Polar Star, Vanguard, and Over scheduling

Home School Groups - Without them I am not homeschooling

For the past 11 years our family has participated in a home schooling group called Polar Star.  It has enabled me to continue to home school our children beyond elementary school.  It has provided a peer group and family friends for all of us.  As our children have gotten older we've also supported each other at mission farewells, weddings and baby showers.  It has provided an amazing community that in some ways seems somewhat Zion like.

It has not been perfect.  We've had a few falling outs at times.  We've had some children struggle or become a bit apathetic but all in all it's been amazing.  The classes are mostly based on either a historical time period, such as the American Revolution, Leadership or Shakespeare.  Our kids have learned how to study and work hard through these classes.

However, for the past few years we have noticed that the feel of our group has changed a bit.  The spiritual element seems to have taken a back seat to trying to cover all of the topics and subjects that a high school diploma requires as we have become involved with a part-time charter school.  It's a loss that I have felt keenly.  So I have started on a journey to see if I could figure out what was missing.

I have investigating another home school group called Vanguard.  These groups are based on the idea that we should use principles as the starting point.  It also involves lots of thinking, pondering, praying and planning on the part of the mom-mentors who take on a week each month.  I love how they plan for their group individually.  I think that the Lord really helps them to find things that their individual kids need to read, think about, write about, discuss and present about.  I love how everything that is brought to the table is welcome and there aren't any impossible feeling lists that have to be checked off.

But yet I feel that our rigorous classes through Polar Star are amazing to complete.  It teaches all those who complete them that they can do REALLY hard things.  But sometimes they are just to hard.

I'm not sure which direction we should go with Polar Star.  I want both things - but I also want my youth to not be driven like little burros up and down the Grand Canyon of Education.

What to do ....

Top 10 Children's Illustrators

I love beautiful illustrations.  When I look at beautiful pictures

 with my children and discuss them - I think we all get a

 memory picture in our minds and hearts that will feed us for

 many, many years. 

Here are my top 10 Children's Illustrators of all time.

 Tasha Tudor

Paul Galdone

Beatrix Potter

Garth Williams

Maurice Sendak – Older work

Holling C. Holling

Lillian Hoban

Ted Rand

Arthur Rackham

 E. H. Shepard

Peter Spier

Trina Schart Hyman

I will be reviewing books from all of these in the future.

C.S. Lewis on children's books

C.S. Lewis has had a big impact on my life and I love many of his works - notably The Weight of Glory, Why I am not a Pacifist and his Narnian Chronicles.  If you think you know the story because you've seen the movie .... oh .... I am so sad for you.  I like the movies too (well not Prince Caspian - ugg)  but it's just not even the same.

I like what he had to say about children's books.  Here are some brief quotes of his -


C.S. Lewis said - I am almost inclined to set it up as a canon that a children's story which is enjoyed only by children is a bad children's story. The good ones last" He also notes that "it certainly is my opinion that a book worth reading only in childhood is not worth reading even then.  I put in [my children's stories] what I would have liked to read when I was a child and what I still like reading now that I am in my fifties" (Of Other Worlds)

I completely agree with this, which is why I am so picky about the books I read to my children and what books I recommend to others.  I can't bear to read those twaddley, dumbed down books that at best fill time and worst appeal to base appetites.

Every once in a while I have heard a parent say, "I don't care what they are reading.  At least they are reading something."  But what you read is what is feeding your soul.
Would parents say something like this, "I don't care if all they eat is fried Twinkies and over caffeinated energy drinks.  At least they are eating something."  Wow - what an unpleasant picture that conjures up for me!

Feed your children's souls and yours at the same time!

A Bargain for Frances - written by Russell Hoban, Pictures by Lillian Hoban

When I pulled this book out to read to Little Missy everyone started drifting into the room, the boys, the daughter home from college, everyone.  Everyone loves Frances and she is every child.  Her story is simple but oh SO TRUE!

Have you ever had buyer's remorse?  This is one of our family's favorite booksthat takes this on from a child's viewpoint. Frances (a little badger girl) doesn't have a tea set but she'd like one. Her "friend" Thelma has one to sell but it's not exactly what Frances had envisioned.

Have you ever had a friend that you had to be careful when you played with them?

"Why do I have to be careful?" said Frances.
"Remember the last time?/" said Mother.
"Which time was that?" said Frances.
"That was the time you played catch with Thelma's new boomerang," said Mother. 
"Thelma did all the throwing, and you came home with lumps on your head."
"I remember that time now," said Frances.

Many years ago when one of my daughters' was 10 ( not Little Missy, a different daughter, I have 5) she had a friend like this.  Only it was much more difficult because it wasn't just my daughter being taken advantage of, she was being drawn into a culture of being mean, really mean, to other girls.  This book helped her take a step back and look at this friend and make some decisions about whether she could be friends with her or not.

Singing on the way home about the wonderful deal she got on the used, plastic with red flowers tea set.

Family can be so brutally honest.  This is Gloria, Frances' little sister calling it like it is.  I love her little badger doll.

After Frances discovers that she has been duped she sings on the way home,
Now that plastic's what I've got, 
Backsises are what there is not. 
Mother told me to be careful,
But Thelma better be bewareful.

I love the little songs throughout the book that crystalize Frances' thought process for the reader.  I have had 2 children who make up songs and it rings so true to childhood.

 Mr. Scientist, my 11 yo, says his favorite part in this book was when Frances calls Thelma to tell her in a very sneaky, but yet honest way that there is some money in the sugar bowl of the ugly tea set she has sold her.

"Can I keep what is in the sugar bowl too.? said Frances.
"What is in the sugar bowl?" said Thelma.
"Never mind," said Frances. "No backsies. Good-bye." 
Frances hung up.

I love how Frances is able to creatively resolve her own problem and still maintain her friendship - and in fact took her friendship to another level.  She isn't mean spirited but she is not a door mat!  I also love how she interacts with her sister and mother.

All the the Frances books are lovely and so wise!  We love them all, Bedtime for Frances, where you find out that it is a moth's job to bump into the windows at night, Best Friends for Frances, where you find out that sisters can be friends and go on outings, Bread and Jam for Frances, when what she is, is tired of jam, A Baby Sister for Frances, when she runs away under the dining room table and A Birthday for Frances, where you are introduced to the delights of Chompo Bars.  

The Empty Pot

Here is another favorite. The Empty Pot - written and illustrated by Demi. This line from her biography cracked me up - " By the age of two she was already drawing on walls and other surfaces."


The Empty Pot is a retelling of a folk tale that her husband was told as a little boy. I love how she has kept the story intact and doesn't try to soften the tale with comic relief sidekicks unlike another group of people I could name but won't. Softening the story would only lessen it's power.  We will all have to face doing hard things and I love to have my children meet people have faced up to their challenges and overcome.  It will give them strength when their time comes.

The Emperor is very old and he needs to choose a successor to his throne. He doesn't know how to choose (or so he says) and he decides to let the flowers choose. He calls all the children in the kingdom to come and get some flower seeds and gives them a year to grow the most beautiful flower.

The year passes and Ping carefully cares for his seeds. I love how the changing seasons are beautifully depicted! But his seeds never grow.
After a year has passed all the children bring beautiful plants to the palace. All but Ping, he has to bring his empty pot because it was the best he could do.

I'm really struggling here because I want to tell you the end of the story but then maybe you will think to yourself, "I know the end of the story, I don't think I need to read that book." But you do need to read it, because the book is so real and this situation is going to happen to your child and you want them to be prepared to do the right thing.

Once again this book is a favorite because it satisfies something deep inside of you. It talks about big issues. It is about trying your hardest and thinking you have failed but then almost miraculously it turns out that you have not failed at all. In fact you are about to be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams.

I believe that this really happens, and in real life, just as in the story, you are often rewarded from unlooked for venues.

It is about being honest and how you are sometimes treated when you are honest. All you have to do is look at the smirking, little faces of all of the other kids as Ping tearfully shows his empty pot. You will be reminded of faces you have seen (probably in grade school or perhaps Jr. High) and never want to be. And you will feel the humble but triumphant thrill when it turns out that doing your best is what is needed.

A great parenting reminder came in this line, "All the parents wanted their children to be chosen Emperor, and all the children hoped they would be chosen too!" It reminded me all those contests in grade school that I didn't win but still being proud of what I entered because I had done it all myself and my mom didn't help me. It makes me question at what point do we help our children and when do we just let them do their best. It seems in this competitive society that I find myself raising my children in this line is becoming more and more blurred.

I love the illustrations! Truly if a children's book doesn't have beautiful illustrations then the story had better be amazing. I actually think that you are better off with no illustrations at all than poor ones. The poor ones just interfere with your imagination.
Little Missy's take on it: I liked all the pretty flowers and picking my favorite. I liked it that he was the only one who was brave enough to bring an empty pot. I really liked the goat unicorn.

The Corgiville Fair - The BEST children's book ever

" The Corgiville Fair" - written and illustrated by Tasha Tudor

I love children's books. I read many as a child, in fact I read all the time - but I wasn't very discerning - I couldn't tell you why I liked a book or what made a book a treasure verses trash. I only could say I really liked it or not.


As a watchful mom I have tried to search out the best books to read to my children. I want to pass on my values to my children in the most memorable way possible - in the way the best teacher of all time did it - with a story.

And not one of those stories written that just smacks of the hovering Sunday School superintendent teaching you the lesson you must know. But a story that rings true and satisfies something deep inside you.

So now I will present my review and will also be getting some help from my daughter who you can see above reading this most delightful book.


"West of New Hampshire and east of Vermont is a village. Its name is Corgiville."

To those of you who have made a visit to Corgiville, you will agree with me that if you can but see Corgis by moonlight you will know they are enchanted.

My Little Missy's review - You should read this book because it's funny and it talks about something they do and it's really exciting. When it is finished, it is the best day of their life. I would love it to be a day in my life.



The main character is Caleb Brown, a young corgi who wishes to win the goat race at the Corgiville Fair at the end of the summer. He has a rival in his bid to be conqueror, Edgar Tomcat, who plays pranks at town meetings and disregards any spiritual advice. You have no idea how low down he can become in his desire to hear 100 silver dollars jingling in his pocket.

I do not think that I can wax eloquent enough about this book. It has everything - good and evil, hard work and loafing, courage in the face of danger, politics and church attendance, family love and support, the evils of gambling and of wearing loud-patterned waistcoats, deception and drugged hot dogs, and true friendship and intense suspense.


It's all that and more.


It has some of the most beautiful, engaging and humorous illustrations I've ever seen in a children's book. The detail is amazing and you can play an I spy game with your kids. Can you find the lost puppy at the fair, the rabbit "skinny-dipping", the chickens pulling a cart, the soda pop bogart, the cat catching a fish, the balloon lady and on and on and on. Tasha Tudor presents a unique vision of a life lived in the style of the 1830's and it's a delightful life.


Some of our favorite quotes -


"He watched her weight like a teenager."

"Making bets with money! How shocking!"


"He felt sure Josephine could win, but would she? The suspense was tantalizing."


"There were runaway pigs and lost puppies, and tabby cats selling cotton candy. There were bogarts with patent-medicine remedies and old corgis with trained fleas. IT WAS WONDERFUL!"


"Caleb took a hot dog."


"Edgar Tomcat now left this deplorable scene, purring loudly and feeling very much pleased with himself."


I can't say anymore or I will spoil the book for you. But know that there is "just nothing, absolutely nothing, so glorious as the Corgiville Fair."

I love all of her books but another favorite that you really should look at is her version of Robert Louis Stevenson's "A Child's Garden of Verses". But she has written over 70 books and they are all a feast for the eyes and a home cooked meal for your heart.

A favorite poem

You are the trip I did not take;
You are the pearls I cannot buy;
You are my blue Italian lake;
You are my piece of foreign sky.

Anne Campbell

22 years ago I made a very conscious choice. I chose motherhood. I chose to give up, for a time, travel, jewels and even well fitting clothing.

But I chose something of more worth, I chose the very thing that God gave me time for, I chose my children. And it has repaid me a hundred times over as I have continued to mother in a conscious manner - not perfectly, but to the best of my ability.

I can see heaven through my children's eyes, not just a foreign sky or my own reflection in a blue lake.