I asked about this a long time ago in this thread: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/416127-character-education/ It took me a long time to understand content based education (because I never experienced it) and even longer to understand what in the world people meant by virtue based education (again- never really experienced it). I think the best thing you can do for character education is to teach yourself ethics, study religion (if it's your cup of tea) and so forth so that it spills over into your everyday life with your kids. Sure, you can do lessons and crafts and talk about different attributes and so forth but in the end, it is the little things every day that make a difference.

I'm having a similiar experience as I injured my knees running a marathon years ago (before I knew I needed those professionally fitted prosthetic inserts in my shoes). So far, running is going well. Dh said he would run another marathon with me if I wanted to try again but eek... he runs about an hour faster than I do. I'm under the weather today and had planned to do an intensive stretching/capoiera day. We will see what happens now.

Rest day today.

:001_wub: Thanks for the positive feedback. I learned a lot doing this project and not just because I've never written much poetry. Rewriting Psalms teaches prayer: prayers of thanks, prayers of rejoicing, prayers of blessing and even prayers of cursing. I think CS Lewis said something about the cursing in the psalms being primitive (or something like that) but I don't agree with him after rewriting them.

Easy 4 mile run. I don't think I can work on distance and speed while maintaining, more or less gaining, flexibility. So I'm giving up on all speed training for now.

Mine seem to be much shorter than the originals but here are a couple. The Psalms that talk about enemies felt awkward to rewrite as my mind doesn't divy up the world into friends and enemies, good doers, evil doers and so forth. You can kind of see how that played out in the second example. My Psalm 90 We are but dreams Fleeting and brief In the shadow of your eternity Pull us to you Entwine us in your presence For you are the beginning and the end My Psalm 102 Oh God, you picked me up Snapped me like a twig And grafted me onto the Tree of Life Do the same to the gossips, presumers, projectors the power hungry calculators Snap them So they can be grafted too And thrive under your nourishment Your love is the water That sustains us

This is somewhat BAW related as the psalm project started from a study/read last year. I finished rewriting my own version of the psalms this morning and think I'll start Latin for the New Millenium next. It looks fun and easy.

That's not me Snickerdoodle. Somewhere there is footage of me playing that's worth seeing but it's from before I had kids. I just practice by myself for this stage of life and I really enjoy how peaceful my practice has become.

Hugs Redsquirrel and Gretalynne. It's a slow, gentle, careful capoeira day for me. Here's a beautiful video for all of you of one of my favorite sports/dances/martial arts:

Oh fun! We are seeing Hilary Hahn this next month as a late birthday present for me.

4 mile run. The weather's beautiful and I didn't need two miles to "warm up" like I did Sunday. It was just a joy to run today.

I'm sipping coffee and mentally preparing for Capoeira sequences with more handstands and backbends. I was going to start working on a series of six new sequences but the idea of deciphering each step and move seems beyond me at the moment. Maybe coffee will make me change my mind.

H.C. Branner prefered writing short stories because "the writer can move in depth without moving in breadth; he can, independent of the passage of time, by means of either a flash or an explosion, cast light upon a circumscribed area of a man's life or personality." Here's part of "Red Horses in the Snow" a short story depicting a boy's reaction to his first kiss.

5 mile jog. It took two miles to warm up.

I'm still working on Rose Cohen's book and HC Branner's collection of short stories is waiting in the wings. It's perfect for the short attention span that came with this beautiful weather.

Soror- The handstands and backbends are for capoeira. If I want to progress, then I need to buck up and do them.

I was watching Mansfield Park yesterday and thinking I should read the book.

40 minutes of hip openers, back bends and handstands with support. I started doing a standing recovery from my bridge pose and it's not graceful.

I didn't realized nausea could be caused by insomnia. I wonder if too much estrogen or another hormone issue could cause something like this. I'm just thinking of all the pregnant ladies who are twiddling their thumbs at night wishing they could sleep and nauseaus as well. Here's hoping for the best for you today soror. I am resting today.

"Uff da" basically just means "Oh my goodness!"

I might join you all for Mere Christianity. I read H C Branner's short story "The poet and the girl" today. It was a disturbing read until I realized that the poet wasn't crazy and "the girl" represents a creative endeavor and not an actual human being.

3.5 mile run followed by 15 minutes of gentle capoiera sequencias.

I'm almost done with Oliver Twist and am enjoying Rose Cohen's "Out of the Shadows". She talks about her grandfather showing off a carrot and divying it between the kids with flourish. I feel spoiled as there's a whole bag of carrots waiting to be used in some way in the fridge.

2 mile fartlek followed by backbends and handstand work.

I started "Out of the Shadow: A Russian Jewish Girlhood on the Lower East Side" by Rose Cohen to hold me over until my short stories by LeGuin/Branner to come in. I think I'm being bombarded by Cohens/Coens these days. I heard Leonard Cohen so many times while on vacation that I finally looked him up and discovered he wrote over 80 verses for that Hallelujah song. At one point, when trying to write the verses, he sat on the floor in his underwear and banged his head against the ground. And then there's the soundtrack from the Coen brothers "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?" that keeps playing just because Alison Krauss rocks. More Cohens but spelled Coen..... It must be a popular name.