Higher Ideals

☀️Summer Vibes☀️

Keep your kids hydrated, folks!

My 8-Year-Old: “Why is our toddler like chocolate? Because he’s super sweet, but when he’s out in the heat too long, he melts down!” 😂

One of my pet peeves is when people refer to the current school system as "traditional" school in contrast to my homeschool. It makes me want to smack them over the head with a history book and explain the definition of "traditional" (spoiler alert: it doesn't mean a modern convention bearing little resemblance to historical norms).

My kids were telling me all the things they were looking forward to when staying with grandparents and poptarts for breakfast came up. I decided to make my own from-scratch poptarts using our homemade blackberry jam for filling. It was unanimous – Mom beats Kellogg.

This is your call to go outside and sit by a pond, feeding ducks and reading a good book.

Apparently I'm the first person to read this book from my library in over 30 years! I guess there aren't a lot of kindred spirits living in my town… Or maybe I just need to start a book club...

"It's better to want the moon, even if you can't get it—the beautiful silvery remote Lady Moon—as unattainable as things of perfect beauty ever are—than to want and get anything else." – said by Oswald Dark in L. M. Montgomery's A Tangled Web

Sometimes I think about ancients figuring out solstices and equinoxes, and when I try to fathom how they could have done so, my brain sort of short circuits (kind of like when I try to conceive of infinity–unfathomable). I consider myself more in tune with nature than most modern Americans; we live on a homestead and consciously observe the changing seasons. But if you set me on a deserted island without any technology and told me I could go home when I correctly identified the solstices and equinoxes, I'd start building my Swiss Family Robinson treehouse because I'm not going anywhere. And the ancients weren't told to look for them in the first place and still got there! 🤯

☀️ Happy Summer Solstice! ☀️ In celebration, we utilized the power of the sun to bake English muffin pizzas with a solar oven (made out of a pizza box).

I love exploring and sharing our historical cultural heritage, but a living, thriving people needs a continuance of cultural creation, an outpouring of art that represents and resonates with the people. One of the reasons that film is such a particularly powerful medium, which captures the imagination and holds our attention, is that it is a multisensory experience combining both visual and auditory input. Engaging more senses makes it more immersive. It is vital that we as a people participate in this medium. I, like many of you, want to support those making the effort to create for our people, to tell our stories, and I hope that you, like me, will consider donating to this effort. Lord Wolfshield is currently running a fundraiser for his next movie by raffling off a prop from his last film, Baby Teeth. So by supporting his efforts right now, you can throw your name in his fedora for a chance to obtain an incredibly cool memorabilia piece.

My daughters often help me in the kitchen, and they get very excited when they get to use a new kitchen appliance. I've decided this may be the female equivalent of trying a new power tool.

That time we got James a flyboarding session so he could feel like the superhero we see him as every day… Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there, giving of themselves every day for the good of their women and children. We see what you do for us, and we thank you for it. ❤️

Used bookstores make me so happy. You never know what you will find. A fav of mine was when I came across Machiavelli's The Prince shelved under fairy tales. The incompetence of the staff can make it that much more of a treasure hunt.

Remember that phrase "live, laugh, love" that became a home décor cliché? This video brought it to mind. "Live, Laugh, Love" is not hung on our walls, but it is embodied in our home. 🤍

“I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.” – said by Anne in L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Avonlea

Our nature study activity this week was wild weaving. We used some twine to lash some sticks into a frame, wrapped twine between two sides to make the warp and wove in items from our walk in nature. Simple, fun, and beautiful.

I have a daughter that is officially taller than my mom. 🤯 I'm pretty sure she's coming for me. It has occurred to me that I give her hugs, but I'm never again going to hold her the way I pick up my babies, toddlers and preschoolers. That stage has passed for her, as well as several other sisters a few inches behind her. I wonder about that last time I held her. Was she hurt? Was she tired of walking after a long outing? Was I frustrated with her because she was getting heavy by that time? It passed unknown into the ether, only thought about and wondered about too many years later to recall. That echo of a reminder though is enough to give me a little more patience with my bigger Littles nearing the end of the holding stage.

Wrapping up our school year includes reading a lot on the back porch with feline friends (I get the feeling they like Plutarch).