I have had to make a few edits to that last post, so I drafted it again.  (It will be back.)  Line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, and there a little, that's how we learn the Bible.  I'm still learning!

A New Pastime

The awesome dad here took the younger girls fishing this evening. I say awesome, because fishing is just NOT my husband's thing. He likes ACTION, as in mountain biking -- pedaling recklessly down a curvy, rocky, skinny dirt path closely lined with trees. Or boulders or cactus. NOT sitting motionless on a dock, waiting and waiting and waiting for a fish.  But when Emily accidentally caught a fish several weeks ago, he knew that he would have to bite the bullet and take her occasionally.  Friends generously donated fishing gear, and now we are set.  Fishing will be a wonderful father/daughter activity for Dad and Emily -- at least Emily thinks so. 

Husband graciously invited me to come along on this short fishing expedition, so I went along for the ride. We drove about a mile to a small lake south of us, where there is a public dock and maybe a few fish, which we were counting on due to the memory of several ice houses on the lake last winter. I was going to write a nice post, but since Betz beat me to it, I will just tell you that both of the girls caught a small sunny and we all had a fun time.  Go here and read all about it!

School Time

For he hath made him to be sin for us,

who knew no sin; 

that we might be made the righteousness of God

in him.

1 Corinthians 5:21

Do you realize just how complicated that sentence structure is??  I who adamantly (and foolishly) declared that diagramming sentences was for the old days have changed my mind. Actually, diagramming sentences can really help one to understand the old Black Book, the beloved King James Bible. Beloved to whom, you ask?  To me. Because it's the only Bible that sounds like God is speaking, and not a scholar or my next door neighbor or a bum off the street. (They were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Mt. 7) But that's a topic for another time, and there have been other times already for posts about that.  

As I was saying.  The first comma that appears in the above verse is critical, for it identifies Jesus as the one "who knew no sin". Without that comma Jesus was only made to be sin for those of us who knew no sin, and that just doesn't work, because there's not one soul who knew no sin. That would make salvation available to no one, and that would make absolutely vain Jesus's coming to this cesspool of sin to bring redemption.  Wow, every jot and tittle (and comma) IS important!

So I was going to try to diagram that verse, to show that "who knew no sin" modifies "him", and not "us".  But do you know what happens when you plug that verse into a sentence diagramming software?  "Who knew no sin" gets connected to "us". Ah, don't believe everything you see on your computer monitor.  As best I can tell, the correct diagram would look something like this:

Except that I can't figure out where "in him" goes, because that is referring to Christ ("him"), who was made sin for us....  So if you know any grammar experts, I'd be grateful to have them share their expertise in this instance.  And what do you do with semi-colons? Are the two clauses diagrammed as two separate sentences?  Normally they would be joined with a dotted line, but in this case one of the clauses is dependent.  So I invented that part of the diagram. The rules for sentence structure were made up after the Old Book was written in English.  It is not bound by today's grammatical rules. And as G. V. Carey observed many years ago, punctuation is governed "two-thirds by rule and one-third by personal taste."  

School is in full swing here.  The first day was not very smooth -- that seems to be a tradition here -- but since day two we have done swimmingly.  I am so pleased with my students who have worked ahead tackling decimal place values or algebra (again), memorizing however temporarily the Egyptian dynasties (to what purpose, we shall see), and reading chapters ahead in the text. I am particularly tickled at the change in the two students who were recently saved, who have suddenly gained more interest in the wisdom of the Bible. It certainly does help to know the Author personally.

One of the delights (and sometimes frustrations) of homeschooling is that we can take a little break any time we need one.  This week we have beloved company, and who can think about school work?  Yesterday we traveled to Duluth with our pastor and his wife.  It was an absolutely beautiful day on Lake Superior.  Today, garage sale-ing, a bit of fishing, and maybe a free hot-dog at Customer Appreciation Day downtown.  Let's see, that would be coursework in making change/detecting a good purchase (both good life skills), and later, some socialization.  Next week, we'll be hitting the books again.  Oh, and Alison is going to take her driver's permit test.  :)  Happy day!

Doesn't Emily look like she has grown up a bit?

Curriculum For Sale

 I should have done this two or three weeks ago... why did I wait til the first day of school to organize the school cupboard? 

If you are interested in acquiring the following, leave me a comment or email me:  g johnsons castle @ gmail . com  (remove the spaces):

ACE English Keys 1013-1024 (grade 2, complete) $9 ppd

ACE Animal Science Keys for PACES 1013-1024 (grade 2, complete), $7 ppd

ACE Animal Science PACES 1022-1024 (spiders, snakes, toads and frogs, grade 2, complete) $7 ppd

ACE Social Studies Keys 1025-1036 (grade 3, complete) $8 ppd

ACE Word Building Keys 1037-1048 (grade 4, complete) $8 ppd

Christian Light Teacher's Guidebook for Social Studies Grade 2, $7 ppd.


Everything is in good to excellent condition, from our smoke-free, pet-free home.

Something Great and Mighty

The conversation went something like this:

Me:  Lord, we have some big expenses coming up.  Could you please give us a lump sum to take care of some of this stuff, and take some pressure off my dear husband?  You know what we need.

Jesus:  Of course I do know.  Don't you fret.  I'll take care of it.

Me:  Thank you.  I'll just leave this with you now.

Jesus:  Good idea.  Didn't I tell you to cast every care upon me?  I care for you!

(...)

Jesus:  Okay, here you go.  I talked to someone about paying your curriculum expenses this year.  It's all covered.

Me:  Praise the Lord!  Oh, thank you.  Lord, you are so good.  Why do we ever worry about these things?  And Lord, please bless that person for doing your bidding! I must go and tell someone about this right now ~   

Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications. The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
Psalm 28:6,7

Jesus:  Anything else I can do for you?

School Time Again

We are experiencing the yearly struggle over curriculum choices again.  I do have most of it ordered, but I am not really happy with my choice.  (The curriculum sort of reminds me of this cartoon.)  All that remains to be ordered is science, and I think that will be Apologia this year, but I am having difficulty placing my two middle kids. I'd love it if Apologia offered a junior-high level anatomy and phys. But they don't; the choices are elementary level or advanced high school level.  Does anyone know if the elementary level anatomy and phys could be used successfully by an 8th grader? An older child? Is it too easy for that age? Because we're not going the college-prep route, Apologia's high school level biology is more than we're interested in. That would definitely involve clinical manipulation of the system: memorizing the trade language to get a passing grade.

Well, school will begin whenever we have time for it. :)  In the meantime, Alison and Amy are at camp, getting a much better and more critical education than the academics. We're praying they will be challenged and encouraged this week to calibrate their life's compass with the Bible compass, both with Jesus Christ at true north.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;

and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

For the LORD giveth wisdom:

out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

Proverbs 9:10 and 2:6

Busy Busy

We've had company for the past few days, very FUN company. Friends from Kansas who threatened to come and see us for the past eight years finally came through!  This house was absolutely a busy place.  Our three older girls had a full-time supervisory job, and they were fantastic!  One of my girls, who has always wanted to have twelve children, may have changed her mind about that number after spending every waking moment with twin six-year-olds.  :)   

Quote:  "I am a trouble-maker, and I make BIG MESSES, but I won't do that here, because I love you guys!"
(Thank God for love!)

I realize the background of this photo appears to be some sort of prison cell.  That is not the case, though there were a few times...  just kidding.

Next week the older girls go to camp and my parents arrive for a week-long stay with us at a cabin somewhere north of here.  After that, more beloved company.  I do have most of our school curriculum ordered for the coming year, but the questions is, when will we do it?  Life is just so full and good.  :)

Community Garden

Our lovely town has a model community garden. I know that in some other places a community garden was a nice idea in theory, but it didn't work in reality. I believe what makes ours different is that this is a community of volunteers. As a matter of fact, if all the volunteers moved away, I think the place would collapse. Some of the produce is grown for the senior center, but many of the plots are rented for personal profit. Some very able gardeners organize this local amenity each year, assigning plots, purchasing communal necessities such as hoes, rakes, and hose and nozzle, tilling the soil, managing the generous collection of compost, and mowing between the plots.

No chemicals are allowed -- we rely on Cayenne pepper to keep the bunnies away.  Tall fencing does a good job of keeping the deer out. There are several perennial plots for raspberries, rhubarb, garlic, and other non-annual produce. Gardeners share their tips and woes. The variety of plantings is amazing and fun!  

This is the first year our family has been able to grow a garden, and other than the weeding it has been a blast!  Elisabeth is in her element, enjoying the living things. Amy has plenty of photography subjects. Dad is perfectly at home in the dirt and weeds, and he enjoys the manly outlet. Alison, well, Alison doesn't like the garden as much as the rest of us do, but she does enjoy the fruit of it. Emily is the first to search for hidden cukes and zukes. As for me, I love the many fragrances of the garden, the potpourri of living colors, and the wonderful freshness of homegrown food. Besides that, growing a garden is a great thing for a family to do together.  Many hands make light work!

This garden has been a blessing.  I am grateful to the people who work hard to keep it going!

Not ours.  Next year I'd like some of these cheerful sunflowers!

Our first tomato!

I'm thankful to have free water and a hose to get it to our plot.  In previous years there was a "water buffalo", a big water tank, from which gardeners filled watering cans and carried their water.  Somehow this photo makes me think of Mr. MacGregor's garden. :)

Nifty idea -- screwing some pvc pipe into the wall makes nice hoe holders.

This froggy is our personal garden mascot. (Thanks, Christi!) 

I'd love it if he would serenade us with beautiful tunes from Peace and Comfort.  :)

  The eyes of all wait upon thee;

and thou givest them their meat in due season.

Thou openest thine hand,

and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.

Psalm 145:15, 16