Home Education: Wonder and beauty before taxonomy and dissection

“if you go back to Greek, there is a word that does not exist in the English language, the word kalon, which means both “good” and “beautiful” at the same time, and it’s specified by another word, kaiagathon, or k’agathon, which is a contraction of to kalon kai to agathon, “the good and the beautiful”. Great marriage.” Peter Kreeft

The children love to go to the park or walk in the woods and one their favourite activities (especially for Heleyna) is to “look for nature” wherever they go. I want them to have a sense of wonder when they look at nature and to see it as beautiful and amazing. So far I think they do. I am not big on poetry and romance (in the old sense, well, and the new) but I do like the philosophical view of beauty as necessary for us to grow.

Charlotte Mason was very keen that children keep a nature journal in which they drew and stuck pressed flowers and such like. In this way they learn to see both the beauty and the “science” of nature. Part of this was based in her respect for the personhood of the child.

It’s the same with music and art. I think it’s very important that the children learn to listen to beautiful music and see lovely art works before I start explaining the methods involved. In learning to draw or play music it should be on a foundation of having had time to simply listen and look.

If the ancient philosophers are right and beauty is not so much in the eye of the beholder, but something inherent in itself, I want the children to have the time to see and hear and be, long enough to appreciate it. I think in giving them time to be with something beautiful they can acquire an appreciation of it, and can learn about it, taking it apart, later, if necessary, later. I think it’s a bit like the way a child learns language through first acquiring it in his relationship with those around him, especially his mother. A child can acquire a love of beauty through a relationship with a natural environment. Isn’t there some research out there about depression being linked to lack of greenery in housing estates?

With the Montessori approach to nature there’s a more scientific bent, which is good, but I want the children to appreciate creation as a whole, as well.

This is something that’s been floating about in what’s left of my foggy brain for some time. It began with an online conversation I saw between a home ed mother and a primary school teacher. She spoke of taking her children out to the woodlands and countryside so they could be outside and enjoy the place. She talked of stone walls and lichen and mosses. It all sounded lovely.

The teacher took exception to this. He said he took his group of children out and  by the time they trooped back to school they had identified and marked off various forms of lichen. I assume he armed them with worksheets, for this.

Perhaps he didn’t mean to come across the way he did, but I remember thinking how cold and meaningless his “lesson” seemed compared to hers. It also made me wonder (again) about the impact of closing children up inside institutional buildings with little exposure to the outside world. And then only exposing them in very restricted adult controlled ways.

One major advantage that home ed has over most other forms is time. We can take a summer day and let the children be out and about in it, without any time constraints  There are plenty of cold wet days to do workbook work; and the bright days are not so frequent we should squander them. Anyway, as a good science teacher should know, kids need sunlight to process vitamin D.

I can’t help thinking that many of the great Victorian and Edwardian naturalists that opened so much new scientific discovery to us, would never have been as observant or as in love with their subject of study had they only ever been exposed to the outside world in small time segments with a worksheet on a clipboard.

I think Charlotte Mason had it right. Children need time to be with nature before they need to analyse it. There is enjoyment and interest in learning the names of different mosses and lichens, but if a child is made to spend too much time peering at a stone in a wall and then writing on a worksheet, they are not getting the bigger picture they would have if they had time to stand and stare.

In gratitude for family and friends.

Psalm 88 comes up often at Compline in which the psalmist faces his ill health and gives God a bit of telling off. One line stands out as, because of how sick he is he says, “You have taken my friends away from me, and made me repulsive in their sight. I am confined and cannot escape.” (Ps 88:8).

Go to any place on the internet where people speak of their experiences of serious chronic illness – especially not so well understood ones like fibromyalgia, ME (cfs) or dysautonomic disease like PoTs, IST and all the rest that goes with them, and you’ll see the same stories over and over. So many people tell of how friends and family not only abandoned them, but actually humiliated them over how sick they were.

The most common idiot thing to say is “But you don’t look sick.” WHAT does sick have to look like? I mean, most of us exhibit all sorts of weird “sick” signs. Perhaps the fact that I twitch and jerk randomly, have colour changing body parts; have lost the skill to both move and breathe at the same time, and of course there’s the in-yer-eejit-face wheelchair, has prevented most daft comments (Doctors are another species so I don’t count the bizarre and inhuman things they say).

Story after story in which the person struggling with the disease that has stripped so much of their life away, has to face being rejected, taunted and ridiculed by their own family and friends. What on earth is going on?

Many people lay the blame at the feet of doctors who have been rude and dismissive; which should be a matter of deep shame to medics, but isn’t. Family members still stuck in the idea that “doctor knows best” then feel permission has been given to behave in the same way and so the nastiness spreads. Then there’s the ability to wiggle off the hook of having to love and care for another person. I am sure not wanting to feel responsible makes a lot of people cruel.

Having a chronic disease is a bloomin’difficult business. It’s bad enough when support isn’t there when it’s needed, but to be actively abused for being ill has got to be the worst possible experience.  THIS BLOG POST sums up what it’s been like for way too many people. Research from a couple of years ago shows that one in ten suicides are because of chronic illness – but read any post by someone feeling suicidal with chronic illness and almost always it’s nothing to do with how sick they are, but how others are treating them.

I am so grateful that I haven’t been through the level of rejection and stupid behaviour that so many others out there speak of. I’ve lost a couple of fair weather friends and family, but most people have been fine with me and very supportive.

I am quite sure plenty of people in my life have no idea, or only a vague notion, what chronic illness does to me, but I don’t mind that. Why should they have to understand it? But no one has been cruel or unkind to me, thank God.

Like nearly all FMS/ME/Dysautonomia patients I’ve faced a barrage of rude, arrogant and downright nasty medics. That’s more than enough to cope with thank you very much. I don’t need more. I don’t get why people feel the need to dismiss the suffering of others. What’s that about exactly? 

Ten years into this hideous set of illnesses I’d be very tempted to use rude words in response to someone who tried to pour salt on my wounds.

My oldest children have been brilliant right from the beginning of this. They’ve had to contend with a lot from me and deal with their younger sister being extremely ill for the first three years of her life too.

I am very grateful that I have good Christian people around me who have a good Christian attitude to life.

So to all you friends and family who have never said “But you don’t look sick” or “You should try and get out more,” or “Have you heard of so-n-so the brave cripple..” or “have you tried this miracle cure?” or  whatever other useless, unhelpful thing,  I just want to say THANK YOU.

Fatima, the Pope and a touch of eschatology.

It’s the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima today, commemorating her first appearance in the little town of Fatima in Portugal to the three children Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco on May 13th 1917.

Today,  96 years later Pope Francis will consecrate his pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima.

Blessed Pope John Paul II dedicated himself to Our Lady of Fatima too, especially as he saw her hand in saving his life on May 13th 1981 when he was shot.

The apparitions at Fatima have to be one of the most important visits Our Mother has made to us over the last 2000 years.  Her promise that the War would end was fulfilled pretty quickly and the solders returned home. But she had made a stark warning. Men needed to repent, abide by her Son’s commandments and basically get our act together or there would be another war. She made it clear, that just as Scripture tells us, wars happen as a result of sin. She also warned that Russia would spread her errors over the world and nations would be annihilated.

Even after the spectacular miracle of the sun seem by over 70,ooo people, some many miles away, there wasn’t the right response to her plea. She had told Lucia that a strange light would be seen in the sky to herald the new war.

On Jan 25th 1938 an unusal aurora borealis was seen so far south that it caused fire engines to be sent out around London to find the source of the red lights filling the sky. Scientists made note of it’s unusual stretch and discovered it was caused by a surge in sunspot activity.

Lucia wrote to the Holy Father from her convent saying this was the sign.

Two months later the Second World War began.

Lucia became very ill and it looked likely, at the time, that she might die. In obedience to her bishop she wrote down the Third Secret and it was sent to the Vatican with instructions that it should not be told to the world until after 1960.

For whatever reason, Pope John XXIII read the message and did not announce it. The secret wasn’t announced until after the shooting and amazing survival of Bl. Pope John Paul II. Unfortunately the late announcement, coupled with a somewhat over enthusiastic view from Cdl Sodano that the prophecy was completed – when the vision hardly showed the events of 1981 has resulted in a large number of disgruntled and concerned people thinking that a) there’s more the to the 3rd secret (Lucia said there wasn’t) and b) the consecration of Russia hasn’t taken place properly yet (Lucia said it had) and c) there’s more of the secret we do know to be fulfilled (this seems very likely as only Cdl Sodano seemed to think it was all done with).

It’s a sad fact that all the dire warnings Our Blessed Mother gave us at Fatima have come to pass. If only we had listened.  But the message of Fatima is just as important today so we can still respond to Christ’s call via His Mother. Pray, do Penance and try to conform our lives with His will.

The fact that, despite how much we ignore her, God keeps sending Our Blessed Mother to mother us shows the amazing love, patience and mercy He has.

Obviously we are not supposed to go chasing after private revelation without due prayer and discernment and we are supposed to hear what the Church has to say on them. We know the Church never rushes to judgement on these matters. So much investigation takes place I wonder sometimes if the message is lost in the long wait. The official recognition of some of the apparitions at Kibeho in Africa came after the prophecies had been fulfilled.  I assume enough was known about the messages to have prevented the fulfillment of the horrible prophecy of the genocide, if people had repented as Our Blessed Mother asked.

As our Holy Father dedicates his pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima we await the full triumph of her Immaculate Heart giving glory to her Son.

Jimmy Akin’s 9 things to know about Our Lady of Fatima

Third Secret and the Angel Emmett O’Regan

Third Secret and Millenium There’s quite a bit on Unveiling the Apoc, so take a look around.

 

ME/Cfs, Fibromyalgia, Multiple Chemical Sensitivies, Gulf War Syndrome AWARENESS DAY

May is the month for raising awareness of all sorts of so-called “invisible illnesses.” I’ve said before what I think of people who can’t see another persons’s cross. Not seeing it, doesn’t make it invisible.  The fact that these awareness campaigns are needed irritates me. But hey ce la vie. It’s what Douglas Adams referred to as “Somebody Else’s Problem” the SEP field that made someone invisable.

The one disease that I’ve been thinking about recently is Gulf War Syndrome. The name is a silly label covering the diseases presented, originally, by solders coming back from the Gulf War. I don’t know as much about this illness as I would like to. Like ME it is riddled with controvesy and obvious vested interests. The needs of the sick veterons got kicked way down the priority list.

But one of the good things about injustice, is that it always bites the handler in the end. Meanwhile people with a mixture of serious illnessnes are getting together, supporting one another and pooling resources so that even if there isn’t much research, what there is, can be worth while. These days there is quite a bit of research and a good deal of it is of high quality. (There’s still an astonishing amount of shoddy work being published but the good stuff shines).

Today an International effort is being made by the sick who are well enough and by carers and even some researchers to get some answers. Protests are being organised from Australia and around the world demanding better funding. I’ll never forget reading that in the UK more money is spent researching hayfever than ME.

But groups are getting together and thanks to the massive number of comoribidies that we all seem to have; dysautonomic disorders, gut disorders, bizarre cancers, heart failure… and so on, the more research can be pooled to help us the better.

A number of different paths are being trodden in research and they are proving interesting and hopeful. Anti viral meds are still being tested but for a subset of ME patients in particular they are showing great promise. Sadly, gettingt the FDA to move quickly on this has been impossible. More people are dying while paper is being pushed around with unforgivable slowness.

Cardiomyopathy and cardiac insufficiency theories are looking good for another subset of patients who (if they can get tested) often show mitochondrial dysfunction. When the heart at mito level can’t contain oxygen properly this affects the whole body. It’s a form of heart failure that’s difficult to diagnose (unfortunately) but as heart failure is the leading cause of death in ME, it’s a side of the disease that needs urgent attention.

Research from many chronic diseases including Multiple sclerosis has overlapped with some ME and fibro research showing the ubiquitous Epstein Barr Virus may be the door opener for the diseases. Patients are tested positive for reactivation antibodies and so many of us have a history of more than one serious case of Glandular Fever that this virus is looking good for the root of a lot of our problems. It’s also implicated in Lupus.

Theres good research into methylation and some into endrochronological aspects of our disease.

A lot of time and money has been lost (stolen even) but we can work together  and make up for all of that.  It is my personal opinion that the reason diseases such as HIV/Aids have received the funding and research needed was that those who became HIV+ in the ’80s were actually well enough to fight the astonishingly bad reaction from the CDC. It also helped – sadly- that some famous people died of AIDS.

People with ME and other similar diseases are very sick right from the start. Even those on the less severe end of the scale suffer serious brain fog, confusion and of course the hideous PEM (post exceptional malaise). The people who die of ME tend to be “ordinary” and therefore not high profile enough to galvanise those in power.

Perhaps there won’t be answers in my life time. But I pray to God, they will be answers. Join me in that prayer.

 

Home education Friday Freebies.

Just in case any of you are planning ahead; and I am sure a few of you are; I have a new academic year calender which Kalei has put up on her amazing site for you. It covers August 2013 to July 2014.

You might like my Little Lessons on Science

I know I haven’t produced much in the way of freebies recently. I do hope I can get back to doing so at some point.

Free ebooks online for the children

Gutenberg’s Children’s Lit

Baldwin Classics You can also buy a humungous set of the books in either mobi (for Kindle) or epud for less than $50.

Heritage History

Somewhat out of season but my children love The Cinnamon Bear and this site has lots of stuff about him and the mp3 story to download.

Wired For Books Kid’s Corner If you like Beatrix Potter. There’s other stuff too,

Vintage Cookbooks

COMICS

CINDI science comics. I haven’t really checked this out yet so can’t say what it’s like. But have a look and see what you think

Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact Lots of comics on all sorts of subjects.

The Ascension of Our Lord and a side note about St. Dismas

It’s the Solemnity of the Ascension of Our Lord today although locally here it won’t be celebrated until Sunday. In this piece in which Pope Francis speaks about the Ascension he notes how joyful the apostles were when Jesus ascended into heaven. He points out that the  disciples knew Jesus hadn’t been taken away from them, but that He remained with them forever.  He had promised “I am with you, even to the end of the age.” And they knew He always spoke the truth.

I was going to try and write something meaningful about the Ascension but my brain is on a go slow.

So can I, instead, mention poor old St. Dismas. (Yes, I do have a soft spot for him).

It seems to be a popular question these days to ask if St. Dismas, the good thief, crucified with Jesus, did anything to be saved and whether he passed through purgatory.

If people think that Purgatory is a “place” you go to after death and Jesus said “This day you will be with me in Paradise” I do understand there might be some confusion. But if, as I suspect, many questioners are saying Dismas didn’t suffer purgatory (and in a weird extension that I don’t understand they then say therefore there is no purgatory) then it makes me think of “invisible illnesses”.

First; Purgatory is a process in which a soul is cleansed of attachment to sin and makes the required reparation for those sins as nothing unclean can live with God.  St. Paul describes it as being saved “as if through fire” where only the “gold and silver” are left.  It was certainly part of popular thought that Purgatory was a place with a time linked to earth where people would be purged over days, years or even centuries but this has been clarified by the Church and we are reminded that Purgatory is a process first and  foremost. We can do a whole lot of it this side of death; so as Blessed Pope John Paul II said “Don’t waste your suffering!”

St Dismas was crucified for his sins. He accepted this astonishingly cruel way to die and even had the courage to speak up first for Jesus and then to beg for His mercy, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

To suggest that Dismas didn’t do anything and that he got off lightly is a bit like saying to a person with severe chronic illness “But you don’t look ill.” Perhaps St. Dismas could be made patron saint of “invisible illnesses”.

I am sure this questioning of what St Dismas went through is a very modern thing. Our culture of individualism has slid into blind selfishness and reached the point where even those who are supposed to be Christian can fail to see the suffering of another to such an extent they actually deny it. They deny his courage as well.

It seems to me a short (and dangerous to the soul) step between shrugging off what St. Dismas did in his last hours to shrugging off what his cross mate Jesus did for all of us.

3 Quick Takes

1

Received a beautiful bouquet of pink roses today from a rather fine gentleman I married 25 years ago today.

We’re celebrating our Silver Wedding Anniversary with a take away tonight and a night away at the weekend. Lovely.

2

First day we could actually do the learning outside in company with the guinea pigs on the lawn. Cups of tea and  learning trays at the ready.

3

Just back from the hospital where the Prof has raised the Ivabradine to 7.5mg bd. He is pleased my heart rate is coming down a bit. Hasn’t been over 130 since I’ve been on it.  He wants the Candasarten increased again to prevent another mini-stroke and/or a full stroke Still running high BP and fluctuating a lot. He wants the GP to sort that out once I’ve finished this lot of Prednisolone and possibly once I’m off the Furosemide again.

He also thought going after a dx of Lupus was a good idea as it covers a lot; almost all in fact, of what’s happening with me.

He’ll see me again in 2 months. He is very good.