"Surprised by Joy – The Shape of my Early Life” by C.S. Lewis

I found this book in a used book store and picked it up only because C.S. Lewis wrote it and I've never read anything by him that I didn't love. I was NOT disappointed with this one. It's an auto-biography and I've only read fiction by him. It was amazing to learn more about the man that wrote so many of my favorite stories. I think I would have loved to know him personally. I can't wait to read more of his auto-biographical essays.

As usual, here are a few of my favorite quotes.

In the second chapter “Concentration Camp” he writes about his first school. That should be enough to like the guy right there!

“But “Uncle Gussie”-my mother's brother, A.W.Hamilton- talked to me as if we were of age. That is, he talked about Things. He told me all the science I could take in, clearly, eagerly, without silly jokes and condescension, obviously liking it as much as I did.”

This is the way all people should talk to children. Share what you love, what you find joy in, honestly and eagerly and most children respond well. Try to teach them or tell them what you think they should know and they shut you out. There is a lot in the third chapter like this, about taking children seriously, listening to them, and leaving them alone to pursue their own interests.

In chapter four, explaining some reasons he had cause to fall away from the Christian faith, “The accepted position seemed to be that religions were normally a mere farrago of nonsense, though our own, by fortunate exception, was exactly true....the impression I got was that religion in general, though utterly false, was a natural growth, a kind of endemic nonsense into which humanity tended to blunder.”

This was insight I never thought of, but totally agree. C.S. Lewis has a way of writing about the Christian faith that makes you feel like he has a special connection with God. I love it.

More about school, “I did not notice the real harm it was doing to me. It was gradually teaching me to be a prig; that is, an intellectual prig or (in the bad sense) a Highbrow....At the tail end of this I must repeat (for this is the over-all impression left by Wyvern) that I was tired. Consciousness itself was becoming the supreme evil; sleep, the prime good. To lie down, to be out of the sound of voices, to pretend and grimace and evade and slink no more, that was the object of all desire-if only there were not another morning ahead-if only sleep could last for ever!”

He tales of school as an introvert are very close to my own feelings about it. I can't even begin to go into it. But he isn't complaining or whining about it, and he even goes so far as to touch on the positives of school as well.

Here's a good one. “Where oppression does not completely and permanently break the spirit, has it not a natural tendency to produce retaliatory pride and contempt?” This is in chapter seven. He's still talking about school and it's damage. I'm reading and nodding and underlining, and writing “yes!” in the margins. Things like this, “I have even heard them defend compulsory games on the ground that all boys “except a few rotters” like the games; they have to be compulsory because no compulsion is needed.” Crazy huh? These are the arguments we hear about why some things are needed in our public schools today. Blah!

I'll be hear all morning quoting at this rate. Go read the book. It's amazing. The last chapters summarize how he came to Christianity and it is mind blowing. Like I said, I can't wait to read more!

Finished Aristotle's "Poetics"

This book should be used in every “language arts” class! It's all about what makes a good story and why.

Here is my favorite quote from this book, “to be learning something is the greatest of pleasures, not only to the philosopher but also to the rest of mankind, however small their capacity for it;”.

How did he know? Sometimes it doesn't matter what or how much I'm learning, just that I'm actively pursuing some goal. Sometimes the only goal is to continue to learn new things! And sometimes I don't believe at the time I read something that I'm learning anything at all, but I find out later that I did learn something. It's awe inspiring.

Los Angeles Natural History Museum

Yesterday we went to the Natural History Museum in LA with my Grandpa! It was a wonderful day to be in LA. I know, from me! But the wind was blowing and the sky was clear. The city actually looked pretty.

It took us about an hour to get from my Grandpa's house to the museum and almost two to get home. Yikes! We left a little a little later than I had expected to.

 

The boys found a honey badger and guess what? Honey badger DON'T care!

 

It's like we were actually there!

 

Jake was worried about this "giant clam with a fluted shell that can weigh up to

 a quarter of a ton" would eat him. I think it looks like wings!

 

Ancient Aztec wheels?

 

Tom explaining things to us.

 

Jake found a new friend, but I told him it wouldn't fit in his room.

 

Tom looking at his finger prints with the microscope.

 

Then he wanted to see Jake's eye!

 

Jake is afraid we may have "Jurassic Park" situation here.

 

Playing with some classifiers in the garden.

I really liked the garden. If you couldn't hear the traffic, trains, airplanes, and helicopters...it might even be peaceful. I did notice that they brought many things into the garden that we would have in our yard. Dead trees, wasp nests, bugs and things were all pointed out for kids to see. We're lucky we have the type of life that lets us just discover these things naturally.

I forgot how much I love that museum. The boys and I used to go fairly often when we lived in Anaheim, and I thought for sure Grandpa would enjoy it. He did! It's such a beautiful building. The boys remembered it well.

I really enjoyed spending the day with my Grandpa and my boys. It's kinda fun to think that they will have so many good memories of time spent with their Great-Grandpa.

Finished Plato's "Meno"

Plato's Dialogues are really hard for me to read. Socarates makes me crazy with the round and round talking. I can see Abbot and Costello performing it!

I feel like the meaning is just out of my reach.

This one is about the meaning of virtue and whether or not it can be taught. Does it change through time and culture? Is it passed down through generations? Can it be exclusively taught to another? Or is it modeled and hopefully picked up by those closest to you?

I'm reminded of a thought I had a while back. There is always someone watching you and they learn from you even if you aren't trying to teach. Is that virtue that you are showing them, or a lack of it?

When you return an item to the store because you forgot to pay for it, even though the store doesn't know you have it, is that virtue? When the store clerk thanks you, is that “teaching” virtue?

When you give your son a warning that you need to leave for the post office in ten minutes, and gently help him leave without a scene, is that virtue? When another parent sees you and tries the same technique, is that “teaching virtue”?

When you help your elderly parent with shopping and doctor's appointments because he's losing his memory and needs the help, is that virtue? When your children see you and believe this is what you do for your parents, is that “teaching virtue”?

Spontaneous

I just felt like going to Big Bear this morning...so we did! We got our morning chores done and made for the mountain at noon. The plan was to go play some pool and have pizza, but the FunPlex wasn't open until 2pm and we arrived at 1pm, so we went for some ice cream and window shopping.

 We found a cool old vending machine and got some candy to bring home for Dad. While we were eating our ice cream we watched the workers across the street finish the curb concrete. That was pretty entertaining. A guy walked up the ice cream shop and left his little pomeranian dog tied out front, so we played with him a bit. Then we noticed a music store across the street made a bee line for it. Lots of great stuff in there! No Queen albums though, only “greatest hits”...blah...

At 2pm, we went back to the FunPlex and played a couple games of pool. I want a pool table at our house! The pizza place doesn't open until 4:30pm! Darn it! So we played until the boys were hungry and then went looking for food. 

Tom wanted tacos in a bad way, so that's what were searching for. Finally we found a Mexican place. I wasn't planning on eating at restaurant. I was looking for fast food or something cheap...but alas...tacos must be had. Nice place though! If we had gotten there fifteen minutes earlier we could have payed less for our lunch, but...not in the cards. The food was great, so what can you do!?

We walked back to the car past all the shops. The place was deserted like it usually is during the week. Lots of great shops that the boys won't let me peruse. They wouldn't even let me go to the used book store!

And there was this precious tidbit they performed for me...

Headed back down the mountain and made it home in time for one quick dirtbike ride around the neighborhood. Jake's back at his computer and Tom's attempting to play “Wind Up” on his Dad's Fender. Dad is doing some finishing work on the bug. I'm thinking about going straight to bed.

Another perfect day.

Finished reading Herodotus' “Histories"

Only the first two books are on my reading list right now. There are nine books.

I read a little about Herodotus before I started reading the book and found that he isn't all that accurate in his descriptions. There is debate about whether this was because he was a big story teller and everyone knew it or he was trying to look smarter about the world than he really was. Some of the stories are true, some a complete fantasy, but all are pretty fun to read.

Here are a few of my favorite parts.

A man asked why the other thought a man to be the “happiest of mortals” and the man replied, “First, because his country was flourishing in his days, and he himself had sons both beautiful and good, and he lived to see children born to each of them, and these children all grew up; and further because, after a life spent in what our people look upon as comfort, his end was surpassingly glorious.” He died in battle.

I love stuff like this. Humanity hasn't changed a bit.

“For assuredly he who possesses great store of riches is no nearer happiness than he who has what suffices for his daily needs, unless it so hap that luck attend upon him, and so he continue in the enjoyment of all his good things to the end of life.”

“No on is so foolish as to prefer war to peace, in which, instead of sons burying their fathers, fathers bury their sons.”

Many of the stories remind me of Homer, Sophocles, and even Shakespeare. I could see a comic book, oops, I mean “graphic novel”, written of them. They were great stories! A few I read out loud to the boys while they ate lunch and we marveled at how they turned out.

I'm on to the next book on my list, but I look forward to reading more of these later!

Around the house AND....

This is mostly a picture post!

 Kittens fall asleep wherever they are playing.

 This one especially loves Jake's lap when he's playing with the XBOX.

Tom has brought out the model engine that he started a couple years ago. He's amazed at how much more patient he is and how much longer he can work on it unassisted compared to when he started it.

Dan is putting in a new screen door for me! Yay! 

That's not a real crow watching him. It's "Nevermore".

Jake makes this face when you take a picture of him.

Tom back in his regular place. He spends a lot of time watching videos, reading about motorcycles, and finding events that we can't afford to go to. He also says he is "planning his future".

 I wish he would start a blog to tell people about these things he finds. 

Jake also makes this face when you take a picture of him.

 

This is how my animals spend most of their day. The kittens have kicked Chili out of her spot, so Chili had to kick Kiara out of hers. Luckily, Kiara also has a nice pillow to lay on.

 And it was our anniversary! 14 years! We went out to dinner and Jake took this picture of us. 

Dan's not angry. He's stuffed with fish & chips.

So, there you have it. The last few days in pictures. I hope you enjoyed it!

Inspiration

I get inspiration from the strangest places sometimes! This morning I was watching a video from the 10^th anniversary of 9/11. It was here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJwDcSzqvDA

He was talking about Islam and how the people that did it were not following God or the Prophet at all but were murderers. It was uplifting and good to hear someone speak in such a way. But that's not what I was inspired about.

What inspired me was to hear this quote again, “Be the change you want to see in your world.” We all know that one. Gandhi had some pretty good philosophies. I've read some great books by him and loved it. But this quote never hit me just like it did today. I think it was because I've always heard it as “Be the change you want to see in THE world.” This guy said “YOUR world” and it changed the way I thought about it.

What is “MY world”? I'd say the people I interact with primarily, my household, my family. And then the people in my homeschool group that I see weekly. And then those at the grocery store, the post office, and Walmart.

How can I be the change I want to see in my family? As a wife and mother, I can be gracious, kind, and helpful. Through my actions I can show my family how I would like to be treated. That whole “do unto others” thing again! One (of many) things I worry about lately is that my sons are not getting the exercise I feel they need to be strong people. If I look at myself, well, I'm not much of an example, am I? I see my extended family growing older and weaker and I see other older adults full of life and strength. Which one will I choose to be? I'm choosing full of life and strength! So I'm trying to eat better but mostly I'm getting more exercise. I didn't choose to do this as an example to my family, but it is working that way! Hopefully they will choose life and strength too. It goes right along with other examples I've seen over the years. If you want your children to read, be athletic, garden, chase their dreams, then you need to do those things yourself. “Do as I say, not as I do!” is funny but it doesn't work.

The same thing goes for everyone around us. Even though we may not know it, we are an example to someone, somewhere. I've seen people at the grocery store that I've thought “Wow. I think I'll try that!” or “I hope that how people see me when I'm 80!” They weren't trying to be an example to me or trying to teach me something. They were just going along, being themselves. I saw them and learned something from them. I try every day to remember that someone will see me when I'm out and about and maybe they will find something good to emulate too.

So. That's my deep thought of the day. I'll be off being the change I want to see in MY world!

Finished Reading "Assassin's Creed - The Secret Crusade" by Oliver Bowden

Jake wanted this book because he loves the game and the story there, so he thought the books would be a good place to get more of the story. He read about half this one and found that it was almost exactly the game story. He got bored with it after awhile and then told me that I might like to read it, so I did.

I liked the book, but he was right, it follows the game almost exactly. I haven't played the game but since the tv and game system are right here in the living room, I've seen or heard most of it. The second half of the book gives more of story and was an interesting read. I think we were hoping for more details, more of the why's, and the background to the characters. I would have liked more tie in's to the time and places they were in and the historical characters that touch the story. It's not a deep book but it is fun to read. I liked the ending. Its leads you to want to read the next one, but doesn't leave you hanging.

Good story. Fun to read. But not the historical fiction I would have liked it to be.

The L.A. County Fair

We went to the LA Fair yesterday. I had signed up for the “Fair Kids” field trip, so we got in free (meaning I can't complain) but we were disappointed. I don't think we'll do it again next year.

When school groups go to the fair, they lead a line of kids past the cows and goats, lead them through the educational exhibits, have a sack lunch, and leave. It looked more like an exercise routine. But homeschoolers have more time. We want to see things and explore things. The rides, the shows, the shopping, and the food are just as much a part of our education as the building of book reports and farm animals. But those things were closed until the early afternoon.

It was already 100 degrees when we got there at 10:30AM. There was “Homeschool Check-In Booth”...fancy...First we had to find a bathroom. That was tough. We saw there was a “Star Trek Experience” but there was no sign about when it opened and there was no one there to ask.

We walked over to the “Circus” row, but it was all closed except for two young girls on stilts busy talking to each other.

We went over the “Beneath the Sea” building but the Sea Lion show wasn't until 2:30 and the girl working there was busy on her smart phone. We went inside and there was a tank of sharks, and a place to look at sting rays. The building seemed empty and there wasn't much to really get involved in.

Then we went to the “Pencils 2 Pixels” building. This is the one thing I had really wanted to see. It was nice. I would have liked to see the guy that teaches you to draw, but there was not listing for times he would be there and no one to ask. There were cool old video games that we played, stuff about voice over work ( but you couldn't hear the video, it was too quiet in big building), all the major animation studios were represented. But it seemed empty. It would have been cool to have people from those places to talk to. The people working there didn't know anything about it. 

I told them not to wish to be "Big". 

 

 I showed Jake how it's done on Tron.

 Cool illustration of how cells are photographed.

 Old animation camera that no one knew anything about.

 This is my favorite. It spins really fast and then the lights blink. It looks like the figures are moving. 

I saw one years ago but I can't remember where. I was very excited to show them this!

 We spent some time making our own zoetropes.

 

So, we went and had big pulled pork butt sandwiches and huge cokes to dive into. It was soooo stinkin' hot! Tom wanted to wait and go on rides but we needed to go back and get Grandpa. I told him we would try to go back in the evening sometime later in the month.

We headed over to at least see some baby pigs and that wasn't bad. The animals seems about to fall over from the heat too. I remember seeing a lot more animals before though, rows of different rabbits, pigeons, and chickens. But there were three cows, two momma pigs, and a boat load of goats and sheep in one big room. That was it.

Ahh! Sleeping baby pigs! 

There were others that were with their huge mom. Very cute!

 Jake named them. I bet you can guess what. 

We did get a shaved ice and got brain freeze! I wanted to sit in the shaved ice for a while though!

All in all, if you just want to go for free to see the education building and a few animals, then it's worth it. But if you want the fair experience then brave the crowds and spend the money! There are some free days that aren't very busy. Their promotions are listed on the website, so next year we'll do that!

I'm Giving Up Facebook!

Not all of it really, but I'm not following any of my “friends” or playing games that I have to suck in other people to continue to play. I've thought long and hard about this and finally I've come to this conclusion. All my family troubles have come since we moved out here to the desert and I've relied on Facebook to keep up with my family. Problem is, not all my family is on Facebook and it's not the same as calling and talking and catching up.

But I can't give it up completely, because it's a brilliant way to keep up with news and interest articles. I love my groups because I can know what park our local group is meeting at this week, read articles and thoughts about education and world events, find a cool new knitting pattern, or get ideas about what to do or cook for the holidays. It's like the perfect magazine and it's free. I'm keeping that aspect of it.

Also, it's a great way to for people I know or may want to know, to get a hold of me. So, I will be checking it once or twice day when I have a few minutes to spare. But I'm not using it to know what my family is doing or plan get togethers. We need to talk for that. That's what the phone is for. 

Speaking of the phone! The smartphone! It has it's drawbacks. I love it because I can look up things when we have questions like "Where did the Aztecs live?" or "How fast does this ride go?". But sometimes I spend more time trying to post pictures on Facebook than I do standing in line at Knott's. It stops me from remaining in the moment with my family and friends. I debated not getting another smartphone, but that would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I took Facebook and my email off my phone. I don't need those 24 hours a day. I like having my Kindle and a couple games on there for when I'm stuck somewhere and have time to kill alone. I like having maps and google to look up things I need when I'm on the road. And I like having a small phone to snap pictures of things I want to remember. So I'm keeping it. 

I know I'm not alone on this, but I really think Facebook and my smartphone have taken over my life and not in a good way. They are not inherently evil and don't need to be shunned, but I do need to learn to use them more wisely in the future and I think these steps will help.

Oh! And here are a couple pictures of our cats, just in case you miss them! They found a new place to nap.