Catholics to call San Francisco’s Mayor London Breed, and has already raised 17,000 signatures on a petition “asking the City of San Francisco to free the Mass.

But again: Why ask city officials to “free” the Mass? There is only one man who has the rightful authority to restrict and regulate the liturgy of the Catholic Church in San Francisco, and his name is Cordileone. If he wants to celebrate Mass for the public in his cathedral, he can do it.

But wait, you say. He can’t celebrate Mass for the public in his cathedral. It would be against the law.

To which I respond: what law?

— 6 —

Looking for a movie to watch or argue about? Check out Movie/Writer Son’s “Definitive Ranking of David Lean Films” here.

David Lean was a great filmmaker who grew up in the British studio system preceding the outbreak of World War II and became a director, hitched to Noel Coward, during the conflict. After working directly with Coward for four films, he broke out on his own and became one of the most important British filmmakers. His great epics tend to overshadow his smaller films, some of which are pretty much just as great, and that’s really why I do these exercises of running through entire filmographies.

Looking for a quick Halloween craft? Pick up this kit from my daughter’s Etsy shop!

— 7 —

Speaking of books, again – a few lists if you are poking around for something to read either now or in the future.

Micah Mattix’s ongoing bookshop of interesting forthcoming titles.

Looking backwards, the #1956Club – from my favorite “The Neglected Book Page”

For about five years now, Karen Langley (Kaggsy of Kaggsy’s Bookish Rambles) and Simon Thomas (of Stuck in a Book) have instigated a semi-annual event in which people around the world take a week to read and write about books published during a particular year. The next round, coming up the week of 5-11 October, will look at books from the year 1956.

1956 was a terrific year for what I might call good but not stuffily great books. Perhaps the best example is Rose Macaulay’s The Towers of Trebizond, which won her the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction and which is much loved for the spirit embodied in its opening line: “‘Take my camel, dear,’ said my Aunt Dot, as she climbed down from this animal on her return from High Mass.” This was Macaulay’s last novel; also appearing in 1956 is Anthony Burgess’s first novel Time for a Tiger, the first book in his Malayan Trilogy.

To encourage folks to take advantage of the #1956Club while also discovering something beyond what’s readily available for instant download or overnight delivery, I’ve put together this list of 10 long-forgotten and out of print books from 1956.

Go here for the list.

For more Quick Takes, visit This Ain’t the Lyceum!

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Advent

Advent is coming – the first Sunday is less than a month away, December 1. That gives you plenty of time to order print copies of any of these, and many are available in digital formats as well.

(BTW – I don’t make any $$ from the sales of these booklets. The way it works is that these kinds of materials are, for the most part, written as works-for-hire. You write it, you get paid a flat fee, and that’s it. I just …think what I’ve written is not terrible and hope my words might be helpful to someone out there…so I continue to spread the word!)

First, and most current, is a brand-new devotional I wrote for Creative Communications for the Parish. Lots of supplementary materials are available – please take a look!

There’s a digital version available here.  So if you’d like it for your own use in that format – go for it! 

More samples – pdf 

Also new this year, and not an Advent devotional, specifically – since it’s a daily devotional, it of course…contains Advent devotionals!

2020 – Grace Filled Days – begins on December 1, 2019 and continues through December 31, 2020. Two Advents!

Purchase through Loyola here.

(Bulk pricing available, if you’d like to purchase several for, say – a parish or school staff.)

Online here. 

Several years ago, I wrote another Advent family devotional. It’s no longer available in a print version, but the digital version can still be had here.  Only .99!

In 2016, Liguori published daily devotions I wrote for both Lent and Easter. They publish new booklets by different authors every year, but mine are still available, both through Liguori and Amazon.

Liguori – English

(pdf sample)

Liguori  – Spanish

(pdf sample)

Single used copies also available through Amazon. No Kindle version. 

A daily Advent meditation book I pulled together from reflections my late husband had posted on his blog:

Nicholas of Myra

Samples of the St. Nicholas booklet here.

For more about St. Nicholas, visit the invaluable St. Nicholas Center.

 

Years ago, I wrote a few pamphlets for OSV, among them these two:

How to Celebrate Advent. Also available in Spanish. 

PDF review copy of English version here.

PDF review copy of Spanish version here. 

How to Celebrate Christmas as a Catholic. 

 

 

PDF available for review here. 

PDF of the Spanish version available for review here.

And then….Bambinelli Sunday!

(Also – if you would like to purchase books as Christmas gifts from me – here’s the link. I don’t have everything, but what I have…I have. The bookstore link is accurate and kept up to date. I will be out of town for much of November, so keep that in mind when you order)

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Welcome!

Welcome to those of you who might have wandered over here after seeing me on Jim and Joy Pinto’s show today.

And Merry Christmas!

To learn more about me and my writings, you can, of course, simply peruse this blog through the archives over there on the right.

I’m a regular contributor to Living Faith, and, as it happens, one of my devotionals is tomorrow’s – the feast of St. Stephen. You can bookmark this page and read it online on December 26. 

You can follow me on Instagram here – and if you actually follow me on your phone or other device, you can see the more in-the-moment Instagram Stories I post – and over the next week, there’ll be quite a bit of that, as we do a bit of journeying over Christmas.

For more information on my books, go to my main website  or my Amazon author page. 

My most recent book is The Loyola Kids Book of Bible Stories.

Be in touch!

amywelborn60 – AT – gmail.com

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First Communion Season

It’s that time of year….First Communions…Confirmations…Mother’s Day…Graduation…

I can help. 

(I have most of these on hand, and you can purchase them through me. If it’s on the bookstore site, I have it. Or just go to your local Catholic bookstore or online portal).

First Communion:

 

The Loyola Kids’ Book of Saints

The Loyola Kids’ Book of Heroes

Be Saints!

Friendship with Jesus (not available through my bookstore at the moment)

Adventures in Assisi

Confirmation/Graduation:

Any of the Prove It books.

The Prove It Catholic Teen Bible

The How to Book of the Mass

New Catholic? Inquirer?

The How to Book of the Mass

The Words We Pray

Praying with the Pivotal Players

Mother’s Day

The Catholic Woman’s Book of Days

End of Year Teacher/Catechist Gifts

Any of the above…..

 

 

 

 

 

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Tuesday Notes

• Had a GREAT morning with the faculty of Montgomery Catholic schools yesterday. Thanks to Tom Riello for inviting me.
• My topic was inspired partly by the occasion (teacher in-service), partly by some of my usual hobbyhorses and partly by Sunday’s Scripture readings. Basically: How to keep going and stay focused? Let Christ fill you and lead you. Well, how do we do that? By first starting with the prayer of the Church – the prayers and devotional life that have evolved over the Church’s history and the Eucharist. (Translation: Words We Pray). 

• The Scripture passages I highlighted were:

Bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.  (2 Tim 1:8)

This was from the 2nd reading on Sunday, and was the over all theme of the talk. Life is hard. Teaching is hard. We are here with what we’ve been created with (nature) and know that God promises us strength to fulfill his will (grace). How do we do that? How do we bear our share of the hardship for the gospel and where do we find God’s grace?

Abram went as the LORD directed him. (Gn. 12:4)

From the first reading from Sunday. Called by God, Abram did as the Lord directed him. This is our paradigm, as well. But how do we know in what way the Lord is directing us? We first trust that he has not left us alone to figure that out – he has left us the Church, which we believe is the Body of Christ, and the prayers, practices, spirituality and theology of which is what Jesus promised, guided by the Holy Spirit.

So we begin with prayer. The prayer of the Church – both popular traditional prayers and, of course, the Liturgy of the Hours. Paul writes that we do not know how to pray as we ought. That means, in part, that we are like Job standing in the whirlwind, understanding at last how little we understand. When our prayer begins with the prayer of the Church, we are allowing ourselves to be led by the Spirit, and humbly entering into the space where we can be taught how to pray and what to pray for. We also find that we are not alone, as we join our prayers to millions who have joined their hearts to these words over the centuries.

Lord, it is good for us to be here. 

Of course, from Sunday’s Gospel, the narrative of the Transfiguration.

This part of the talk focused on the Eucharist as the source of our strength and I really emphasized the nature of humility here, as well in the other talk. I spoke of St. Francis – on the anniversary of the election of Pope Francis – and the role of humility in his spirituality. Many associate St. Francis with poverty, and rightly, so, but the fundamental type of poverty he spoke of was the poverty of Christ, expressed in Philippians 2. Francis nowhere encouraged all people everywhere to embrace voluntary material poverty. Instead, he said, and more importantly, lived, the truth that the poverty of Christ is centered on the emptying of the will, and allowing one to be totally led by the Father’s will. Bringing that attitude to Mass makes a difference, and impacts how much grace can build on our nature, to help us bear the hardship of the Gospel.

I ended with my dependable 7th grade text, and with Flannery:

Thousands and thousands of people upon the stage of life are adjusting themselves to their roles in this drama — this drama which is real life.  Old men are there and old women, youths and maidens, and even little children.  From all parts of the world they come and from all walks of life — kings and queens, merchants and laborers, teachers and students, bankers and beggars, religious of all orders, cardinals, bishops and parish priests, and leading them all the Vicar of Christ on earth.  All are quietly taking their places, for all re actors in the sublime mystery drama of our redemption.

We, too, have our own parts to play in this living drama.  And there is no rehearsal.  We begin now, on Septuagesima, following as faithfully as we can the guidance of the Holy Spirit, which comes to us particularly in the Mass and the sacraments.

Oh. I am sending you a rather garish looking book called A Short Breviary which I meant to get to you when you came into the Church but which has just come. I have a 1949 edition of it but this is a later one, supposed to be improved but I don’t think it is. Anyway, don’t think I am suggesting that you read the office every day. It’s just a good thing to know about, I say Prime in the morning and sometimes I say Compline at night but usually I don’t, But anyway I like parts of my prayers to stay the same and part to change. So many prayer books are so awful, but if you stick with the liturgy, you are safe.

And…this morning, I was all efficient and made some Chicken Cacciatore (Michael Chiarello’s recipe, doubled). More to come….

Oh, I didn’t sell all the books I had taken, so if you want some..go to the bookstore. Start thinking Easter, First Communion, Confirmation and Mother’s Day!

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15 years!

I realized this past weekend that September 1 marked the 15th anniversary of The Loyola Kids Book of Saints. 

It was the first book I wrote. About the same time I was working on Prove It God, but this one came out first. It was a crazy time, that spring of 2000. (In publishing, it generally takes about a year from submission of the manuscript to publication. It can be done faster – DeCoding Da Vinci took two months – but generally not.)

As I said, it was crazy, with tons of life stuff going on. I procrastinated and before I knew it the holidays had sped by and I was facing a March 1 deadline. So I wrote it in six weeks.

(Lesson learned. Ever since, when planning out projects, I never ask for a deadline between January 1 and April 1. You hit mid-November and it’s almost impossible to get writing done and then you look up and it’s January 10 and you have a deadline in a month. Awful.)

And it’s still in print, which is great. It still sells well, which is even better.

 Loyola wanted a book of saints for children and they were familiar with my column-writing, so they invited me to do this.  I struggled a while with the organization.  I really wanted to make it different from other saints books, which are either organized chronologically through history, chronologically through the liturgical year, or alphabetically.  I wanted a more compelling, interesting organizational principle.  So was born the “Saints are people who….” sections, as you can see below.

Good for read-alouds from about age 5 on, independent reading (depending on child) from about 8 on. The emphasis is on helping children see the connection between their own journey to holiness and the saints’.

Saints Are People Who Create
St. Hildegard of Bingen,Blessed Fra Angelico,St. John of the Cross,Blessed Miguel Pro

Saints Are People Who Teach Us New Ways to Pray
St. Benedict,St. Dominic de Guzman,St. Teresa of Avila,St. Louis de Monfort

Saints Are People Who See Beyond the Everyday
St. Juan Diego, St. Frances of Rome, St. Bernadette Soubirous, Blessed Padre Pio

Saints Are People Who Travel From Home
St. Boniface, St. Peter Claver, St. Francis Xavier, St. Francis Solano, St. Francis Xavier Cabrini

Saints Are People Who Are Strong Leaders
St. Helena, St. Leo the Great, St. Wenceslaus, St. John Neumann

Saints Are People Who Tell The Truth
St. Polycarp, St. Thomas Becket, St. Thomas More, Blessed Titus Brandsma

Saints Are People Who Help Us Understand God
St. Augustine of Hippo, St. Jerome, St. Patrick, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Edith Stein

Saints Are People Who Change Their Lives for God
St. Ambrose, St. Gregory the Great, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Camillus de Lellis, St. Katharine Drexel

Saints Are People Who Are Brave
St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, St. George, St. Margaret Clitherow, St. Isaac Jogues, The Carmelite Nuns of Compiegne, St. Maximilian Kolbe

Saints Are People Who Help the Poor and Sick
St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Martin de Porres, Blessed Joseph de Veuster

Saints Are People Who Help In Ordinary Ways
St. Christopher, St. Blaise, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Bernard of Montjoux

Saints Are People Who Come From All Over the World
Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, St. Paul Miki, Blessed Peter To Rot, Blessed Maria Clementine Anuarite Nengapeta

If you have used this (or the Book of Heroes) in any setting – especially the classroom – and have found it useful, would you write a testimony to that fact? 

We are working on a marketing push for fall 2017, and I thought it would be great to have blurbs from people who have actually used the books. So if you are a parent, librarian, catechist or classroom teacher, have something to offer and are willing to have your name and institution used in marketing materials, please send me an email – amywelborn60 – at – gmail.com – and I will pass it on to Loyola.

 

Thanks so much!

 

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End of the Year Gifts

As we approach the end of the school year, perhaps you’d consider gifting teachers, catechists, DRE’s, classrooms and parish libraries with some of my books??

For a teacher

Well, if it’s a female teacher or catechist – The Catholic Woman’s Book of Days.

Please note – most Catholic women’s devotionals out there are explicitly for “moms.” That’s great, but guess what – not all Catholic women are mothers. My devotional doesn’t assume anything about the woman using it. For the fact is, not all Catholic women or moms nor is mom-hood necessarily the controlling paradigm of every mom’s prayer life.

Several years ago, in my work for Living Faith, I received a gentle corrective from my editor. Most of my entries for that quarter had been kid-centered, she said, and she just wanted to remind me that the devotional had a more general appeal beyond those with children. I’ve always remembered that, and especially when pulling this book together.

So consider that! I have a few copies here for sale, but you can find it at any Catholic bookseller or online.

(FYI, I’ll only be taking orders until Friday, then freezing the bookstore until mid-June)

For a classroom or school/parish library

Whether you’re talking about a parish school, school or religion or library…consider gifting them with one of the books of saints or one of the picture books.

The Loyola Kids Book of Saints

The Loyola Kids Book of Heroes

Be Saints

Friendship with Jesus

Adventures in Assisi

Bambinelli Sunday

If you would like to gift a youth minister or teacher of preteens or teens…consider a Prove It! Book.

Graduation gift?

I’d suggest Prove It! Prayer or, for a young woman, The Catholic Woman’s Book of Days.

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Finished.

And having done so, I’m going to give you a heads-up that Lent 2017 is apparently going to be a surprising 1,367 days long.

Because that’s how long it felt in the writing of the devotional.

(Background: I have now written the Advent 2016 and Lent 2017 Daybreaks for Liguori. Look for them to be advertised in the fall, I suppose.)

I wrote the Advent 2016 edition last fall, getting in several months ahead of schedule, but was a couple of weeks late with this. That was intentional – not the lateness, but the timing of the work. I wanted to write a seasonal devotional during the actual season. That’s an unusual experience for a writer. We are usually working completely out of synch – writing Christmas pieces during Holy Week and Ash Wednesday items during Advent.

 

 

— 2 —

The other night Fathom Events, which produces those one-off film presentations like productions of the Metropolitan Opera and rereleases of classic movies (they’re showing On The Waterfront in a couple of weeks – we’ll be there) presented Bill, the Shakespeare-ish movie from the fantastic Horrible Histories troupe. It was released in England last year, and is getting a US DVD release on May 3, but I wanted to give it some support, so we headed out to Trussville for the showing…

 

…and we were the only people there. Not surprising. I don’t think there’s a hardcore group of Horrible Histories fans here in the US, much less Alabama. But anyway – the movie was really enjoyable. More polished and a little less crazy than Horrible Histories episodes, with, of course, no relation at all to actual history. Doing a bit of research afterwards, though, I found that they had actually rather cleverly inserted historical references in a sort-of correct way throughout the film. It was great fun to see the super-talented HH crew each play about five different roles. It was quickly paced, and was actually a bit moving at the end as It All Came Together for Bill. Check out when it comes out on video!

 

–– 3—

This week has also been occupied with driving. Yes, we have a new driver in our house – turned fifteen last week, permit attained on Tuesday, and big empty parking lot of big empty mall circled about 257 times over the past couple of days. This weekend, we’ll attempt an actual road. I think it will be fine. He has a determination to do it, to do it right and correct his mistakes. It’s not my favorite thing parental activity, but here it is…one more to go after this…

The process of getting the permit was not horribly painful – less than two hours in and out, and it would probably have been less if the state’s servers weren’t going down all afternoon. Another mom waiting with her son remarked that they should get the people who operate the gaming systems to run these things – they would never go down. And she’s probably right.

 — 4 —

 

Speaking of lovely bureaucracy, this happened last night. Our downtown post office is open until 8 pm during the week, so I was down there mailing a box of books. There was one person working, and the line was growing – this was about 7:30. I thought…. I sure hope they have more than one person working the counter over the weekend and Monday. But that wasn’t the issue.

There was a woman there when I arrived, parked at the end of the line preparing packages for shipping, waving new customers past her. It was, as it happens, Michael’s first piano teacher. By the time I got served, it was after 8, they had the door to the customer service area halfway closed and an employee standing there making sure new customers didn’t enter. As I was finished up, Ms. P said to an employee, “Oh, I forgot one more set for one more package. Can I just go out to my car and get it?” Employee shook her head. “No. Once you leave, you can’t come back in.” I said, “May I go out and get it for her?” Nope. We looked at each other. She slipped me her keys and told me which car it was. I rushed out, and as it happened, couldn’t find her package where she told me it was. I stepped back in the door – one step, handed her keys back, told her I couldn’t find it, she said she must have left it at home, and I was trying to telling her about Michael winning first place in his age group at the local sonata competition, and immediately starting getting my marching orders barked at me from both employees. “You’re breaking the rules, ma’am.”

— 5 —

And..books. I have books for sale here – all of the picture books, plus the Mass books, plus Prove It! God. Get your orders in..so I can return to the PO and BREAK THE RULES.

I don’t have any of the saints books in stock here, but you should be able to find them at your local Catholic bookstore (which should always be your first stop for Catholic books), and if they don’t have it, ask them to order it – and of course, any online retailer should have them.

For months, I’ve been battling for the top spots in the highly contested category of “Children’s Religious Biography” at Amazon – for a long time, Ben Carson was my nemesis, but then Penguin published a Joan of Arc volume in their excellent “Who is?” series – and, well, I don’t mind St. Joan besting me. But when, for a few days, John Calvin jumped ahead – well, I’m not having that.

(Currently holding at #1 & #2)

Tomorrow is the feastday of St. Bernadette – my entry on her from the Book o’ Saints is here, at the Loyola site. 

— 6-

Over the next week I hope to finish reading the family exhortation and reread Familiaris Consortio and write something about it. For now, I’ll just say that if you read R.R. Reno in First Things – and the most of what is in the articles linked here at Catholic World Report – that’s where I’m at. I have a slightly different take with a different emphasis, but yes. Once I machete through the thick jungle of ahistorical  false dichotomies and straw men, I’ll have something.

— 7 —

I have a couple of articles to write over the next few weeks, but other than that and homeschooling, I’m focusing my brain on…you guessed it…a trip!

It’s back to Italy in a few weeks.

I usually don’t talk about a forthcoming trip until we have already left, but this time, I’ve decided to share my planning and musing beforehand in a more public way. I’ll begin by talking about why we’re going where we (think) we are going.

For now – because the school day must begin – I’ll say that it will be into Bologna and then out of Pisa three weeks later. 2/3 of the trip is sort-of planned,  but there’s one chunk of the trip I can’t pin down – Tuscany. (Week 1+ – Emilia-Romagna. Most of Week 2  – Rome. Week 3- Tuscany) There is just so much to see and do, we’ve never been to any of it, so it’s hard to decide. I threw out the possibility of leaving Rome, renting the car and just taking it day by day without making any reservations or plans. It would be a week between that point and coming back home from Pisa. One kid was all for it, the other was doubtful. We’ll see. My argument against taking the day-by-day approach is financial more than anything else. I would probably end up spending more on accommodations that way..so we’ll see. It’s tempting.

Extra random read of the week – From Farm to Fable – it’s about Tampa Bay area restaurants, but I’m sure the situation is just the same elsewhere. 

For more Quick Takes, visit This Ain’t the Lyceum!

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Almost done. MAN I am ready to be done with this. It’s not a huge project, but it’s been in the front of my brain for two months and I’m ready to think about something else. I should finish it this evening (Friday), thank goodness, because I have possible articles about Better Call Saul and Walker Percy on the horizon over the next few weeks, a trip to plan, plus an actual paper book to read and a television show (season 2 of the BBC’s Happy Valley) to watch.

Oh. Taxes. Thanks for reminding me.

— 2 —

I wrote about Dorothy B. Hughes here – her The Expendable Man was very interesting, dealing with racial issues and abortion in a mid-century context, in ways that might surprise you. I wrote about season one of Happy Valley here – also with a surprising life-related angle.

–– 3—

Yeah, yeah. An exhortation, too. I’ll get to it. I’ll let everyone else have their say, first. More efficient that way.

 — 4 —

As usual, the Homeschool Daily Reports become less daily by the end of the week. Some highlights: After “The Open Window” he read “The Interlopers” also by Saki. I said, “Where you surprised at the ending?” He said, “No, because you know the story couldn’t happen without something bad happening.” This time I printed out an unadapted version the first time around, and I used this as a supplement for discussion. Part of the discussion (and I mention this just to show you how the Homeschool Rabbit Holes work) began with the concept of the omniscient narrator. Well, first off, he didn’t know what “omniscient” meant, so we picked it apart, along with omnipotent and omnipresent. We talked about how those are attributes of God. Then we swung back around to literature, looked for evidence in the story of an omniscient narrator and then talked about other examples of non-omniscient third person narration, and then touching on first person point of view.

— 5 —

I think we’re done with copywork, and will do only dictation from now on. The blogger at this site said that is what she does – go to this link for a good explanatory series on copywork/dictation – and it struck me that yes, it’s time. He’d gain much more from writing passages being dictated (after studying them) than copying at this point. So this week, I had him grab the book he was currently reading – Spy Camp – and pick out a passage he liked. He found one, he copied it yesterday, and then I dictated it to him today. The lessons contained in this sample were spelling of a couple of challenging words and the use of punctuation within quotation marks.

— 6–

Watched some videos over the last couple of days. Highlights were:

The Hip History video on the Indian Removal Act.

Brain Scoop on explaining taxonomy via candy, water beetles and Death Rocks. Love Emily Graslie!

 

— 7 —

And…books. As I wrote here, I have some copies of Prove It God, plus all the picture books. Get your First Communion gifts!

 

 

For more Quick Takes, visit This Ain’t the Lyceum!

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Proof

I have a few copies of Prove It! God back in stock –  to learn more about the series go to this page. Remember, I also have all of the picture books (great for First Communion) and The Catholic Woman’s Book of Days. (Mother’s Day, ahem).

All prices include shipping. 

I Don’t Believe in God Because….

1. …No One Can Prove He Exists
2. …Science Shows That the Universe Exists Without a God
3. …People Could Have Just Made the Stuff in the Bible up
4. …It’s So Difficult to Find Him
5. …People Have So Many Different Ideas About Him
6. …There are So Many Hypocrites in Churches
7. …People Do Such Horrible Things in the Name of Religion
8. …It’s What I Believe and I Don’t Need Anyone Else to Tell Me What to Believe!
9. …I Want to Be Free to Be Myself
10. …I Don’t Need Him
11. …Innocent People Suffer

Epilogue: What’s the Alternative?

Bookstore here. 

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