Questions Women Asked: Historical Issues, Timeless Answers

 As a woman, it is helpful to read about Christian women of the past who might have had dissimilar lives but often faced challenges not so unlike those which we face today. Simonetta Carr has just produced such a book: Questions Women Asked: Historical Issues, Timeless Answers, published by Reformation Heritage Books.

This new book has short biographies of thirty one Christian women from Marcella of Rome who lived in the fourth century to Jeanette Li who died in 1968. Some of the women are relatively well known such as Monica, the mother of Augustine and Anne Bradstreet, the American poet; others, particularly Marie Durand, deserve to be better known and several were completely new to me. Each chapter is comprised of a short biography followed by a section called Food for Thought which includes some quite challenging questions which involve thinking through the life of the woman concerned, in the light of Scripture and our response to this. At the end of each chapter is a short list of reading For Further Research.

A particularly interesting chapter is about Sarah Sergeant Miller. I hadn't heard of Sergeant Miller before but she struggled with depression and doubts, along with a gambling addiction and a flirtation with laudanum. She continued with her despair for the first five years of her marriage and only shared her difficulties with her husband after this, probably, as a result of mistaken teaching from her mother. Thankfully, she was able to emerge into Gospel light and be a great help to others.

Simonetta has written this book around questions that these ladies asked. These questions are varied:

Will my son be lost?

How can I nuture a son who lives miles away?

How can I be sure I am saved?

What can I do if my husband neglects me?

What should a mother teach her children?

Can women write about theology?

Must I forever mourn?

Can Christians have disturbing thoughts?

and more.

I was impressed with how often these women had useful correspondence. Sometimes, they were helping others and other times they were needing encouragement or asking questions. Is correspondence something that we neglect in our day? I'm not arguing that we all have to write and seal letters; email would do as well! 

Anyway, this is well worth reading and then rereading. It would make an excellent choice for a book group as there is so much to discuss.

 Highly recommended.

Disclaimer: I was provided with a review copy of Questions Women Asked. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions are my own.

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Changes

Things rarely stay static and we have a few changes all coming together.

Elder Daughter is about to disappear on a year abroad. We've been living in a roller coaster of visa issues but these seem to have been resolved. The children would love to visit her at some point. I'm not making promises but have looked on TripAdvisor.

This week, Middle Son had his IGCSE results. We are thankful that he has done very well and has a place at his first choice of sixth form. It is going to seem strange having one fewer child at home, in the day. The last couple of days have included multiple forms and shopping for kit. I think that he is now ready which is just as well as he starts next week.

We care for an older relative and have hit a phase when the amount of help that we need to give seems to have increased exponentially. The last few weeks have included a plethora of different personnel either visiting or on the phone, along with new equipment arriving. I'm glad that this has happened in the summer holiday when there is a bit more time. I've been working on trying to stream line our home education and to make sure that the children have things that they can carry on doing if there are interruptions. As far as possible, I try to arrange visits, phone calls and arranging space for new equipment away from the hours when I am actively teaching but inevitably, this isn't always possible.

If you have time, please pray for us in these changes and that I will have wisdom in prioritising time.

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After the End of Term

Silence has hit my blog at the end of the summer term. Yes, it is tired time. In addition, we have reached a new phase in caring which is taking time. Part of the summer, will probably be spent with occupational and physiotherapists and rejuggling. 

I know that there are plenty of people busier than me and I'm grateful that around this season, there are times for reading, appreciating the warm weather and having a break. I'm glad too, that we do have support in this caring journey. Caring is something that I couldn't do on my own without my husband and children, the professional carers and most of all, the Lord.

It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Lamentations 3 v 22-23

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Joyful through Winter

Winter isn't a time that I anticipate with pleasure.  The house is warm and we have plenty of food but the days are dark, hibernation seems appealing and being cheerful for the next four months looks challenging. 

Despite me wishing to hibernate, my family still want to be fed; their clothes still need to be washed and the children have to be educated. This all works much better if I am joyful.

This year, I have been giving the next few months a fair amount of thought. The last couple of Christmases have been challenging with bereavement and illness. It is easy to include Christmas in the general "not looking forward to the next few months" feeling.

These thoughts are things that have helped in the past that I have pulled together for my own benefit, and hopefully, those of you who have the same issue. Please note, I do not now hold a licence to practice. This is not medical advice. Please go to see your doctor if you have more than an annual mild dislike of the gloomy months and a longing for Spring. 

• As a Christian, I know that I can pray and that there are commandments to rejoice and praise. Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again, I say, Rejoice. (Philippians 4 verse 4). They are there for dull days in February.  The Psalms are particularly helpful.

• The Winter doesn't go on for ever. There are signs of Spring in February and things definitely look up in March. 
  

• Going outside, in the daylight, as much as possible really helps. With proper clothing, it is only necessary to stay inside if there is a severe weather warning. Children behave much better if they have had adequate outside time too. 
  
  
  

• Bulbs and inside plants help. 
  

• See other people. Conversation and encouragement from friends helps.

• Plan trips. As home educators, we go on a fair few trips. It is easy to do this in the Summer but having a day trip or even something longer, in the Winter or Spring gives something to plan and anticipate.  This year, the children and I went on a trip to Wales, at the beginning of March. Having this to look forward to, really helped through some grey January and February days. 
  

• I'm enjoying Instagram. It is making me look for colour and light in a grey November world and bringing me other people's pictures of colour and light from around the world when I can't find any.

• An encouraging book to read. In February and March, I read some of Patricia St John's lovely children's books. Twice Freed and Treasures of the Snow were books that I particularly enjoyed. 

• Make something. For many years, I made pots and pots of marmalade in January. I loved the look of those amber pots. 

Doubtless, there will be difficult grey days in January and February but God doesn't change and Spring will come.

Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God. 

Psalm 146 v5

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Children of the Storm

I've recently reread Natasha Vins' autobiography, Children of the Storm and was surprised at the relevance of this book.

Natasha was the daughter of Georgi Vins, a Baptist pastor in the USSR, in the 1960s and 1970s. What made life difficult was that the state was atheistic and Natasha's father wasn't going to compromise his faith and give in the state restrictions on his faith. The family joined the Unregistered Baptists which led to a life of persecution. For Georgi, and for his elderly mother Lydia, that meant imprisonment. For the rest of the family, the implications were social disgrace, being picked on at school, being denied the chance of a university degree and even the threat of the children being removed from parental care.

Natasha was taught, in school, that religion was a lie and that the lessons she was taught, at home, were old fashioned and impeded advance. As a teenager, she had to face the stark choice between these two worlds and after her conversion, she went to work with an underground printing team.

Eventually, Georgi Vins was stripped of his citizenship and sent to the US in a prisoner swap. The rest of the family were given no choice but to follow and carve out a new life.

How is this book relevant in the post-Glasnost era?

In a time, when the Western world is also becoming aggressively atheistic, we need to understand the pressures that we may have to face. We need to remember Moses who
Chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Eygpt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

Hebrews 11v25-26

Reading this book, reminded me of Jocabed, the mother of Moses, who didn't have much time to teach her son but managed to teach him that he wasn't Pharaoh's son and that serving the Lord is greater than the riches of Eygpt. Nastasha Vins was taught by her parents and grandmother within the limitations that they had. The Vins parents both had to work; the state provided education and part of the time her father was absent either being in the underground or in prison. 

Do we make the most of the freedom that we have? Yes, our children will learn secular humanistic values from everything around but are we teaching them about the Lord and His great love? 

Correct teaching didn't change Natasha. She had to come to know the Lord for herself but the Lord used the faithful witness of her parents through difficult circumstances. 

This challenging book is suitable for older children and adults. Highly recommended.


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June Inspiration

June and we are looking forward to summer. 

The picture is wishful thinking, from last year. Today, in London was cold, windy and rainy. The children and I went to a sports day and we should have taken warm coats!

Feed a Family Oxford is about a challenge to feed a family on £100 per month. Actually, the family concerned has two adults and a young child but still this is a major achievement. At this sort of level, my family of five adults (yes, my two eldest are adults now!), a younger teenager and two children would eat on about £300 per month. We spend, including the cats, double this so this blog does make fascinating reading. What interests me is that much of the food is based around vegetable boxes which I had counted as too expensive unless on special offer. There are plenty of frugal recipes here too.

Gwen at an Island Family by grace has written an honest article about when she had major difficulties in her marriage, with some principles for managing When the wheels fall off on your life.

One of my children loves history and particularly, Tudor history so we read this post from Claire, at Angellicscalliwags, together. An Elizabethan unit study might be popular here too.

Since I wrote my updated post about UK Christian home education blogs, I have found more.

Grace to Abide is completely new to me although a well established blog. Catherine home educated in Russia and is now back in the UK and has written a recent series about home education here, comparing it with home education in Russia.

Ordinary Clare is another London based home educator. I loved her post about taking children on a day trip. 

Lizzy, a real life, as opposed to virtual, friend has just started a blog, Peaches@Home. Her post about God's Word in bringing up our children was an encouragement and a challenge.


Home Education Novice has moved to a new blog, An Abundant Adventure. Kondwani has written a post seven years after the death of her daughter called Grief 7 years later, a "wish list". Something, we all should read.

I do hope to update the post on UK Christian Home Education Blogs in the near future.


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You might also enjoy these posts:

UK Home Education Resources

and 14 ways to save money on Home Education Resources

Balancing Half Term

This half term has been about balancing:

• older and younger generation
• children and essential catching up around the house
• house and the garden

It is easy to write as though I had come to the right balance but this is still a work in progress. 

We started out with a family celebration alongside a trip to the sea. This balance seemed to work reasonably well-that was before life got complicated.

Monday was meant to be a day on our church's annual outing but instead, Grandma was admitted to hospital. We managed to get the children to the outing-there was no point them hanging around hospital, all day. We are hoping that Grandma will be able to come home soon.

I had always intended to do some catch up this week but there just seemed a vast amount to do. I'm talking essentials and yes, not even that is all done. Middle Son has done sterling work in the garden which was needed. 

We did fit in another outing to Knole Park in the driving rain and eventually, some hail.

The clothes that I thought were waterproof proved that they weren't! I thought that we were relatively hardy about the rain but we all wanted to go in the dry. The State Rooms are fascinating. The guides kept telling us that they were cold but after the rain, it was a relief not to be wet and being dry felt warm. 

Half term is a time to read. I seem to have several half finished books.

 David Cloud's Keeping the Children continues to challenge. Plenty of food for thought. 

I'm pulling together some books for a children's book club which is an excellent excuse to read children's books. Jim Cromarty's biography of Hudson Taylor The Pigtail and Chopsticks Man is the first that I am reading for this purpose. Do let me know if you can recommend books about different countries of the world for 7-11 year olds. 

On the way out to hospital, on Monday, I pulled a book off the shelf to have something to read while waiting. As a result, I am a fair way through Georgi Vin's Three Generations of Suffering. A thought provoking read about Christians in an atheistic society.

For light relief, I downloaded Choosing Home:20 Mothers celebrate staying at home. The chapters are short vignettes of different mothers and their perspective on staying at home.

The read alouds are on hold. Does that mean that they are not too successful, if we can wait a week? Younger Daughter has wanted a couple of Dickens' simplifications over the holiday. Dickens isn't quite the same simplified! Aldophus Tips, by Michael Morpurgo, as an audio book is currently being enjoyed for what must be the fourth or fifth time.

One text that has seemed so relevant this week has been

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 

James 1 v5

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Energy and the End of Term

This week marks the end of term. No, we don't home educate year round. Yes, I am tired. Yes, I am looking forward to the holiday.

This is the end of term when creativity fails, when I am glad to have a plan and when any unsorted areas in the plan show up. This is the week when I realise that the read-aloud isn't going well and we end up reading Sixth form at St Clares as a replacement.

This is the time when I know that I can't possibly be the mother that I should be when I need God's grace more than ever. This is the time when I need to remember, more than ever, on one of my favourite texts

My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness

2 Corinthians 12v9

At a recent service, we sang a hymn which seemed so relevant for a Christian mother at the end of term. I don't recall ever having sung it before.
This hymn is a thought of the futility of relying on our own strength and based on Psalm 127. It was written by the Victorian hymnwriter Harriet Auber although she seems to have used a different version in her Spirit of the Psalms. 

Vain the toiling of the builder

 Where a home knows not the Lord;

Vain the watching over loved ones

    Where there is no help from God.

  

Vain are all the years of labour,

    Times of trial and distress,

And, without God’s love and favour,

    Vain the talents we possess.

Vainer still the hopes of Heaven

    That on human strength rely;

But to them shall help be given

    Who in humble faith apply.

  

Let us seek the Lord’s Anointed,

    And His pardon, life and peace;

Souls are never disappointed

    Who, through Christ, their prayer address.

  

May our lives bring light and blessing

    And redemption to the young;

May they, Jesus’ love confessing,

    Swell the everlasting song.

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Six thoughts about children and trains

Having just traveled to Wales by public transport, here are some thoughts about what does and doesn't work when travelling with children.

Don't bite off more than you can chew

The first summer that we were home educating, I had a baby, a two year old and an eight year old. Being new, I didn't want to miss any trips from the local group so we trailed to central London on a several stage journey. The toddler's legs grew tired so she had to be carried and we were so slow! I finished the day with exhausted children and with a migrain.

I know that there are people who manage public transport with several little ones but I'm not amongst that number. For us, public transport became easy once we discarded the pushchair. 

Work out whether the journey will be something that you personally can manage.

This concept also applies to baggage. We had two bags each of which one was a back pack. None of them were heavy. We had a pair of shoes each and the minimum acceptable number of clean clothes. 

Avoid the rush hour

This is what I should have done but didn't!

We did avoid changing tube at one of the busiest stations but the rush hour is difficult with children. They get squashed, people aren't patient and its far easier to get separated.

If you have to travel in the rush hour then the children need clear instructions about what to do an escalators, to stay close and what to do if they get lost.


Activities
My children needed a fair few activities for the journey to Wales, none of which could weigh much. These included

• children's magazines. These usually also include activities.
• Uno cards
• Books read aloud. We finished two books and read the whole of another on our journeys.
• a sheet of paper with a list of items for the children to spot and tick off. 
• Colouring.
• Drawing
• Games-charades was popular this time. I did insist that this had to be played sitting down! Other options that we have used before are I-spy, listing all the animals/countries/famous people beginning with each letter of the alphabet, the Bible game (identifying Bible characters with yes/no questions), the history game (similar to the Bible game), fizz-buzz.
• Meals-imperative on a long journey. Packed lunches are much cheaper than train food.
• Looking out of the window: this doesn't work for a whole journey but the Conwy Valley line scenery was suitably impressive.

Seats

Sit together, of course, and if possible book a table relatively close to the toilets. This is particularly useful if there is only one adult who needs to supervise children in two places at once. 

Stations

It takes far longer to get off trains and there always seems to be a gap between the platform and the train! A reason to have a free hand to help a child.

Teach the children to help

Young children can carry childsized back packs. My eight year old carried all her own clothes and my six year old carried most of his but we did travel light.

Ask the children to help count the right number of pieces of luggage to go on and off the train.

Happy travelling!

Please add your tips in the comments.

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This Week: Keeping Going

This week was different. I was fifty on Sunday-yes, half a century and on Monday, we went to my Mother's funeral. A day of rejoicing that she is in Heaven but sadness for our loss. A verse that we sang seem apposite:

'Tis Jesus the First and the Last,

Whose Spirit shall guide us safe home;

We'll praise Him for all that is past,

And trust Him for all that's to come.

It all went well and I was pleased that there was no snow. 

Tuesday was a "back to normal" day but we were all rather tired. I guess not an unexpected effect. Sometimes, I'm grateful for a routine so yes, we got English, maths, history and reading aloud done but it wasn't a sparkling day or week. Strangely, I have a post for the Virtual Curriculum Fair ready to go up about Adding Sparkle to Home Education. I think I need that! Still, we have done the basics and sometimes, that has to be enough. Hopefully, in the coming weeks, we can add some of the more interesting items again.

We did manage to do the RSPB Bird Watch and see a green woodpecker in the process. We see, or hear, woodpeckers not infrequently.

The interest in Pompeii has continued with our reading of The Secrets of Vesuvius. Last week, Youngest Son became fascinated with volcanoes so we have been reading about them, making pictures of them and, of course, making model volcanoes with sodium bicarbonate and vinegar. The model has little resemblance to the real thing. The jar in the background has some layered liquids (golden syrup, oil and water) which looked fascinating on the window sill until I knocked them off. Not a great combination to clean off the floor!

Building has kept Youngest Son busy with Duplo (cranes and other vehicles) and meccano (swords and shield) along with making circuits with his Snap Circuits. He has discovered that drinking chocolate and saliva carry electricity although the later is associated with a fizzy tongue!

I was tired so my plans for learning to crochet, blogging often and starting to learn New Testament Greek went to nothing. Hopefully, next week! My elder daughter has given me a book a learning to crochet and another about learning New Testament Greek: I am keen to keep my brain working! As it happened, I just managed a light, fun read: Gervase Phinn's book The School Inspector Calls! The current reading is a potential read aloud for next year: The door in the wall by Margaret de Angeli. There is something about planning months in advance being fun whereas immediate planning is far less interesting!

A few interesting articles:

• Seven different ways to run a children's book group.
• Roman mosaics being rediscovered. 
• Making a cookie map of Antarctica. 

Linked to My Week in Review.

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Reading Aloud: 11 Practical Thoughts

This is a mini-series about reading aloud. I'm no expert just a parent who has spent an enormous amount of time reading to her children, over the years.

 I posted about Five Benefits of Reading Aloud and one thing that it hasn't achieved for us.

Now some practical points.

• Start young, really young. We have read aloud to the children from before they could crawl. I wrote about the benefit of this in the previous post.

• When reading to several children, we start with books for the youngest. They may then listen to the older children's books or they may not but at least they have enjoyed some books. 

• I've never found that reading completely above the child's head helps anyone. The child doesn't understand and it is rather tedious reading aloud to oneself. 

• Give wriggly, younger children something to do while reading chapter books. We have one child who loves to colour but another who would much prefer to be making a Lego or Meccano model.

• Have a drink to hand!

• Sit somewhere comfortable. We usually read on the sofa but have read in bed, in the garden, in a tent, in a den, at a picnic, on the train and probably more places. I don't read in the car. We have audio books for the car.

• If the children don't like the book, change books.

• If you don't like the book, stop reading. There are plenty of other books out there!

• There are many occasions in a day for reading. I tend to read aloud at breakfast, in the early afternoon and at bedtime. My husband reads the Bible aloud at a mealtime and then reads to the younger children at bedtime. Yes, they often have books from both parents at bedtime.

• We tend to stop reading aloud, except the Bible, when the child is a very competent reader. By this, I mean, able to read classics competently on their own, although I know many families carry on with read alouds beyond this stage. 

• We read a mixture of books. Current read alouds are Leading Little Ones to God, Caddie Woodlawn, The wanderings of Odysseus, Monasteries (a history book by Unstead for my history lover), Jungle Doctor pulls a leg plus picture books.

What do you do to ensure your read aloud time goes well? It is always fun to know what other families are reading. Please share!

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The 7 Minute Life-a review

If, like me, you constantly struggle with time management then there is a great attraction in having a new planner to help.  The 7 Minute Life's aim is to prioritize, organize and simplify your life.
 In order to achieve this, a 90 day planner is used-The 7 Minute Life™ Daily Planner.

The planner is a spiral bound book protected by transparent protective covers measuring 7.3" by 8.5" (about 19cm x 22.5cm).

The Company helpfully produced a video which explains more about using the planner. This video takes about 12 minutes but there are shorter videos explaining about individual components of the planner. 

The 7 Minute Life Daily Planner is designed for adults trying to organise life at work and at home. 

Before using the Planner on a daily basis, I worked on some of the tasks at the start of the book. Please note that this part of using the Planner takes more than 7 minutes. Once the Planner is up and running, planning for a new day only takes around 7 minutes but the initial work does take a little longer. I discovered that the more effort that I put into this, the better the Planner worked for me. These tasks included 

• prioritisng aspects of life such as faith, relationships, tradition, success and a whole long list of other parts of life.
•  writing down a purpose in life.
•  a page about what is loved about work, strengths and "high value activities."
• mental clutter list-those things that never get done or cause clutter and stress.
• 90 day goals including breaking these down into actions.
• life goals
• lists for unfinished work and home tasks

• home repair contact list
• grocery list
• address book pages
• annual, 90 and monthly calendar.
• meeting planner.

It is important to at least start to fill these in before going onto the daily planner. I found the 90 day goal list and pages of lists of unfinished tasks particularly useful whereas the life goals page was a bit overwhelming. I don't know exactly what God wants me to do for the rest of my life so it felt difficult to fill in this section.

The daily progress report is a double page spread for each day. The picture below is of the left hand side.

The right hand side has space for

• appointments
• thank you notes
• voice mail and notes

The aim is to spend 7 minutes a day planning the next day and, in particular, five things that will be done before 11am in order to further aims.

How did this work for me?

• It was helpful to make a list of things that had been nagging me or I had put off doing.
• Thinking through my purpose in life and 90 goals was helpful. I think that I have been more organised about winter wardrobes and it has lead to me planning an educational trip which might otherwise not have happened.
• The unfinished tasks list was usually sadly full but pulling five out did mean that I tackled some otherwise neglected jobs.
• This planner seems to have been primarily designed for the business world and not for home educating mothers. I have virtually no voice mails but many emails. I didn't write these into the voice mail column as dealing with them direct seemed more efficient. Again, I didn't list my daily contacts: I didn't quite see the point as a home educating mother. Perhaps, I could have put them down as a prayer list. 
• Working through five tasks before 11am worked reasonably well during the holidays but once we started back with our home education timetable, this became difficult. Either, I put items on the list which tend to happen anyway: make the children's breakfast, start home educating for the day (a bit before 11am-I hope!), open the door for the carer, make Grandma's breakfast, put the washing on etc. Not really much point writing these, however, if I wrote in items that I really wanted to sort out, there just wasn't time in these hours. Five before 11pm might work better while we are home educating.
• It was helpful to have a reminder to write thank you notes.
• I used the space for notes on a fair few days. It was helpful to have this space to start planning out ideas and saved mislaid sheets of paper.

Overall, I found that having to work through aims and goals was helpful but the planner would be even more useful if it could be customised for home educators.

The 7 Minute Life™ Daily Planner costs $24.95 ( which currently is about £15.33).
7 Minute Life is on various social media. 
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/The7MinuteLife

Twitter - https://twitter.com/allyson7minutes

Pinterest - http://www.pinterest.com/the7minutelife/

Google+ - https://plus.google.com/+AllysonLewis7/posts

You Tube - https://www.youtube.com/user/AllysonLewis

For more reviews visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew site.

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