[Latin Centered NOT the book.]

I guess in my head, right or wrong, I've got about 4 overlapping methods in my head:

 

1. Neoclassical

 

2. MP and LCC the book

 

3. Traditional classical as defined by Climbing Parnasssus and the Classical departments of universities

 

4. Purely Latin-centered. Not even classical language centered, but LATIN centered. Not traditional classical, but LATIN centered, taking a long hard look at what ancient and medieval classical practices are part of being LATIN centered and which of those carry on to a modern LATIN centered Curriculum, beyond being included in a history lesson. I'm not sure what this is. It is this last overlapping, but sometimes different idea I'm trying to wrap my head around.

 

The Hebrew language laid mostly dormant for almost 2000 years. Then bloomed into a modern language. Latin never went nearly as dormant as Hebrew. It also has not been resurrected as a national language, but maybe some day it will be. It has only been the last couple decades where the Roman Catholic Church has been using Latin less and less.

 

Latin is a beautiful language. Beautiful in a way that no other language is beautiful to me.

 

I agree with you there. It is too bad that it is usually considered a language for reading--spoken Latin is gorgeous. 

 

We do have MODERN books translated into Latin. Winnie the Pooh, Dr Seuss, Beatrix Potter, Diary of a Wimpy kid, etc.

 

This is where I want to go with my children. Heck, this is where I want to end up myself.

Who have been the post-reformation Latinists? What is their history? How have they lived around the world? Who is left? Is Latin dead? Is it too beautiful to ever die? Is the language beyond any one culture to claim?

 

I absolutely don't want MP to define this discussion of Latin-centered. They are a PART of it only. Latin-centered homeschooling predates them. Yes most of your pre-Y2K and early Y2K Latin-centered homeschoolers had similar ideas to MP, but not ALL. There was more being discussed.

 

I am interested in this. Homeschooling wasn't on my radar at that point, and I have no knowledge of the trends and directions things were going before "Big Homeschool" became a thing.

 

A Latin literature course. What has been written and translated into Latin since the reformation?

 

Literature? I don't know. Scientific texts in the original Latin would be interesting, though--Newton's Principia?  Copernicus' Laws of Planetary Motion? Galileo's The Starry Messenger?

 

At one point, Greek was so widely spoken that Romans spoke Greek. Paul was a Roman citizen but wrote his New Testament Epistles in Greek. At some point, Latin became more widely spoken that Greek as an international language. It is just a gorgeous LANGUAGE. I wonder what aspects of the LANGUAGE were responsible for it overtaking Greek as an international language.

Maybe I'm just babbling about nothing. But my brain is kind of busy right now, trying to process a lot of information through a new lens, of what does LATIN-centered really mean. Big and little. For example teaching classical mythology with primarily the Roman names and story twists, rather than the Greek ones, and maybe celebrating the major Roman holidays. For this type of stuff, public school teachers have more to offer than the homeschool market.

 

I am not an expert in any way, but it seems to me that the language-centered classical homeschool curriculums tend to be Christian, and to view ancient Roman culture and mythology as a sort of stepping stone on the way to a modern view of Christianity, or to discard the mythology completely because it deals in false gods. Are there any non-sectarian language-based Latin homeschool curriculum publishers? We are using bits of pieces of things at the moment, but it feels like bits and pieces--not a coherent system for learning a language. I hope that as I become more proficient in Latin, I can improve this aspect of our learning. 

 

Homeschoolers are quick to let publishers and sellers define methods and ideas. I just think at this point, the masses are closing their eyes to some ideas. I think the homeschool MARKET is flooded with PRODUCTS and we have stopped thinking for ourselves. We are letting products that some of us cannot even afford to guide and define us. MP is a store like Walmart. I might want to buy something from them, but they don't get to define Latin-centered.

 

At some point, though, I need to just decide on something and teach. I don't have the time to reinvent the wheel, nor am I-or most homeschooling parents--able to even make a good attempt. How many of us had a classical education ourselves? Most of us are learning along with our kids, studying madly after they are in bed in order to stay a bit ahead of them. lol

 

Plus, Latin-centered homeschooling is a subset of a subset of an already quite small population--homeschoolers > classical homeschoolers > Latin-centered homeschoolers. I hadn't even heard of Latin-centered homeschooling until I came across Campbell's book, and although the ideas resonate with me and I try to implement them, I probably can't really call our homeschool Latin-centered. 

 

Babbling. I know I'm probably babbling. But my mind is busy, and I babble when it is busy, and often at you guys.

 

Your babbling is the best stuff I'll read all day.  :thumbup1: 

 

[The PNW weather is so odd this year. LOL]

We got snow in the front and nothing in the back yesterday. I was confused for a minute because I had just looked out dd's window and admired the snow with her, walked to my bedroom, looked out the window, and saw bare ground. We're not even in a convergence zone--just in the not quite sea level, not quite foothills zone. 

[current Weight Watchers plan]

It still uses points, fruits and vegetables are free, proteins are worth fewer points, and sugar worth more. You can use either a device or paper tools, but I think most people are using a device at this point. I didn't like it, but I'm still fat, so not a great judge of weight loss programs.  :laugh:

[Just for fun - would you have eaten this?]

I would have cut off the licked part and eaten the rest. When I think about it, a cat licks itself all over then goes and sits on the couch, on the bed, on the pillow--it's not like I haven't been exposed to cat spit in a million other ways. And ingesting some cat spit is entirely different than having cat spit injected into tissues via a bite. Eh. 

 

And to think that I used to be a germaphobe.  :lol:

[How bad does a person's health have to get before they must give up living alone?]

My grandma felt that way, until she actually got into an assisted living place and discovered she could have a social life again--she had gotten pretty isolated in her suburban home after her husband died, because she couldn't drive, and really even before that because he couldn't drive much.

 

My husband's grandmother loved her assisted living place. She got to hang out with friends all day, and they even formed a little musical group--I forget exactly what they called themselves, but one of their stage names was Gonorrhea--and sang bawdy songs for the other residents. Not all old farts are fuddy duddies.  :lol:  After all, the hippies are aging and taking their free love ways into old age with them. I recently read an article about syphilis running rampant through some retirement communities in Florida. 

[Anyone want to do Mystic's Homeschool Audit with me?]

I signed up. We just moved so we've been out of school mode for a while. This might be what I need to get back into the groove.

[Not a "would you eat this" thread...]

She never got sick. :) The soup must have been in an especially cold spot in the fridge.

[Ugh! This is not good. ETA Asking for help]

Oh no! Poor guy. I hope he feels better quickly.

[Not a "would you eat this" thread...]

She feels fine. :)

[Not a "would you eat this" thread...]

Ew. Did you tell her?

I told her, and she had zero concern. She actually seemed to be kind of amused that I was so worried about it. :0

[Not a "would you eat this" thread...]

Because nobody in their right mind would eat it. This is a "my SIL already ate this and what are her chances of surviving unscathed" thread.

 

Yesterday SIL was watching our kids while we did some work, and before she left, she mentioned, "Oh, I hope you don't mind that I ate some of the soup that was in your fridge. It was delicious!" I had no idea what she was talking about, until she showed me the container of turkey tortellini soup, pushed to the back of the fridge and forgotten. I made that soup the day after Thanksgiving. And she ate it yesterday. I am waiting for BIL to call to tell us that she has just been rushed to the hospital with horrible food poisoning. The only positive thing I can think of is that she brought it to a full boil on the stove before she ate it. But toxins...ugh. My neice joked that they won't blame me if she dies, but I am actually concerned that it is a possibility! None of my dh's family is worried--apparently they grew up eating old food and never washing their hands ever, and they feel invincible.

 

Is there any chance that SIL is not going to have the worst Christmas ever?

[What would you hide? (re: pet sitting service)]

If you have them, and they are not secured, firearms should be locked up.

[Prank Christmas cards. Is this a thing?]

Back in the old days, before the internet, and when telephone books were the way to get someone's address, my dad received a card from a strange woman, featuring a picture of herself wearing only a santa hat. Turns out my dad shared a name with the area's most eligible bachelor, and the unfortunate woman had chosen the wrong listing from the phone book. Oops. 

[Sprite is Lemonade?]

Yep, my father-in-law wants it that way, have to be able to see the rings from the can. Scroll down this page to see photo http://perfectlynourished.com/2014/11/3-ingredient-cranberry-sauce-hold-the-jelly/

 

The day before Thanksgiving my son asked "Are we having the raspberry stuff this year?" I had no clue what he meant until he described it: the slimy stuff that comes in a can and you open it and it goes thwwshhhp into the bowl and it still looks like the can. Yes, of course--can-shaped cranberry sauce is my favorite too!

[Sprite is Lemonade?]

A swag can also be a bunch of evergreen boughs tied with a pretty bow. It's what you buy if the school kids are selling wreaths for a fundraiser, but you're cheap and don't want to shell out 20 bucks. But a $7 swag? No problem.

[Watching Videos in Public]

There is a parent at one of my kids' activities who listens to music on his phone, no headphones, loudly enough that it competes with the canned music in the lobby. It is annoying, but I hate confrontation so I don't say anything. I just roll my eyes and sigh passive-aggressively.

[Don't you expect]

I was briefly surprised by the long lines yesterday, until I remembered the date. But I kind of walk around with my head in the clouds.  :blush:

[Sales & Deals - post here]

If you use the Shopkick app you can have a Jo-Ann coupon emailed to you. It expires today :( But just in case someone reads this in time it's 20% off entire purchase and works on most items sale or regular priced. I was there today and they had some looms that were already reasonably priced. Dh recently got interested in making scarves but wanted a round loom as well as the one he has (the man seriously came home one night with a loom and made ds a scarf this month) so I ended up looking at them. They were cheaper than the Amazon prices so still a decent deal without the coupon.

 

I couldn't find the coupon on my Retail Me Not app, but I see it now on my PC so that's another place to try for the same deal and similar deals.

 

SaveSaveIf you sign up for coupons on the JoAnn website, they'll send you coupons constantly. You can also get coupons from the JoAnn app. Between the app, the texted coupons, the flyer coupons I get in the mail, and coupons printed from the website, I never pay full price for anything there.  :laugh:

[What toy is this?]

Thank you! Those look great. :) My 6 y/o is taping together boxes right now to make a "jumping box" so I think I'd better order one of these sets.  :laugh:

[Sprite is Lemonade?]

Whoa! Never heard that one. Care to share where this version of flapjacks might be from?

 

I learned about them when a friend from Ireland brought them over one day. Now I make them, but I always have to sub one of the ingredients because I can't find it in the US--I'm blanking on what it is. Maybe treacle? 

 

ETA: golden syrup! That's what I can't find here. Here is a flapjack recipe. 

[Sprite is Lemonade?]

I always wondered what a pinafore was.

 

I always thought a pinafore was like a fancy long apron, maybe with ruffled straps. 

[Sprite is Lemonade?]

So flapjacks aren't pancakes made with water instead of milk?

 

I thought flapjacks were like chewy homemade granola bars? 

[Is this annoying? Or was I annoying?]

Yeah, I'm more like your MIL. I find it therapeutic. 

 

But I've learned to tone it down a lot, because not everyone appreciates my verbal processing of my weather feels, lol

 

My dad did put up with it for 44 years before he cracked and said something.

 

I like to think that I elevated complaining about the weather to an art while I lived in Minnesota. One afternoon of walking around Duluth in February with windchill of -60 F just flipped a switch in my brain and I couldn't talk about weather without using strings of creative expletives for the next four years. 

[Is this annoying? Or was I annoying?]

there are certain hills were it is downright common here.   I do admit - those of us natives do get a certain satisfaction over those from snow areas who think "it's not a big deal" end up sliding down the hill - or into a ditch.

I've seen four wheel drives with chains slide.

 

I had a friend from Maine who scoffed at the people here who couldn't drive in the snow. Right up until he experienced his first WA snow, and tried to play knight in shining armor to a lady who couldn't drive up their steep hill--he got in her car, started it up, and promptly crashed into the ditch. Oops.  

[Flip or Flop divorce]

It's too bad, but I'm not surprised. She was always giving him that extreme side-eye look. 

 

But I think that most of the couples who are...contestants?--I don't know what to call the people who don't host, but are featured on house hunters, love it or list it, or other shows--are kind of mean to each other. Do most couples snipe at each other like that? Dh and I joke with each other about our idiosyncrasies--he can't find things, I leave half-full cups of water all over the house--but we're not nasty about it.