Letter 17: A new school year, Brother Theophane, and the enthusiasm of Aaron Copland.
October 2023
Notes from Me
Teaching: Last month we started our formal schooling for the year. Now that we’ve been at it a month, I feel us humming along. I homeschool my sons (ages four, five, and seven). This time around, I started writing out daily to-do lists for each boy, a simple method I first read about here- then again here and here. It is working well so far! Of course, our humming days are punctuated by discordant mornings where we cannot seem to complete the most unambitious of to-do lists. We also enact abrupt changes to our routine because some urgent thing takes precedent: a sick child to attend to, a friend in need, a sour attitude everyone needs to shake. The last month has encompassed all of the above. I am grateful to for all of these days: the humming and the humbling ones.
With the Boys
Reading (and an experiment): Our history studies this year focus on the Middle Ages. One beautifully illustrated book we read last month is about an Irish monk, Brother Theophane. He worked to write the Bible and other scholarly texts by hand. He also loved being outdoors and keeping the grounds of the monastery where he lived. One day, Brother Theophane decided to add colors (other than brown) to his writings and make his own paint by mixing various berries and plants with egg whites.
I had not planned to make our own paint, but the boys eyed the drooping middle dusty parts of a Daylily and some dark purple Chrysanthemums that were part of a store-bought bouquet past its prime.
So we mixed egg whites and water and crushed the flowers into little bowls. The result was…disappointing; the pigmentation was nil. But what did we conclude? We needed to use a much higher ratio of colored plant materials to liquids. Next time we’ll plan accordingly. And in the meantime, we paged through The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane, ooing and ahhing at the intricate, vibrant pictures.
In the Kitchen
Eating: Last month, we continued our new tradition (second year!) of inaugurating our school year with a family breakfast of monkey bread (double the icing), berries, and cherry juice. I used Alexandra Stafford’s recipe from this cookbook. I made monkey bread because I made it last year and my sons asked for it again, and we chose cherry juice because it’s a favorite beverage for toasting. We raised our glasses to each person around the table to mark the start of a new adventure on the path of learning. A note: if you decide to make this breakfast, I suggest you drink the tart cherry juice before the icing-drenched monkey bread. Cheers to a school year filled with our best efforts!
Small Joy
Watching composer Aaron Copland as conductor in this performance of “Rodeo: ‘Hoe Down.’” “That man is old!” my five-year-old said. My oldest noticed, “He seems really happy about this song.” Copland’s unfettered enthusiasm here is wonderful.
P.S.
The illustrations in Miss Suzy = quintessential Fall charm.