CMER

Dawn Rhymer

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Clay Modeling III: The Modeling Board

This blog is the 3rd in a series on clay modeling.

What is a Modeling Board?

A modeling board is simply a surface on which to make a clay model. In this figure, taken from Unwin’s A Manual of Clay Modelling for Teachers and Scholars, there is also a vertical piece called an armature. When I use the term modeling board, I am referring to this combination of a board and armature.

Charlotte Mason Educational Retreat

Is a Modeling Board Necessary?

As I was preparing to teach clay modeling in our co-op, I read and reread Unwin’s manual. Having no background in art outside of a few middle school classes, everything was new to me. While her principles and directions were inspiring and clear, the materials I needed were another matter. I have written about finding the clay. Another challenge was the modeling board. [Read more…] about Clay Modeling III: The Modeling Board

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CMER Book Sales

Charlotte Mason Educational Retreat

For those who are local, I have been encouraged to bring out the books from the CMER books sales. I haven’t had a lot of time to restock from the CMER in February, but there is still a lot there. This weekend I’ll be adding the picture book boxes which somehow didn’t make it to the CMER.

All the instructions are on the Intro Tab of this Google Sheet.

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Endurance

Charlotte Mason Educational Retreat
State Library of New South Wales / Public domain

May the Lord help you to do your duty & guide you through all dangers by land and sea.
May you see the Works of the Lord & all His Wonders in the deep.

On the flyleaf of Shackleton’s Bible,
given to the expedition
by Queen Mother Alexandra of England

Endurance

The order to abandon ship was given at 5 P.M.

Thus begins Endurance, Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing1. I have had the privilege of reading this book over the past few weeks in preparation for our monthly young adult book club. It is the true story of Ernest Shackleton’s attempt at a transcontinental crossing of Antarctica from 1914-1916.

The date was October 27, 1915. The name of the ship was Endurance. The position was 69°5’ South, 51°30’ West—deep in the icy wasteland of the Antarctic’s treacherous Weddell Sea, just about midway between the South Pole and the nearest known outpost of humanity, some 1,200 miles away.

Few men have borne the responsibility Shackleton did at that moment. Though he certainly was aware that their situation was desperate, he could not possibly have imagined then the physical and emotional demands that ultimately would be placed upon them, the rigors they would have to endure, the sufferings to which they would be subjected.

In God’s providence, this book has provided thoughts that burn2 in a great time of need, and it is especially the area of Shackleton’s leadership of his men in this unimaginable situation which captivated me. I began reading the book while the Coronavirus was nothing more than something that was happening far away in China. By the time I finished, our lives in the United States had been turned upside down. I struggled with what I was to do. So much was out of my control. I could do nothing more than submit to the leaders of my local and national government and hope they were making the right calls.

Or was that really all I could do? As I read page after page of Endurance and pondered Shackleton’s leadership successes and failures, an idea began to burn in my mind. While I am not a president, congressman, governor, mayor, or even an advisor, I am a mother and in perhaps one of the greatest positions of leadership a man can have. [Read more…] about Endurance

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St. Matthew Passion

(This guide was first shared in January 2017.)

Charlotte Mason Educational Retreat
Bach’s autograph score

Sometimes the depths of my illiteracy still astound me. I have shared of my past, of my disdain or great indifference toward all things beautiful, and the pride which wrapped itself around those beliefs. How could my heart, soul, mind, and body have made it so long with so little? My current, favorite verse comes from Acts 13:8. It simply states, speaking of God’s patience with the Israelites during the Exodus, “And for about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness.” I am about forty, I have been in the wilderness, and God has so patiently put up with me. This verse both brings me to rejoice and simultaneously drives me to weep.

The project began with simple research on O Sacred Head Now Wounded for my local Charlotte Mason learning community. I came across this statement, “The tune — those of you who love sacred choral music, you’re going to immediately recognize it as the PASSION CHORALE, as a part of a very, very famous piece of music composed by one of the greatest composers of all time, anywhere in any culture, and certainly one of the finest Christian sacred choral composers ever, Johann Sebastian Bach.”[1]

I had no idea what they were talking about. What very, very famous piece of music? The search for the answer led to a consuming project which included listening to no less than twenty hours over five days of Bach’s Passio Domini nostri J.C. secundum Evangelistam Matthæum (The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the Evangelist Matthew) or simply, St. Matthew Passion. The end result, inspired by Cindy Rollins’ 25 Days of Christmas with Handel’s Messiah, is A 40 Day Devotional for Worship.

The devotional spreads the listening of the St. Matthew Passion over 40 days. I highly recommend using it together with the performance by the Netherlands Bach Society. I hope and pray this devotional will be a blessing to you and your family. May God be glorified.

A 40 Day Devotional for Worship

[1] Hymns of the Faith: O Sacred Head Now Wounded, A Presentation of First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi