Friday 25 January 2008

A Slow introduction

Well, it's about a week or so on since I last wrote anything, which proves to me that I am not an avid blogger. Some days one feels one has a lot to say, other days one thinks, why bother saying anything?
I homeschool an only child, a lovely lively boy of 10 years. It has been a privilege to watch him grow and develop, and at times, I have enjoyed teaching him, at other times it IS hard work. He is a boy, and so is reluctant to get on with his work. Girls just seem more diligent - but I could be generalising a bit too much here! He is bright, and imaginative, and learns quite easily. I often think back to when I was his age, and consider the amount of things I was taught, and realise that I didn't know half the stuff he already knows, so I'm not too worried about keeping up with the "National Curriculum" (I managed to go on to further education, and I'm sure he'll be able to, if and when the time comes).
My husband and I were just discussing one thing about our boy, the fact that, despite his bursts of obnoxiousness, he has maintained (by the grace of God) his purity, and modesty. He hates to hear swearing, and see immodest pictures, and he is still innocent when it comes to the things children aren't meant to know about - at least until they want to know about them! When we were being assessed to be approved to adopt, (over 5 years ago now - ho hum, but that's another story, one entitled "why are we waiting") I remember our social worker at the time asking me "does he know about the facts of life" (I'm sure she didn't use that phrase, but it was sooooo long ago, I can't exactly remember her words), and I told her bluntly, he hasn't asked, so I haven't told him anything yet, when he does, I will. I am still amazed that primary schools have disgusting books explaining what mummy and daddy do to reproduce, available from an early age. Talk about abusing children, our schools are doing it wholesale. Our lad's not stupid, when he wants to know something, he'll ask. And we're giving him the chance to do it when he's ready.
Thanks be to God that we have St Maria Goretti to intercede for our young ones (and ourselves).

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, Maggie! (Is that a nickname for Elizabeth? I thought it was for Margaret - but, what do I know?) Anyhow, welcome aboard!
I hope my silly t-shirt didn't offend you - sorry about the need to keep the photo from JM's eyes.
I think sisterhood of the traveling mantilla may just be the ticket too - we'll see how the t-shirt goes first!

If you need any help on the blog design, let me know. I think you're doing swell right from the start!

God bless you!

Alexa

LizzieD said...

Wow, my first comment!!!Thankyou Alexa. You are quite correct, Maggie is short for Margaret, and if you look at the other part of the name you will see that I am using the name of a wonderful English martyr, St. Margaret Clitheroe, who was put to death for our Faith on 25th March 1586 (which was a Good Friday). She is my confirmation Saint, so I'm using that part of my name! - Ooh, I think you've inspired me to write another post!
Don't worry about the Tee shirt, I wasn't really that horrrified, but I do wonder about how imagery affects us!
I may very well be calling on you for help before long,
In the hearts of Jesus and Mary,
Elizabeth Margaret.

Anonymous said...

I see! I'd never heard of her - but then, I'm not English!

You are correct about imagery I think - although I thought that ME being in the shirt would just be more funny than, well, a temptation to sin? I guess this could be a debate...

I don't imagine I'll get many "sisters" and if I don't, I'll probably DO the Sisterhood of the Travelling Mantilla! I have one, afterall! A beautiful one, as a matter of fact.

I put your blog on my sidebar - maybe all four of MY readers will float over here. You can also join St. Blogs Parish and get more blog traffic that way.

Here's the link: http://stblogsparish.com/contact/contact.php

Hope you're having a good weekend!

LizzieD said...

Thanks again, Alexa. I'm having a pretty good weekend, despite having taken most of the day trying to put a fleur de lys background on my blog! I tried finding a picture on the web to download, then I didn't know if it was ethical to do so, and ended up taking a photo of a cushion we were given as a wedding present to put on instead! It looks pretty, but I couldn't manipulate it to the degree that an actual fleur de lys shows!! I'll have another go when I've got time.
Hope you're enjoying your day too!

Simon Platt said...

Dear Maggie,

Good luck with the home schooling. My impression is that many paid teachers don't know what they're doing either - so don't be put off!

You can get freely available images of fleurs de lys from here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleur-de-lis. Just click on the image you want and see what it says.

Simon.

LizzieD said...

Thankyou Simon, I think I was on that page, and then I didn't know if I was allowed to use one of their images! I may try again before long, when I'm up to fiddling with all those html thingies again.
You're dead right about the paid teachers too - my husband is one, an RE teacher in a "Catholic" school, and he certainly don't know what he's doing a lot of the time!!!!

Simon Platt said...

Dear Maggie,

I hope I didn't put my foot in it. At least I didn't say "catholic RE teachers are the worst of the lot"!

You can't use everything you find on the web freely, but the images you find on Wikipedia are often released into the public domain with little or no restriction, as in this case, and if you click on the picture you generally get a copyright statement which explains what you are permitted to do.

As for me, Preston council also permits free non-commercial use of images from its web site, such as this one: Preston's coat of arms, so I've used it on my own blog. Thanks for giving me the idea!

Simon.