2. Questions about you:

Have you ever been to London?
Yes, I have–but it was a couple of years after The Playmaker was published. London today is a completely different city from what it was in 1597, but a few of the old places are still there.

Have you ever seen a play in the Globe Theater?
No, because I visited London in January and plays are only performed during the summer. But I got an opportunity to tour the theater.

What is your all-time favorite book?
I’ve had several! My all-time favorite book from the age of 13-19 was probably The Once and Future King, about King Arthur.

Who is your favorite author?
Again, there’s more than one. C. S. Lewis is one, though I like him more for his non-fiction. Fiction writers include Robertson Davies, Flannery O’Connor, Leo Tolstoy, Fydor Dostoyevsky.

What are some of your other interests besides writing?
I like to sew (when I’m in the mood) and make my own greeting cards. My reading interests include history, social commentary, movie, theater, and literary criticism. (I like to know what other people think)

Did you homeschool your kids?
Yes, from the ages of 6 and 8 all the way through high school.

What sparked your interest in writing?
I didn’t want to be an author when I was your age; I wanted to be an actor. After I dropped out of college and got married I had a lot of time on my hands and thought it might be fun to write a novel. It took me eight years to finish the first one (which was never published), but very soon I started on another one (which was also never published). I didn’t catch on until much later, but I think part of the appeal of writing novels is that it gave me a chance to write, stage, and perform my own plays–inside my own head.

Where did you grow up?
Dallas, Texas.

Where did you go to college?
For two years, at a junior college in the Dallas area that no longer exists. Then I transferred to Abilene Christian College (Abilene TX), met my husband, and dropped out after the first semester.

What would you do if you weren’t a writer?
Probably be very involved with my church. I’ve also done a little teaching–maybe I’d teach in a private school like yours.

Several years ago I had the chance to meet Janie Cheaney through a mutual friend when we all attended an Association of Classical and Christian Schools conference in Kansas City. We chatted over coffee and dessert and I found out all sorts of interesting things about this homeschool mom, curriculum author, ,World Magazine columnist and award-winning children’s author. When I decided to add a new book to the Reading & Writing 2 cycle this year, I looked no further than her wonderful website – a treasure trove of writing ideas and literature suggestions, especially for young people. Look no further, indeed, as I decided our new book would be Janie’s own The Playmaker. What better way to introduce middle-schoolers to the Bard than to have them meet him through the eyes of a teenaged boy? Not only did we read a thrilling novel, we learned about Shakespeare and the Globe. We dove into some of the plays themselves (The Winter’s Tale, The Merchant of Venice) and learned about the importance of symbolism in literature.
Janie graciously agreed to participate in our Meet the Author project. The students compiled a list of questions for her and she responded.

Here is part 1 of 2:
1. Questions about the book:
What was your inspiration to write The Playmaker?
I like to tell people I first “met” William Shakespeare in my back yard, at the age of eleven. That’s when my sister and I staged a version of “Julius Caesar” as entertainment for our birthday party. We made our own costumes (including cardboard daggers) and had a great time assassinating Caesar right in our back yard. Though our version of the play was a lot shorter than Shakespeare’s (and funnier, too) we used a lot of his lines, which I still remember. A great poet can write lines you never forget. Many, many years later, I saw Kenneth Brannaugh’s version of Henry IV and fell in love with Shakespeare all over again. I wanted to start a theater company and perform those plays but, lacking money and time for that, writing The Playmaker was the next best thing.

How long did it take you to write it?
Only about eight months. I was surprised it went so fast! Much longer to market and get it published, though.

Who supported you the most while writing the book?
My husband would have, but we had just bought an old farm house we were renovating and he was too busy with that. I had a couple of friends I’d met on the Internet over another interest. One of them was an aspiring novelist and the other was an enthusiastic reader. They had the most helpful comments.

Who was the main character based on?
Most authors base their main characters largely on themselves, and there is a lot of me in Richard Mallory. I was good in Latin!

What is the one main point you want the reader to get out of the book?
That even though much of our lives are beyond our control, and unexpected things will happen in life (like all those bears), with God’s guidance we have the means to take responsibility and make good decisions for ourselves.

How do you decide what to name the characters?
Usually the names kind of pop into my head. Sometimes this is because I’ve heard them somewhere else, but when I realize that I’ll change them. Otherwise I usually don’t change a name.

We noticed one character has the initials “JB.” Was that on purpose?
Sombody else asked that question just recently! And that was the first time I realized it, so I guess it wasn’t on purpose.

How much research did you have to do for the book?
Lots! But fortunately, there’s a lot of information about that time period because so many people are passionately interested in it. I subscribed to an email list for a while because I could ask questions. Most of the information came from good old fashioned books, though–many of them available from Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri.

No, not a new menu item! Rather, the Classic Lit classes wrapped up their study of Julius Caesar this week with memory work presentations and projects. I still have yet to grade the essays and final exams, but I’m expecting great things there as well!

As you can see some of the projects took on a certain theatrical theme. Globe Theaters were recreated in cardboard, legos, gingerbread, and cake.  Other students created CDs to follow the theme of the play, board games, and posters of Roman gods and goddesses.

Parents, thank you for giving up your offices, living rooms, and dining tables while your kids worked on these! I know I sound like a broken record, but your children are a joy to teach! Enjoy the pictures.

When the Reading & Writing 2 class finished their oral history projects, they learned how to write a thank-you note. Who else writes thank-you notes? Take a look.

Seen on a delivery truck at a traffic light. We didn’t have quite enough time to get a great picture, but you get the idea.

Triny’s Food’s

Two of the authors we’ve read this year are no longer with us. William Gibson, whose drama The Miracle Worker captured the humor, joy, and grief of learning and learning to let go; and John Updike whose story “Pigeon Feathers” tells of one boy’s search for the fingerprints of God.

I’ve not read much of Updike’s work, but this poem gives me hope that he is rejoicing in heaven. After all, the joy of the cradle is that it points us to the cross.

Seven Stanzas at Easter

by John Updike

Make no mistake: if he rose at all
It was as His body;
If the cell’s dissolution did not reverse, the molecule reknit,
The amino acids rekindle,
The Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers,
Each soft spring recurrent;
It was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the
Eleven apostles;
It was as His flesh; ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes
The same valved heart
That—pierced—died, withered, paused, and then regathered
Out of enduring Might
New strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor,
Analogy, sidestepping, transcendence,
Making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the faded
Credulity of earlier ages:
Let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mache,
Not a stone in a story,
But the vast rock of materiality that in the slow grinding of
Time will eclipse for each of us
The wide light of day.

And if we have an angel at the tomb,
Make it a real angel,
Weighty with Max Planck’s quanta, vivid with hair, opaque in
The dawn light, robed in real linen
Spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
For our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
Lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are embarrassed
By the miracle,
And crushed by remonstrance.

I’m not sure I’ll manage to get cards out this year, but if I did, and if they were homemade, this is the quote I would put in them:

“When I think of Christmas Eves, Christmas feasts, Christmas songs, and Christmas stories, I know that they do not represent a short or transient gladness. Instead, they speak of a joy unspeakable and full of glory. God loved the world and sent His Son. Whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life. That is Christmas joy. That is the Christmas spirit.” -Corrie ten Boom

Hope everyone is doing well, enjoying their break from class, and not totally neglecting those teensy-weensy homework assignments.

Mrs. M.

Not this one! (I prefer to think of my little home on the internet as hibernating.) One recent article says that the average-blogging-joe can’t keep up with the blog-pros and their hired staff cranking out 30+ posts per day. No one has time to read more than 140 characters or so and, lately, it seems that most folks don’t bother to click off their facebook homepage anyway. For those who do want to keep blogging, “brand” yourself, host blog carnivals, give things away, and post at least 4 times per week. Never ever apologize for not posting, and oh yeah…include lots of whiz-bang photoshopped pictures. Come up with cute nicknames for your spouse and kids, create your own internet insider lingo for your readers, and voila! You too can be the next blogging superstar!

I can work on the posting rate, add some pictures for interest, and promise never to apologize. My stab at cute nicknames only served to confuse matters more. I abhor insider lingo. I’m not sure where these bloggers get all the stuff to give away in the first place so I guess that’s out.

That leaves my “brand.” Well folks, if you are looking for a homeschool mom who loves to cook, play games, read, and write; who has a thing for Jeopardy!, country music, and coffee; who loves Jesus, her family, and her dog (sometimes); and who is passionate about helping kids learn to express themselves well…this is the blog for you!

(Those of you who are just looking for this week’s homework assignment, it’s up at the top of this page under your class link.)

Now that the temperature has dropped a degree or two, it might start feeling like something other than the middle of summer around here. Oh I know the leaves won’t turn colors until January, but that’s no reason not to celebrate with a harvest-themed recipe is it? Of course not! One of my sweet students (thanks Madison!) gave me a pumpkin baggie filled with nuts and candy corn. Yum! It reminded me of this favorite recipe. Enjoy

Harvest Snack Mix

1 stick butter
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. white corn syrup
1 t. baking soda
2 T. vanilla
1 c. peanuts
1 10 oz. bag pretzels
1 box ritz-bitz peanut butter crackers
1 bag candy corn
Melt butter, sugar, and corn syrup in a saucepan and boil for about 5 minutes until thick. Remove from heat and stir in soda and vanilla. On a cookie sheet, spread nuts, crackers, and pretzels. Pour sugar mixture over all and bake at 250 for about 15 minutes. When cool, break apart and stir in candy corn.
(Note: You can also substitute M&Ms for the candy corn.)

Today is my dad’s 70th birthday. Actually he shares this birthday, as he has every one he’s ever had, with his twin brother. From their beginning in Louisiana, to homes all the way around the world, and back to Louisiana again, these brothers have never been very far apart.

I’m a little short of pictures to upload at the moment, but I think you can tell quite a bit from this one:

-Dad moved to Pakistan shortly before I was born. Mom and I joined him 2 months later. Dad has never been one to shy away from new adventures, and it’s a good thing Mom has always been willing to go along. (She told me once that she knew marriage to my dad would never be dull!)

-Dad has always had hobbies, such as the remote controlled airplane you can see him operating here. Often drawing a crowd, his inventions have ranged from a sausage smoker improvised from an old Kenmore washer to an indicator that would light up and beep in the kitchen when the mailbox was opened. (That lasted until all the neighbor kids started opening and closing it at all hours.) An electrical engineer by profession, he has never been far away from ham radios, computers, test tubes, circuit boards, and soldering irons. His second career involved building his own kiln and sawmill for producing custom hardwoods. Did I mention the boats? And the garden?  The darkroom? And the antique gas engines? When my younger son wrote an English essay about his grandfather, he called him a “Renaissance Man.” How true!

-Dad always finds a way to put his family first, though maybe not in obvious ways. You can’t see it in this picture (he usually keeps his good deeds quiet) but he decorated the house and sewed window curtains before Mom and I arrived. All the better to make a foreign country a little more homey for his wife and baby daughter.

-Dad, known as “PaPa” to the grandkids, is always willing to teach something. Whether it be guns to shoot, trucks to drive, boats to steer, or fish to catch, a visit to Louisiana holds exciting prospects.

My 2 brothers and I went in together on a remote controlled boat for his gift. If Dad hasn’t managed to take it apart by now to give it “more power”, I imagine they’re having a great time with it out on the river. Wish I could be there too!

Happy Birthday Dad, from your daughter who couldn’t be more proud of you.