Most know “Awesome God,” which is a lot like (I think) “Sing Your Praise to the Lord,” which he wrote for Amy Grant before we ever heard Mullins sing it. I saw Rich in concert in Eugene, Oregon, in about 1992. He came on stage in his bare feet and t-shirt and jeans, and walked right out into the audience to be near us. I think he was altogether uncomfortable with being up front and everyone else being out there.

Rich didn’t quite fit into the traditional Christian music industry. He did some pretty non-mainstream things like take a vow of poverty and spent the last part of his life on an Indian Reservation teaching music to the children.

I was first introduced to Rich’s music by a college roommate, Julie. One evening, Julie put this tape in the player (I had no CDs then), and got out two cups for us to play with. She taught me the “cup game” to “Screendoor” – It’s about as useless as/A screen door on a submarine /Faith without works baby /It just ain’t happenin’/…which, by the way, is also a great song and a great musical rendition of the heart of James (the apostle).

Julie, where are you? Somewhere in Texas. Those were some *very* fun days, and I even remember you writing a fan letter to Rich. :-)

Forgot to mention, but some readers may not have heard of Rich Mulllins, so wouldn’t know that he died in a tragic car accident in 1997. So you won’t find any current music… If you don’t have any of his music, I’d begin with “A Liturgy, A Legacy, & A Ragamuffin Band.” Be prepared to spend a lot of time thinking about the complex metaphors and listening to some unusual and beautiful instrumentation. And then read “A Ragamuffin Gospel” by Brennan Manning, from which book Rich borrowed the name of his band. But don’t read it if you don’t want your life to be changed, as Michael W. Smith says in the foreword.

The Color Green, from A Liturgy, A Legacy, & A Ragamuffin Band

And the moon is a sliver of silver
Like a shaving that fell on the floor of a Carpenter’s shop
And every house must have it’s builder
And I awoke in the house of God
Where the windows are mornings and evenings
Stretched from the sun
Across the sky north to south
And on my way to early meeting
I heard the rocks crying out
I heard the rocks crying out

Be praised for all Your tenderness by these works of Your hands
Suns that rise and rains that fall to bless and bring to life Your land
Look down upon this winter wheat and be glad that You have made
Blue for the sky and the color green that fills these fields with praise

And the wrens have returned and they’re nesting
In the hollow of that oak where his heart once had been
And he lifts up his arms in a blessing for being born again
And the streams are all swollen with winter
Winter unfrozen and free to run away now
And I’m amazed when I remember
Who it was that built this house
And with the rocks I cry out

Be praised for all Your tenderness by these works of Your hands
Suns that rise and rains that fall to bless and bring to life Your land
Look down upon this winter wheat and be glad that You have made
Blue for the sky and the color green

Be praised for all Your tenderness by these works of Your hands
Suns that rise and rains that fall to bless and bring to life Your land
Look down upon this winter wheat and be glad that You have made
Blue for the sky and the color green that fills these fields with praise

This gal across from me (Sara for this story) was talking about her best friend, and how they were growing apart. I asked Sara what started the drifting. “Well,” Sara said, hesitating a bit, “the reason makes me look bad. She’s just getting too religious.” Sara went on to describe how the two couples (Sara and her husband, and the friend and her husband) used to have so much fun together, but now the other couple was getting too serious.

Apparently, over the past year, this other couple pulled their kids out of public school and began to homeschool, sold their television, and decided to have a fourth baby. I swallowed hard, trying not to choke on my carrots. Sara knows I have four kids, but does she realize that I began to homeschool last year and we also got rid of our television?

So, that’s what makes a dear old friend suddenly “too religious” for you. It was odd to hear this, mainly because Sara attends my church. I guess I would expect a fellow believer to really appreciate some steps you are taking in response to the Holy Spirit’s leading.

But how insightful. I’ll bet I have a few friends that harbor those same thoughts about me. Jen’s getting too religious. It never occurred to me before, but I suppose that’s a good thing; I shouldn’t care what others think about personal, biblical choices I make that might look weird.

And at the same time, I gained some sensitivity toward people (other Christians) who aren’t living out their spiritual journey in the same way as my family. Sara said she felt bad at times, and somehow her friend was making her feel “less than.” Now, if that’s the Holy Spirit convicting Sara, then score; but if there’s a trace of religious superiority in the friend, then it’s confession time for the friend.

I have never liked dinner party conversation. This was no exception.

P.S. Just wanted to add a note about the television, lest I seem…well, whatever I would seem. We sold our house last summer, and got rid of lots of things, including the TV, mainly because we embarked on gypsy living for the next four months. We vacationed, lived in a travel trailer (all 6 of us) on our 20 acres, and eventually rented a house when it got down to 8 degrees one night. So it was a very practical decision, the TV thing, but we’ve thoroughly enjoyed being TV free for the past 7 months. We do have a little 13 inch video player for the kids to watch a video or DVD. I’m sure we will have a TV again sometime – we are about the begin the building of our “dream house” on that 20 acres of Juniper forest, and my husband imagines a nice flat screen…

Okay, not really. I’m understanding how to apply a natural learning process. Thanks to a wonderful little book by Marilyn Howshall called Wisdom’s Way of Learning, my kids are engaging in more “delight-directed” interests. Howshall says that “Learning in its most natural form is simply like a child at play as he explores the world around him. He finds great pleasure in his discoveries, unaware that he is in an informal learning process.”

So, I had noticed Big L the previous day scoping out the bike (see him in the background)…he definitely had something in mind:

I had asked Big L when I first saw him with the bike upside down what his intentions were. He said he was thinking that since the tires needed to be replaced anyway, he might take it apart “to help Dad.”

This son of mine has a long history of fascination with how things work, and is forever building things only to take them apart again. So, I shouldn’t have been surprised when I saw first this:

And a little later, this:

I used to think that “natural learning” was an educational style for hippies that was completely unstructured and random. Not so. Marilyn Howshall explains it so well: “…to be truly natural there must be structure because all of nature, which is simply God’s creation, has a thoughtfully designed structure.” So, of course, a natural and biblical approach to learning will possess structure and order.

My son is required to keep and put his tools away in his tool box (a real tool box with real tools). He can’t leave nuts and bolts laying helter skelter. And when I saw his three year old sister wobble by the window a short while later without the usual training wheels on her little bike, I made Big L put them back on.

We love these laminated placemats. The price runs about $3.00 each, and the manufacturer, Painless Learning, makes over 40 different educational designs! Here’s a few that grace our table:

My 5 year old daughter said to me yesterday, as she was eating off the World placemat, “Mama, what is the U.K.?” After I explained the realm of the United Kingdom, she exclaimed, “Wow, the U.K. owns all these islands down here!” (in the South Atlantic Ocean). We had a good discussion about colonization and military interests, and this all between bites of waffle.

A definite winner – great price and easy to use. These placemats are just handy to have around and I’m a big fan of integrating education into everyday life. These are called “painless learning” placemats for a reason!

It’s as good as a video, and even better because I can just store it as a simple word document, providing such ease of access. I’ll sit and read a few pages of this journal before I’ll take the time to hunt down a video and watch it, the viewing of which takes more time than the reading of it. And somehow, just reading those verbatim words brings back the moment in precise full-color detail in my mind.

So, how do I keep a dialogue journal? We have a computer that’s located in a central area of our home, and this it vital to the dialogue-ing operation. Hey, a typewriter would be just fine, but do people still have those?? You must type as fast as you’re hearing conversations fly – and you can do this if you’re typing, but certainly not if you’re writing by hand, unless you’re a trained shorthand writer. And I really believe in the verbatim dialogue piece of this craft; approximations won’t cut it.

I take a 5 or 10 minute chunk of time, trying not to interrupt the flow of what’s going on, and just start typing what I hear, be it mundane or meaningful; if you do this often enough, even just once a week, you’ll catch a bit of both.

Here’s a little piece of dialogue from almost two years ago that I have in our journal. You can see that I always include a date and time, as well as any parenthetical information (which I italicize) to help set the scene.***May 6, 2005, 1:00 p.m.JoJo and Little L are playing on the floor with foam letters, Big L is writing at the table, JJ is eating. Now Big L joins the kids on the floor.JJ: I ate all my lunchies!

Big L: (Rolling round wooden pegs on the table) The wheels on the bus! Toaster!Big L: Mommy, I want Dad to take me somewhere.

JJ: Mommy, I ate all my cereal.

Mommy: Good job, honey!

Mommy: Big L, where do you want Dad to take you?

Big L: To go fishing. Yes, just me and Daddy.

JJ: Big L, I didn’t go fishing in a long time.

Big L: Well, it’s just for boys, sorry.

JJ: Yes, there is girls!

Big L: NO.

JJ: Oh, yes, there is.

Big L: Mom, are girls in camp?

Mommy: Yes.

Big L: How could you tell?

***And the conversation continued a bit, but you get the flavor of it.

A little later, I have this entry:

Big L: Today is Mother’s Day! Oh yeah, Mother’s Day!

Mommy: Big L, Mother’s Day is Sunday – two more days.

Mommy: What do you know about Mother’s Day?

Big L: Mothers drink tea.
***

How precious.

I like that this a fairly non-intrusive way to capture life. A video camera on a child is a sure way to capture some unauthentic behavior. But the kids hardly notice Mom typing at the computer, which is simply a common household object to them. I also like that dialogue-journaling is not constrained by needing a particular topic or a length of available time. It’s great that I can grab any 5 minute snippet of the day and that’s it. Guilt-free, no bad feelings over not writing profound remarks. The intention here is not to write deep, meaningful journal entries. But you’ll discover as you read over the entries of the past months or years that you can read between the lines and see some patterns developing in the dialogue that offer great insight.

I would encourage you to try this out, and I promise that as you look back and read the dialogue, you will hear their little voices and see their sweet faces as plain as yesterday.

Jen: Happy journaling!

We do enjoy holidays over here, but for my sanity I need to keep things very basic. So, we spent the morning making cards (total supplies = a few sheets of construction paper, pen, and stickers).

one of my daughter’s cards

Then, we made playdough in the Valentine color of choice to give as gifts. Here’s the very simple recipe:Best Playdough Recipe1 cup flour1/2 cup salt1 tbsp alum1 tbsp oil1 cup warm waterHeat on low, stirring often, until playdough pulls away from pan.

A nice Valentine red

Then we shaped the playdough into hearts, and placed it in plastic bags with the card attached. Voila, we’re done with the entire thing.

Final touches

Because we homeschool, we have the great privilege of avoiding the school parties that used to usher my kids home with tummy aches followed by sickness from the sugar shock to the immune system. Hooray for home! I actually have a friend whose kids are in school, but she is pulling them out for the day (to have a party with us, with our very simple cards and playdough). And no sugar. Well, maybe a tiny bit.

“Are you awake, Charlotte?” he said softly.

“Yes,” came the answer.

“What is that nifty little thing? Did you make it?”

“I did indeed,” replied Charlotte in a weak voice.

“Is it a plaything?”

“Plaything? I should say not. It is my egg sac, my magnum opus.”

“I don’t know what a magnum opus is,” said Wilbur.

“That’s Latin,” explained Charlotte. “It means ‘great work.’ This egg sac is my great work — the finest thing I have ever made.”

“What’s inside it?” asked Wilbur. “Eggs?”

“Five hundred and fourteen of them,” she replied.

from Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White.
……………………….

These are some of the greatest lines of literature I’ve read! Now, I just have four, not 514, but those four are absolutely the finest things I have ever made. I couldn’t state my calling any better than Charlotte, and her words are more inspiring than any parenting book I’ve read.

I really love that this book stands alone. You don’t need any fancy computer program or flash cards or any other bells and whistles. This book, which I bought brand new at Barnes & Noble for $20, along with a sheet of paper and pencil, is it. Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is brilliant.

This book, which is the DISTAR reading program (Direct Instruction – parts to whole, logical progression), has been involved in over a dozen comparative studies, including an enormous educational study done by the U.S. Department of Education, and guess what? It outperforms them all. Don’t ask me why every public school in the country isn’t using this system, because I don’t have the time or energy to rant and rave about public education. Do you wonder why I homeschool my kids?

Do NOT skip the first 27 pages of this book, which is the Introduction and Parent’s Guide. It’s invaluable, and you cannot teach this correctly without carefully reading that material. You do NOT have to be a reading teacher to teach your child to read, and in fact, you will know more about teaching reading than most teachers out there by the time you’ve gone through this book with your child. I happen to be a former public school teacher, and have my Master’s in Teaching. But I learned nothing valuable about teaching reading in my educational training, not even when I was a reading specialist! There IS a right way to teach reading, and it’s very systematic, and Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons lays out the sequence better than I have ever seen.

This is a scripted program, and there’s a reason for that. Every detail is covered, right down to how to effectively correct any type of mistake the child makes. You’ve got to understand that this program was tested on thousands of children, and you benefit from all of those trials. So don’t feel like you don’t have the “freedom” to teach how you want; the truth is that you have so much more freedom to have fun with your child, and you can heap on the praise, because your child has received the absolute most effective communication from you (through the script), and will be successful.

I’ve seen different educational tools out there that claim to work “like magic.” Well, I don’t think Zig Engelmann has ever made that claim, but I’ll make it for him! My kids all have such differing “learning styles” but this book works for everyone. So, if you’ve been cutting and pasting together your reading program for your child, or you’re just hoping he’ll figure it out by reading to him a lot, then this book would seem like magic, because what you’re doing won’t work (at least not well).