Friday, January 6, 2017

Looking Back at 2016 Goals

At the beginning of 2016, I posted a list of projects and goals for 2016.  As a way of reviewing 2016 and following up on my previous post, I thought I would do a review of that list.  Next week I hope take a look at my goals for 2017.

Successes

Start Here: 20 Principles Live Online Video Discussion - This has been a little tricker than I had expected, because there's been a number of people who signed up but who either had to drop out or just don't come.  And discussions don't work as well when people don't come!  At this point we have two active discussion groups, and we decided to run them as open groups where people can join in any month.  We've picked up some new members, and we have a reasonably decent number of participants.  

Charlotte Mason Conference(s) - This one has been rather challenging, and has had a lot of twists and turns!  Celeste and I ended up having a very successful retreat last spring, and now we're set to have a conference in the Bay Area in February (CM West :: Conference in the Redwoods).  The conference sold out in about three weeks and now has a very healthy waiting list, so that is extremely encouraging.  There will also be a Seattle Charlotte Mason conference in September, and we expect to start selling tickets for that in the spring.  I hope that it has the same sort of reception that the Bay Area conference had!

Shakespeare Co-op - This has gone very well.  We had a good group in the spring session, and an even bigger group for the fall session.  I moved the meetings to a park in Auburn for the fall session, and that made it possible to have a bigger group and made it more centrally located for participants.  

Sorting Books - Other than taking forever, this project is complete and I ended up getting rid of a good 1/3 of our books.  I also was able to get some new bookcases, so we actually have quite a few empty shelves!  It is always good to have room to expand, right?

Reorganizing the Study - I conquered this over the summer, and am generally pleased with the results.  I also made my second son very happy by making room for a guinea pig cage in the Study.  He's wanted pets for ages, and while he still would like a dog, a cat, and chickens, he at least has some critters to care for and hold.  I also completely went through our craft cabinet and consolidated the supplies such that each of the three older children can have a shelf of their own for works in progress and personal items.  This has been such a big help in keeping the table clutter at bay.  

Girls' Bedroom Re-do - This turned out well, and the girls are quite pleased with their new furniture, trim and bunk beds.  Next time though I'm going to buy a pre-finished bunk bed rather than an unfinished one...

Somewhere In Between


Teaching from Rest Live Online Video Discussion - I wanted this to be a more local discussion, with the hope that the people in it could potentially meet up.  I had a lot of interest, but very few people actually showed up to the discussions, which was disappointing.  Initially I thought there was enough interest for two discussions, but no one came on the second time slot, even though there were at least 4-5 women who signed up.  The discussions that did happen were generally good though, and while it hasn't created any new friendships, it did help to deepen an already existing friendship.

Failures


Nature Study in Nevada County - This just didn't work out.  I had a good turn-out for the first one, but none of them came back the second time!  I think there were few reasons for this.  First, I didn't provide clear direction for a stopping point, so they ended up stopping at a not so great spot instead of at the pond as I had intended and mentioned at the beginning.  I was with a two year old who adamantly wanted to walk, so I couldn't provide clear direction during the walk.  I also didn't provide very good leadership about what we were trying to do.  Were we out for exercise?  To take a walk with other families? Were we supposed to be looking for something in particular?  I also didn't communicate clearly the value of returning to the same spot the following month.  There seemed to be a general sense of, "oh, we've been there, we don't need to do that again" and a slight spark of interest in perhaps meeting up at another spot in a different month.  I had one family come for several months then drop out, another come once and not again, and another talk about coming month after month and never actually ever coming.  Clearly a lack of communication of vision on my part had a lot to do with the failure of this project.  Perhaps if I had figured out how to communicate the value of nature journaling and exploration more effectively to people who aren't already on board, as well as found new avenues for advertising the group I might have been more successful.  

On the plus side, however, I did find a group of CM educators in the greater Sacramento area over the summer and we've been meeting once a month since July.  In the Summer we met by the American River in Fair Oaks, and in the Fall we moved up to theAuburn State Recreation Area.  I much prefer the meeting place in Auburn as it is about an hour from me instead of an hour and a half, as well as being more scenic.  Also, it is far easier to get together with a group of people who already understand the whys and hows of nature journaling than starting from scratch!

First Saturday Adoration and Social - I had high hopes for this one, but then I found that the bulletin is out of date, and the church in the next town over doesn't actually have Adoration on the first Saturday.  I might be able to get something going in Auburn (really, what is it with Auburn?  That seems to be the place I need to go to make anything work - too bad it is at least 50 min away) but then that's another day I need to be driving down there, and in the evening too so I haven't tried.

New Projects


Surprisingly, there weren't that many substantial new projects that cropped up in the course of the year.  As I mentioned, I started participating in a new nature study group.  I also helped start a new online discussion group where we are reading through Charlotte Mason's second volume.  This one is through CM West, and has had a good response - better than the 20 Principles discussion.  We have more people signed up for it and usually have more participants as well.  I also ended up helping a little with the CMI Western Conference in August of 2016, and really enjoyed attending it.

Around the house, I went through papers over the summer as well, which was nice to get done.  If I'm remembering correctly, "all" I have left in Kondo's method is the miscellaneous.  I've made a start on that with the craft cabinet and the pantry, but there's still other looming areas like the hutch, the top shelf of my closet, my fabric collection, and more boxes in storage.

Monday, January 2, 2017

2016 Reading Recap

It has been a number of years since I've written a reading recap post (since 2012!) and I think the main reason is because of list paralysis.  I keep six different reading lists in Evernote:  one for myself, one each for my three readers, one for family read alouds, and one for family audiobooks.  It isn't like the data isn't there...  but how much do I include?  This sort of quandary is what makes me enjoy reading everyone else's lists while thinking vaguely that perhaps I should post my own.

Last year Brandy Vencel had this to say about the whole angst issue:
Do I include books I read aloud to my children for fun? What about all the books I read aloud for school lessons? Pre-reading for school lessons? Does that count, too? It’s hard for me until I finally remember that whether I read it aloud or silently, whether I read it for fun because I “had to,” I read it. Therefore, it qualifies.
So, taking a page from her book, here we go.  And I'm even going to include audiobooks too, as I think those count as well.  The only books I'm not including are ones that I'm always reading from, namely the Bible (mainly John's Gospel outside of the Mass readings this year) and Charlotte Mason's volumes (mainly 2, 4, and 6 this year)

First, Some Books of Note from 2016


Best Nature Writing:  Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez

Best History:  1491 by Charles C. Mann

Best Fiction:  Pilgrim's Inn by Elizabeth Goudge

Best Read Aloud:  Rascal by Sterling North

The Book that Was the Most Fun to Read/Listen to:  To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

A Book that Made Me Cry:  A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

Best Poetry:  Purgatorio by Dante and translated by Anthony Esolen

Induced the Most Discussion:  Utopia by Sir Thomas More and Whatever Happened to Justice by Richard J. Maybury, closely followed by The Prince by Machiavelli.

Most Useful (although I haven't read every page):   The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling by John Muir Laws and Homeopathic Medicine at Home by Maesimund B. Panos, MD


The Full Lists


Audiobooks - Family (we listen to these in the car)


The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea by Arthur Ransome
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
Jo’s Boys by Louisa May Alcott

Interestingly, none of these are new listens, although some of the children either were not born or not able to actually comprehend the stories when we listened to them last.  But they are all so excellent none of us who could remember listening to them minded listening to them again!  I suspect this will frequently be the case at this point in our family's life.  We did attempt to listen to a new-to-us book, The Coral Island, but it was so gory and full of cannibalism that we bailed on it about 3/4 of the way through.  I definitely should have screened that one more carefully!

Read Alouds - Family


Crossbows and Crucifixes by Henry Garnett
The Young Brahms by Sybil Deucher
Lassie Come-Home by Eric Knight
A Weekend with Degas by Rosabianca Skira-Venturi
The Green Ember by S.D. Smith
Rascal by Sterling North
Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder (my husband read this one)
Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson
Ways of Wood Folk by William Long
Cruise of the Arctic Star by Scott O'Dell
Diary of a 49er by Chauncey Canfield
The Royal Road by Ann Roos
Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

Books Read as Part of My Children's Schooling


The Sea Around Us
Inferno
Utopia
Arctic Dreams
1491
Kidnapped
A Briefer History of Time
The Chemical History of a Candle
Julius Caesar
Come Rack, Come Rope
Characters of the Reformation
Seabird
Along Came a Dog
The Incredible Journey
Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution
Microbe Hunters
Whatever Happened to Justice?
Galileo’s Daughter
The New World
The Family that Overtook Christ
Purgatorio
The Red Bonnet
The Days of Alfred the Great
Henry V
Twelfth Night
Of Courage Undaunted by Daugherty
Sacajawea by Wyatt Blassingame
The Prince by Machiavelli
Christopher Columbus, Mariner

Books I Read Because I Wanted To


Teaching from Rest (re-read)
The 39 Steps
Little Dorrit
Pilgrim’s Inn
A Book of Bees
Anne’s House of Dreams (audio - re-listen)
Busman's Honeymoon (re-read)
My Life as a Spy by Baden-Powell
Science & Human Origins by Ann Gauger, Douglas Axe & Casey Luskin
Land of Little Rain
To Say Nothing of the Dog (ebook/audio)
The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne
Essentialism
Puck of Pook’s Hill
Life Together by Bonhoeffer
Gentian Hill