Celebrating Advent (and a Birthday, Too)

Wow!  As I downloaded this week's photos from my camera, I realized it had been a full, but mostly snapshot-free, first week of Advent.

Focused on living our faith, enjoying our annual traditions and regaining a better rhythm of life, it appears that after last Sunday, I totally forgot about capturing most memories on film.  Luckily, many remain in my heart and in my mind and even more, I pray, will be fondly recalled by our children in years to come as they choose their own ways of weaving Advent into everyday life.

Starting the Week and Starting Our Days

Sunday was a fantastic feast day, filled with the 10 Ways We Celebrated the New Liturgical Year, which I shared about last week.

Since then, we've been weaving Advent into each part of our days, beginning shortly after we wake up.

In the morning, after we complete our Five Before Breakfast, we eat breakfast together and, then, enjoy reading Faith and Life chapters, participating in Holy Heroes free Advent Adventure,  and discovering what our "preparing our hearts and homes" mission for the day will be by taking a link off our Advent Chain.

Our Advent Chain

This year, making our annual Advent Chain included Nina and Luke cutting the paper strips for it; Nina counting out 24 of these; all three children sharing ideas about how we might prepare our hearts and homes for Jesus; Luke and Nina doing copywork to write some of their ideas onto strips; and me finishing up with writing the rest of the ideas the children dictated before assembling and hanging our chain.

Using the chain has meant that each morning one child takes a ring off the chain.  Luke reads what it says and we all work together to try to make whatever is written on the paper strip happen throughout the day.  If we succeed, we "graph" the strip on our hallway wall in our "Did It!" column.  If we did not, we try again the following day and, then, put it up in our "Not Quite" column.

Through doing all this, the children focus on faith, virtues and fun, while also getting in some gentle language arts and math skills.  Whoo hoo!

Holy Heroes Advent Adventure and Jesse Tree Ornaments

Each morning, we've also been enjoying Holy Heroes free Advent Adventure.  What fun it is to observe the children as they watch the videos, pray with the audios, color the free printables, chat about what they are learning, and, of course, laugh at the humor of the Holy Heroes Guides.  We are so grateful for the generous ministry the Holy Heroes family provides to us and so many others.

We are also grateful for all the bloggers who share free printables online.  This year, Nina chose a free printable from Tired Need Sleep to color pictures for Jesse Tree ornaments, while Luke and Jack both chose the one at Life Your Way.  (Admittedly, we have yet to cut out these ornaments and to put them on individual branches as trees, but since process is so much more important than product in our home, we are okay with that.)

Handwriting through Advent

After all this, we move onto simple home and health tasks and, then, either lessons or outings for the rest of the morning.  

As a part of our lessons, Luke and Nina have been teaching Jack to write his lowercase a b c's, with a little help from the TV Teacher's Alphabeats, which a local homeschooler kindly passed onto us.

After focusing on one of the letters with Jack, Luke and Nina further their handwriting practice doing copywork or writing sentences about corresponding words taken from our past Advent Alphabets.  So far, I've been able to put together two letters' worth of playing cards for us to use for memory match, Go Fish, sentence cloze challenges, art study and copywork.  I am hoping to get together more!

Baskets of Books and Every Day Altar Gang

 
Afternoon always begins with lunch and an eagerly awaited next chapter of The Jesse Tree, followed by countless picture books, rest time (when we are home), free play, more chores, more lessons or more outings.  And evening wraps up with dinner, intentional family time and more books before bed. (Or sometimes just going with life time!)

Every day, at least once, the kids also listen to Altar Gang He's Coming!, which they have now memorized and often act out.  

Movie Night, Family Adoration, St. Nicholas and Holiday Happenings
 

photo credit: Lumen Entertainment

Extra special seasonal times this week included curling up on the couch together to watch Lumen Enterainment's Skiff & AJ's Fantastic Voyage.  While this is not an Advent or Christmas video, we decided to start our Advent family movie nights with this favorite of our kids because it is a pro-life adventure, and, therefore, is easily tied to conversations about baby Jesus and about the value of life (one earth and eternally!)  Plus, it is just plain fun!

Then, on the day when the kids' Advent Chain link said "Go to Adoration as a Family", we let the children stay up late so that when I got home from work we could all head over to a local Adoration chapel together -- Mom, Dad and the kids.  Nina was so pleased there to pray the rosary there.  Luke prayed mostly through drawing his take on the Christmas Story. And, Jack, he prayed a little and, then, asked Mommy and Daddy to take turns walking him about outside, before finally asking me to just take him to the car so he could listen to "Skiff and AJ" until Daddy and the "big kids" were done visiting Jesus.

Friday, the kids were psyched for a quick St. Nicholas feast day breakfast of GFCF toaster waffles and "gold" juice (both favorite treats for them), along with readings and prayers, before heading  off to join some homeschooling friends for stories and crafts.

On the way home from the St. Nicholas celebration, I smiled a I heard the children chatting in the back about why St. Nicholas is so cool and what they want to do to be like him.  I smiled even wider later in the evening when Nina decided to secretly hide the Santa chocolate-turned-St. Nicholas that she had made in Daddy's car as a surprise for him.  Love that girl!

And love that we were able to cap our St. Nicholas celebrations off by joining in Mass  and a chance for me to go to confession at a friend's parish, where we were also all anointed with with Myrrh from Bari, Italy.  (As I understand, the myrrh continuously exudes from the bones of St. Nicholas and is collected once a year on May 9, the Feast Day of the Transfer of the Relics from Myra to Bari.)

Then, yesterday, we honored Nina's request for a special holiday family time by going to the Pine Hills Annual Holiday on the Green, where, among other things, the children marveled at the ice sculptors as they worked (and asked a lot of questions of them!). And, of course, we all took a photo with one of the folks that spreads the spirit of St. Nicholas' generosity.

It was quite a week of weaving Advent season activities into everyday life, and this week promises to unfold in similar ways -- starting not only with celebrating the second Sunday of Advent today, but also with celebrating Luke's eighth birthday!

Please join us in saying a prayer of thanksgiving and petition for our oldest:

Lord

We thank you for the gift of our eldest son and for all the loving, learning and growth we've shared together over these past eight years.  We ask that you continue to bless us with many years together to come and that you remain ever-present guiding Luke to grow in wisdom and stature.  We ask you to help Luke make a fruitful First Reconciliation next week and to be strengthened by his First Communion in the spring.  Please be with all of us as Luke continues to develop, helping us help him be open to your Spirit.  May Luke always choose You and, in doing so, may he fulfill whatever it is you call him to do.  With great thanks, we pray.

Amen

What Advent traditions do you enjoy and how do you incorporate them into your regular rhythm of life and learning?

 

(If you receive this post via email and cannot see the linky, be sure to actually click over to the blog to read browse the rich catalog of ideas there.)

*As always, we thank you if you choose to click through the Amazon and Holy Heroes links in this post to make a purchase (or do so with other affiliate links on this site). Doing so does not cost you anything, but it may help us earn a small percentage of your purchase price to continue training up our children. Thank you!

Mom of Many Hats: Reflecting Upon and Re-Balancing My Roles as "Mogul", Mom & Maid

If only all moments of work and motherhood felt this victorious...

One day some weeks ago, I noticed a posting on a Boston Parent Bloggers Facebook page regarding a blog carnival to celebrate the publication of Mogul, Mom, & Maid: The Balancing Act of the Modern Woman by Liz O'Donnell, publisher of the award-winning blog Hello Ladies.  Since the day I noticed the post was one on which I was feeling frazzled after dropping balls in every area of my life, I clicked over to the Mogul, Mom & Maid website to learn more.  

As I read the following words, my curiosity was piqued:

Mogul, Mom, & Maid takes an honest look at how women are balancing home life and career... Author Liz O’Donnell goes beyond statistics and tells the stories of women all across America who are juggling careers, motherhood, marriage, and households.  Mogul, Mom, & Maid looks at the choices women are making, the options they have, and the impact these decisions have on themselves, their families, and the businesses that employ them.

While hardly a Mogul, always a Mom (but not always a stellar one) and constantly a Homemaker who wishes she had a Maid (or at least had the will and skill to be a better one herself!), I decided I'd contact Liz about the carnival.

Obviously, being a far more efficient person than I am, Liz not only got back to me right away by sending me further details about the carnival, as well as a complimentary e-copy of her book to read before participating, but she also got in touch again last week to touch base on how I was coming along.

When she did, I was horrified.

The truth was, I was not coming along with the commitment at all.

In Mid-November, colds and flus hit my household.  So did symptoms which had me oft per-occupied about the possibility of cancer.  Plus, we found significant mold in our attic that required attention.

 All smiles at the Endangered Species fair, but not so much while facing laryngitis during its prep time in the days before.

These concerns, in addition to my regular commitments as a homeschooling wife, mom, independent contractor, blogger and wish-I-were-a-better Homemaker began a figurative "perfect storm" swell.  That swell grew as laryngitis swept my voice away just as I was helping my three young children prepare for their first Eco-Science fair and as the holiday season began.

So it was, when Liz emailed me to confirm that I was all set for the carnival, I gulped.  All set?  I was anything but...

However, I was honest.  I promptly wrote back to Liz to thank her for the reminder and to let her know that, I had "been completely distracted by health and home appointments and anything but on the ball", but that I was putting this back on my radar to attend to."

So, here I am, in the 11th hour, sitting down to write out my thoughts on my real life as a working mom and how I define success.

Let's Get Real (Or a History of My Hats)

Hats.  Some people have an affinity for them.  Me?  I just like swapping out the figurative ones.

Between my twenties and early thirties, I racked up quite an array of hats.  Among them were cruise ship employee, teacher, traveler, tutor, professional speaker, cultural affairs assistant, volunteer, sometimes office worker, writer, even marathon finisher.  But, in all honesty, the elusive hat I longed to don to more than any other was not a hat at all – it was a veil.

The beginning of my best and hardest (and, of course, most rewarding) job.

Yes, at the risk of alienating Mogul, Mom & Maid carnival readers and participants who are called to careers outside the home, I will come clean right now: In college in the late 80’s and early 90’s, I did not have the same dream as many of the women participating in the carnival might have had.  Sure, I wanted to be successful at my then current work (as a student and as an assistant teacher at a kindergarten) and in a future career that would involved acting, teaching or both, but more than that, I  hoped to graduate with an MRS in addition to the BFA in Acting that I was technically going to school for.  Yes, I wanted to be a missus!

Alas, my hopes did not come to fruition.  I graduated with no Mr. for me to become Mrs. to in sight.  

Not to be chagrined by my lack of a man to love and honor for the rest of my life, I decided to pursue some of the other opportunities that I loved, namely travel and teaching.  I figured that if I followed such dreams, others might follow.  Perhaps I would find “my fish” at sea, or overseas, while working on a cruise ship and, then, teaching, traveling and volunteering abroad.

Or, perhaps not...

On 25th birthday, I found myself living a enviable-to-others life as a teacher in Japan which, at times, felt anything but successful.  For although I had great colleagues, a wonderful salary and benefits, fantastic vacations and even national recognition for my work, I often felt sad and empty.

When it all came down to it, I had not met the man I would live out my life's call toward marriage and motherhood with, and living otherwise felt less than fulfilling at times.

It did not help that I happened to be living and working in a country where folks had a saying about women of my then-age being “Christmas cake”.  Basically, that saying alluded to the fact that once a gal was 25, she was old.  No one wants to eat Christmas cake after the 25th of December.  No one wants to marry a woman after she turns 25.  The traditional cultural norms of where I was living shouted to me that my “best married by” date had expired.

Ouch!  My Singleton state admittedly whittled away at my sense of success at work evne though the two things were hugely unrelated.   And, since I did not want to drown in my own self-pitying tears at being what seemed like the oldest Singleton in the world, I decided to stop coveting the wedding headpieces in the window and, instead, to focus on enjoying the view from under my wide-brimmed, traveling hat.  

In short, I decided to adjust my life goal:  If I could not immerse myself in the spheres of Wifedom and Motherhood, I would at least thoroughly enjoy the world at large.  My aim became to always have traveled to as many countries as I was years old.  Now that was something I could manage and manage well (even if it was not bringing me any closer to living my true call).

Reflecting Upon my Current Hats

Through various work, volunteer and family opportunities, I stayed true to my personal promise until my mid-thirties when, just as I was planning an extended world trip with a French friend of mine, I stumbled upon my M&M man back in my home state of all places.

M&M?  Yes!  My “meet and marry” man.

Mere months after meeting Mike, we were married. 

Here's my husband and I on our honeymoon in Iceland - my last trip abroad before beginning my current journey.

So it was that my globetrotting stopped.  I gladly exchanged the collection of hats that I had been wearing as a footloose and fancy-free, sometimes working full-time and other times on hiatus, Singleton for ones that I had longed dreamed of: Wife, Mother and aspiring Homemaker.

Since then, as is the case in most modern stories, “happily ever after” has had its hiccups.

As I look back at the past near-decade, I recognize that “real” often tempers “ideal.” Triumphs are counterbalanced by trials.  A house was purchased, yet a handful of homeowner woes we never saw coming keep popping up.  Employment for both Mike and I has come and gone and come again.  We were told early on that we may not be able to have children, then were blessed with three in relatively quick succession.  When we were blessed, we we also challenged.

Two of our children needed significant surgery within their first years of life.  One led us to a corollary journey as "special needs" parents.  Two are "graduates" of Early Intervention.  Two have been in Speech therapy, and, if I am to be honest, probably could use me focusing on more Speech therapy at home.  Yet, all are bright, beautiful, boisterous, engaging (and, of course, sometimes exhausting!), gifts that both my husband and I consider a top priority and major part of our greater call in life.

In an ideal world, we would be able to discover and develop paid work that centers on and grows from our marriage and children.  However, our vocation of being spouses and parents and our abilities toward employment and entrepreneurship don't mesh completely yet.  So, besides Spouse and Parent (and all the little hats that those two roles require), I have begun to wear a wide variety of other hats.  And not always well.  The equilibrium of life continually waivers...

As it does, my hats keep a-switching, sometimes multiple times a day.  Or, maybe I should say that I keep trying to wear one hat atop another atop another only to have some fall off my head at times or me become a ridiculous-looking gal dressed up as Mom, Wife,  Homemaker, Homeschooler, Drama Teacher, Tutor, Curriculum Mentor, Resume Writer, Typist, Blogger and more at others.
Reality is that I toss a host of hats on and off my responsibility rack with regularity.  Each figurative hat signifies roles in my life that I value for one reason or another – one that immerses me in community with family and friends, with folks in the local vicinity and those across cyberspace.  Each also demand my time, my energy, and more recently, my awareness of truth.

My Quest for Truth

For me, the truth is that while I am a working mom, I am a mom first.  And, before that, I am a wife.  I am a woman.  And I am a person of faith.  

Too often, I find myself dropping one of the figurative hats I wear onto the figurative floor of my life.  Still more often, I realize that the hats that get dropped most frequently are the very ones I say I want to prioritize, the ones I honestly feel called to succeed at:  Child of God, Wife, Mother, Homemaker.

My most recent birthday, celebrated with my most precious gifts and responsibilities.

As a homeschooling mom that works both inside and outside the home for anywhere from a few hours a week to twenty or more, I sometimes find it easier to immerse myself in paid work tasks than to honor my marriage, focus on my children and create a welcoming, clean and organized home.  Paid work tasks are measurable.  Many of them have a beginning, middle and an end.  Most of them bring monetary or emotional success in short order.  Marriage, parenting, homeschooling and homekeeping require far more endurance for me.  And, getting real, I have to admit that sometimes I  go for the "easy way" to the detriment of the "right for me" way.

Fessing Up about My Personal Call

If I am to be honest with myself and others, I have to admit that while some women's call may is be hugely successful at paid work, mine is not.  It is to be a faithful Wife, Mom and Homemaker.  Yet, too often I validate not doing what I could (and sometimes should!) as a a married mom of faith with over-focusing on "important" tasks for work as a self-employed individual.

Why is that?  Habit?  Years of being lauded for good grades and then resume-building success?  A lack of perseverance?  Something else?

I am not sure.

I am sure, however that the balance of life sometimes skews as I seek tangible, measurable success in the easy-for-me-route of wanna be "Mogul" instead of honoring the "unsung hero" type of work that being "Mom", "Maid" and Wife requires of me.

Much like perfect pictures rarely come to fruition, perfectly balanced life roles are elusive.  However, the order in which I am to prioritize "Mogul", "Mom", "Maid" and More within my life is coming into focus again.

So it is, that I have Liz and all the women who helped her with the book Mogul, Mom & Maid to thank.

It was in reading Mogul, Mom & Maid in the midst of a "perfect (if not that drastic) storm" of my current call that the Spirit began speaking to me.    

While I read the honest, sometimes humorous, occasionally blunt and peppered with language that I am not used to reading anymore, stories within the book, I realized a few things about who I was, who I am and who I am called to be.  

When it all comes down to it, even though I enjoy work and have a bit of an entrepreneurial spirit that can envision building bigger personal and family businesses down the road, the only kind of rich and powerful mogul I am truly called to be is one who is rich in love and powerful enough to admit when I have fallen off course.  My current work and future business possibilities are important.  However, for me, being a better wife, mom and homemaker (in that order!) is more important.

Much like we remove the pulp from our pumpkins in order to let them shine each year, this Advent I realize I need to remove (or at least re-prioritize) some of  the hats I've been wearing if I am to shine successfully at my call.

So it is that as I enter into this Advent season with an aim to prepare my own heart and our family home for what is to come, I realize that I need to re-balance things.  Paid work is not a bad thing.  In fact, for our family, my working is a blessing since it provides us with additional income that we need and with outlets that I enjoy.  However, attending to paid work tasks at the expense of fulfilling responsibilities as a wife, mom and homemaker is "bad" for me (and here I stress  "me", not anyone else, because I am well aware that some women have different calls than mine, and that different calls require different priorities.  As long as each of us is living the life the Spirit -- or whatever we believe in -- calls us to do, we are living well, I believe.  For each woman that means a different balance of hours and energy spent as mogul, mom and maid.)

Perspective

At the end of Mogul, Mom & Maid, Liz writes:

We have to forgive each other our choices. The truths about working women are as diverse as the number of working women in the United States. There are women in corner offices and women who plan to enter the corner office. There are women who may not want the number-one spot but are still interested in a high-powered and fulfilling career, regardless of the obstacles they may encounter. And there are women who are happy with a middling career, or no career at all. When faced with gender-based biases at work; corporate cultures and missions that don’t connect with their own value systems and passions; the responsibilities of managing a household and a family; the joy, for many, of being a parent; and any other obligations life presents, many women have said, if something has got to give, I’m fine for it to be my career.

When I started this book, I didn’t want to report that women were happy to walk away from work— and, again, not all of them are. But a significant number of women I met had a take it or leave it, or maybe just a leave it, attitude, and that’s significant.

• That’s significant for our economy, which depends on women to grow. 

• That’s significant for companies that stand to lose out on an incredible talent pool.

• That’s significant for women who may not see an alternative way forward, and could put themselves at financial risk by not earning a paycheck.

• That’s significant for our children, who look to us as role models and will drive the future economy.

So, perhaps most importantly, we have to fight for each other.

For me, the fight begins at home.  A fight to honor what I know is my call, balancing the minor Mogul inside me with the Mom, the Maid and more.  It is also one of raising my own three children to hear their inner calls and to follow those wherever they may lead without getting waylaid by societal pushes for or against traditional or entrepreneurial paid work.

Nine years into marriage, I pray almost every single day that I will guide my children in their growth so that they will be able to hear their own calls and choose confidently what their own life-balance will be.

As I move forward in living my call, I think that I might myself occasionally page back through the "Lessons from the Ladies" boxes at the end of each section of Mogul, Mom and Maid for perspective.

These bulleted lists offer a variety of succinct and worthwhile take-aways for women, employers and even politicians when considering the state of "working women".  They helped me recall my life as a  pre-Mom, full-time working woman, to reflect upon my current life as a part-time working mom and to think about the perspective of friends and family whose call is different than my own (a perspective which I think that is good for me, as a homeschooling mom, to touch base with from time-to-time.)

So, that is my long-winded reflection on how I have been living the balance of Mogul, Mom and Maid and how I know I need to move forward.  My story, of course, is just my own.

What is your call?  What hats do you wear within it?  And, how do you prioritize those hats?  This Advent, like me, do you have any re-balancing to do?

Note:  In deference to my "tempered Mogul" hat, if you're thinking about purchasing Mogul, Mom & Maid, I'd love it if you'd do it through this post.  Purchasing by clicking through affiliate links to where you can buy a hardcover copy of the book (which is currently 27% off) or a Kindle one (which is 54% off) will not cost you any extra, but may provide me and mine with a chance to earn some meager income.  Thanks! 

Simply Put: An Excellent Resource for Learning About Economics from a Conservative Point of View (Review and Giveaway)

About two months ago, I was offered an opportunity to be a part of the Bow of Bronze Launch Team for Simply Put: A Study in Economics.  Before I could even get my hands on the curriculum, though, my husband found it, and this is what happened:

Mike teachers our son more about economics than I know myself. 

Luckily, now that Mike's finished reading the book (sometimes to Luke!), I can get my hands on it again.  If you'd like to dive into a copy of the curriculum, be sure to check out the bottom of this post, where you will find both a digital copy giveaway and a Mega Giveaway!

Mike and Simply Put: A Study in Economics

As I wearily arrived home from a brutal day of work that resulted in 30 percent of the remuneration for my labor going to the federal government, I noticed a white box laying against our front door. Instinctively, I picked it up and brought it inside. Although my wife was the intended recipient, I opened the package. Inside was a book titled Simply Put: A Study In Economics. 

Normally, I don’t find books addressed to my wife appealing, but this particular book piqued my interest.  I am one of those strange individuals that finds economics intoxicating.  While others glaze over during talks of monetary policy, my hypothalamus hits hyperdrive causing my heart to race with excitement. 

How I Came to Know and Love Simply Put: A Study of Economics 

My excitement turned to complete euphoria when I read that Catherine Jaime, the author of Simply Put: A Study In Economics, is a follower of the Austrian School of Economics. 

Be still my heart! In my hands I held a book written by a classic liberal, a believer in the free market and the power of private enterprise.  A kindred spirit.   I hastily started paging through the book, nibbling away at selected chapters. 

Suddenly, the door to my house opened and my wife and kids walked in. I couldn’t contain my joy. (Sure, I was happy to see them, but my joy this time came from the book.) 

“Oh, I see you’ve found the new book I received in exchange for an honest review,” my wife said, a bit surprised to see the book in my hands. 

“Yep,” I replied. “Looks like the author thinks like me.” 

“Would you like to write the review?” she asked, more as a rhetorical question than anything.

“Sure,” I replied. “Unless you want to.”

Undoubtedly, at this point, my wife understood the grief and disappointment that she would bestow upon me if she told me that she, indeed, wanted to review the book and, therefore, I would have to wait to continue delving into it. In fact, I later learned that being a part of the Bow of Bronze Launch Team for the book had piqued her interest more for me – her conservative, economics-loving husbands – and our son – who at seven already seems to be following in my footsteps – than for herself and our other children. 

 “I can read it later,” my wife said. “You go ahead and read it first as long as you write the review, too.” 

Read it and write the review?  Sure thing!  I thought. I was thrilled and got to work right away.  After all, economics is too important of a topic to be taken lightly, even if our current elected officials treat it irreverently. 

My Take

Simply Put: A Study In Economics is a profoundly relevant book. It espouses a philosophy counter to the one being peddled by the Obama Administration and many in Congress.  Indeed, while many of our elected officials embrace the philosophy of John Maynard Keynes (i.e., Keynesian economics), which concluded that government intervention is necessary to regulate the economy, Ms Jaime harbors no such disposition. She believes that the free market, not the state, is the best regulator of the economy. And she arrives to this fight on the shoulders of such brilliant economic minds as Frederic Bastiat and Ludwig von Mises, two classic liberals and free market proponents.

Unfortunately, most Americans would rather read about Kim Kardashian’s navel lint than educate themselves about basic economic theory.  As they say, ignorance is bliss, but it’s also extremely dangerous.  An ignorant populace is a controlled populace, and right now, we are going down the road to serfdom that was warned by Frederich Hayek, another classic liberal economist. 

Luckily, ignorance’s enemy is enlightenment, and the best path toward enlightenment is education. 

Simply Put: A Study In Economics offers a solid place to start such education. (Or, if you're like me, to continue such education.)  The prose of the book is easily digestible. Jaiime doesn’t get too technical nor bore the reader with insomnia-curing charts and graphs. In other words, she keeps the book basic enough for its intended purpose and audience—introductory material for high school-level students, while also making it relevant for others.

As I have already attested, I quite enjoyed the book and I know my wife is beginning to learn from it as well. 

In Simply Put: A Study In Economics, Jaime doesn’t shy away from controversial topics such as greed and self interest, and their value in a society.  Succinctly explaining in Lesson Ten what took Ayn Rand nearly 1,000 pages to bloviate in her self-righteous tome Atlas Shrugged, Jaime describes  how greed and self interest aren’t necessarily bad things and can be beneficial to society. 

Jaime also describes the value of topics that I have never given much thought to before. For example, she spells out in Lesson Eighteen how the “middle man” allows producers to focus on producing goods and makes the purchasing of those goods more convenient for consumers.  And in Lesson Nineteen, she details the benefit of speculators. Speculation is something that I hitherto had little clue about and would not have been able to argue the advantages of.  After reading Simply Put, that has changes.

Jaime explains how speculation actually benefits the economy by taking some of the burden of risk away from producers like farmers.

Jaime also takes on the anti-technology crowd, who had an advocate in former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt who once wrote the following: 

We have reached the point today where labor-saving devices are good only when they do not throw the worker out of his job. 

Many today agree with the statement. But Jaime goes on to expose the absurdity of such nonsense: 

A thinking person should stop and ask, how far back would Ms Roosevelt have us go—back to before refrigerators so the ice man still has a job, or before cars so that the horse and carriages could be rehired, or before electric lights so that the lamplighters could again have jobs? 

And to take Jaime a step further, I would add that for every labor-intensive job lost by technology, one skilled job (or more) is created. After all, someone needs to design those instruments, build them and repair them. 

Simply Put: A Study In Economics isn’t just about theory; it also has real-life examples, which are mainly found in the Appendices.   For example, Appendix 2 shows how the Pilgrims tried communism and how it failed.

Jaime has also included review exercises and exams to challenge the student’s retention of the material. 

Of course, I would be remiss as an honest reviewer if I did touch areas where I feel Simply Put could use improvement.

For example, I did not feel that Lesson Six: The Constitution and the Economics sufficiently addressed how the Constitution nurtures and promotes free markets.  In this chapter, Jaime uses conjecture where concrete examples may be more effective.

For instance, Jaime states: “While [the 10th Amendment] isn’t overtly economic, it would be safe to say that there are economic overtones to it.”  Why is it safe to say that? What is such a statement based on?

Moreover, Jaime would be better served to present the other side of the argument.  With someone like me, she’s preaching to the choir.  However, to purveyors of the Keynesian philosophy, or even an objective observer, the book could be construed as a bit of indoctrination.

My Bottom Line

Despite the minor blemishes mentioned above, Simply Put: A Study In Economics is an excellent starting point for learning about economics from a conservative point of view.  I have thoroughly enjoyed reading it and have learned a few things through doing so.   I look forward to my wife delving into the book more, and, later, for our children to do so.  

Most certainly, Simply Put is a worthwhile home education resource. The curriculum it offers will be a potent tool to help our children (now only seven, six and three) wade through the barrage of negativity directed at capitalism and the free market from the media and a large segment of our elected officials. 

Learn More and Get Your Copy

Both the Student Book and the Teacher Key can be previewed at Amazon.  You can also learn more about the curriculum and how folks are using it by clicking through the links for all the Launch Team reviews at Bow of Bronze.

To purchase your own copy of the Simply Put: A Study in Economics Student Book, choose: 

• a paperback at Amazon for $17.55 (a 10% savings off the list price of $19.50) 

• a Kindle version at Amazon for $6.99 (a 64% savings off the paperback list price). 

• or a pdf at Currclick for $6.99 (nearly 44% off the regular sale price of $16.00)

 
The teacher’s key found: 

• in paperback at Amazon for $5.36 (a 10% savings off the list price of $5.95)

• in Kindle at Amazon for $0.99 (an 83% savings off the paperback list price)

• or included with the student book at Currclick (no additional cost)

Or, you can win a free copy!

Enter to Win A Digital Copy or a Mega Giveaway! 

With thanks to author Catherine Jaime's generosity, you could win your own digital copy of Simply Put:  A Study in Economics student book and teacher's key.  Simply enter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


You can also enter the AWESOME Launch Mega Giveaway described at Bow of Bronze, which valued at $325+!  By doing so, you could win the complete collection of digital titles by Catherine Jaime (including Simply Put!), plus a 3 month subscription to A+Tutorsoft in the grade level of your choice.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

(All prices are current at the time of posting.  Some are "specials" and may increase, so get the book while the prices are most economical!)

Please Note:  This post contains affiliate links.  If you choose to click through them to make purchases, we thank you.  It will not cost you any extra to do so.  However, it may bless our family with a normal percentage of your purchase price. 

10 Ways to Celebrate the New Liturgical Year

Happy New Year!

"I’m participating in the KEEP CHRIST in CHRISTMAS Blog Link-Up 2013

sponsored by the Catholic Bloggers Network.

Be sure to visit as many links as possible,

listed at the bottom of this post.

Also, visit Worth Revisiting Wednesday!

Sorry to be late in posting today. We’ve had a busy several days of blessings – getting good news on a medical test, enjoying a family Thanksgiving, celebrating Daddy’s birthday, marching in a town parade, dancing at my 25th high school reunion, plus, of course, celebrating the new liturgical year!

In fact, we reserved our entire day today for beginning our annual practice of preparing our hearts and home to celebrate the coming of the Light of the World.

In practical (and fun!) terms that meant:

{Note:  Affiliate links are included among the links below.  Read full disclosure if you wish or simply read on and enjoy.}

1.  Reading a Version of the Christmas Story

 

We usually read The Christmas Story on the first day of Advent, but, this morning, I could not find our copy of the book.  So, we substituted When Jesus Was Born from the Hooked on Bible Stories kit that Santa brought us a few years ago instead.  

2.  Enjoying a Liturgical New Year Breakfast Together

As is our first day of Advent tradition, for breakfast, we donned paper party hats and sat down for  a celebratory meal in honor of the beginning of the new Liturgical year.  This year, our menu was anything but traditional since Nina had requested GFCF macaroni and eggs for breakfast, so we had that with coconut-milk hot cocoa and sides of sliced apples, sliced pears and mini-chocolate chips.  However, our conversation was more typical: we chatted about what Advent is and predicted changes we might spy in the church later during Mass.

3.  Blessing the Advent Wreath

Before actually digging into our odd assortment of breakfast foods, Daddy led us in blessing the Advent wreath that the kids had made at Nana and Papa's church a few years back.  Then, we lit the first purple candle and the children shared their ideas and knowledge about the symbolism of the wreath, including:

• The lights reminds us of the light of Jesus.
• The wreath is a circle because a circle never ends and God's love never ends.
• The evergreen never dies.  Life never ends either.
• The four candles are for the four weeks of Advent, when we wait for Jesus.
• Purple candles remind us of kings and we are waiting for a king.
• Purple candles remind us of Lent, penance and preparation.
• The rose candle reminds us of joy.  It is close to the time when Jesus is coming.

4.  Learning Along with Holy Heroes Advent Adventures

Every year, we enjoy Holy Heroes free Advent Adventure.  This year was no different.  After breakfast, the children were thrilled to watch several video clips and to listen to a couple audios, too.  Later, they colored some of the printable Advent Adventure coloring pages to put in the purple Advent booklets they are making this year.

5.  Dancing to Seasonal YouTube Videos

New this year, after breakfast, Daddy decided to turn on some Advent and Christmas-themed YouTube videos.  While the boys watched, Nina partied, dancing on a chair.  

6.  Parading with Rhythm Instruments

After breakfast, we rang in the new liturgical year by parading throughout the house.  At dusk, Daddy and the kids entertained (okay, maybe annoyed or befuddled) the neighbors by having a similar parade down our street.

7.  Opening Advent Calendars

 
Luke was excited to begin the Advent calendar he had received from our parish as a part of his First Communion prep.  The children also enjoyed playing with the finger puppet Advent calendar we put up every year.


8.  Giving at Mass
 
 

Getting started on the gifting of Christmas, each child brought a canned good to donate to the St. Vincent de Paul basket this morning at Mass.  They also selected ornaments from our parish Giving Tree so they could prepare gifts for children in need. 

(The children's outfits this morning attest to the fact that I need to work on better preparing our home.  Although Nina pieced together an outfit in the liturgical colors of Advent, the boys' church clothes were not readily accessible when it was time to get ready to go.  Oops!)

9.  Beginning the Jesse Tree (Sort of) and Having a Read In

Some years we have used a physical Jesse Tree.  Other years, we have just read stories and looked at symbols related to them.  Thus year, the children want to make their own Jesse trees, so this morning I had them each select a set of printable Jesse Tree ornaments to color and we had intended to go for a family walk  to find boughs of evergreen to hand these on as the season progresses.  However, by afternoon, we were all a but tired (or maybe it was just Daddy and Mommy that were after a series of late nights), so instead, we read one of our Advent favorites, The Jesse Tree and, then, had a long lazy afternoon read-in, reading through a larger pile of our Advent library books than I had intended.  These included three favorites: An Orange for Frankie , The Christmas Knight and Why Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect.


10.  Honoring Family Sabbath Time

Some years ago, we committed to reserving one day a week as a family sabbath day.  Since then, we've honored this commitment more weeks than we have not.  However, at times, we have done so in too legalistic a way.  Sure, we have taken a break from work, but we have not really lived in a true spirit of rest and thanksgiving.  Instead, some weeks, we have rushed about from one "fun" activity to another, "forcing" together time and exhausting ourselves.

Today, we recommitted to a more honest family sabbath.  We prayed together, played together and honestly rested together.  We focused on faith, family and free time to breathe.  We connected.  We paused.  We loved.  And, isn't love what this season is about?

How do you live the Advent season in a way that centers you and your family on awaiting (and reflecting!) the Light of the World? 

Please note:  If you have an Amazon purchase to make today, we thank you for doing so by clicking through one of the links in this post.  Doing so costs you nothing extra, but it may bless our family with a small percentage of your sale to put toward training up our children and sharing it here. 

"I’m participating in the KEEP CHRIST in CHRISTMAS Blog Link-Up 2013

sponsored by the Catholic Bloggers Network.

Equipping Catholic Families: Keep Christ in Christmas

Simply Homeschool  Living Advent Series 12/1 - 12/25

Fifth of Five                     Keeping Christ in Christmas - Blog Link-up 2013

Coffee Moments with Sam           The Light of Hope

Hand-Maid With Love: CHRISTmas Presence: Keep Christ in Christmas 2013 Edition

Open Window               Making hay while the Advent wreath shines

Faith Filled Freebies: Keep Christ in Christmas

Written by the Finger of God: Not Christmas as Usual

On the Way Home:  Keep Christ in Christmas

Sue Elvis Writes: Bring Christ to Others

Mommy Bares All        Why Celebrate Christmas Even After #YolandaPH

Canadian Catholic Mom                Keeping The Little Ones Focused: An Advent Link-Up

Mountain of Grace Homeschooling               Keep Christ in Christmas

Em’s Estuary: Keeping Christ in Christmas

Happy Little Homemaker: December Devotion: Immaculate Conception 

Adoro Ergo Sum:  How We Keep Christ in Christmas

JoyAlive.net: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

Home to 4 Kiddos      Keep Christ in Christmas

Embedded Faith          Boldly Be the Christ in Christmas

City Girl, Country Home                Emmanuel Is With Us. Are we WITH HIM?

Journey to Wisdom: Trusting in your Awkward Fiats

Joy of Nine9                   Waiting in Joyful Expectation Like a Child

Splendor in the Home                    Ideas For Keeping Advent and Christmas Holy

Training Happy Hearts                     10 Ways to Celebrate the New Liturgical Year

A Catholic Life               Advent: The Beginning of the Liturgical Year & Source of Rich Meditations

Designs by Birgit: Elf on a Shelf and Santa Claus

Catholic Inspired: Faith-Centered Family Christmas

A Slice of Smith Life: How we keep Christ in Christmas

Catholic All Year: Three Reasons I love Advent

Mary the Defender: Christmas The Battle Begins

Truly Rich Mom: Keep Christ in Christmas

Day By Day in Our World: 40 Days Seeking Him and Keeping Christ in Christmas

Diapers and Drivel: Keeping Christ in Christmas

Raising Soldiers 4 Christ: Keeping Christ in Christmas

Rosary Mom                    Keep Christ In Christmas With A Teenager

Tercets:     Keeping Christ in Christmas: Join Church Ministries

Campfires and Cleats                        How We Keep Christ in Christmas

Life Unabridged: Celebrating the Fullness of the Advent and Christmas Season

Homeschooling With Joy              Keeping Christ in Christmas

Mrs Domestic Bliss     Gingerbread Nativity

The Chic Traveller      Keeping Christ in Christmas

California to Korea     Keeping Christ in Christmas

Dominique's Desk       Keeping Christ in Christmas

Our ABC Life: An Advent Update

Journey Living: Anno Domini

The Road to Rome: Advent Prayer and Reflection Resources

Life of Fortunate Chances: Keeping Christ in Christmas

Quidquid Est, Est!: Reblog: Advent Posts

 

 

(If you receive this post via email and cannot see the linky, be sure to actually click over to the blog to read browse the rich catalog of ideas there.)