The time has come!
Announcing the beginning of the first annual
Online Finishing School for Ladies....

As promised, our first annual Online Finishing School for Ladies begins on Monday. Emma will start us off with a discussion of personal presentation, posture, grooming, etc. Here's a link to her blog: http://charmingthebirdsfromthetrees.blogspot.com.

If you missed our previous posts about this idea and would like to know what this is all about, please read the following: http://tinyurl.com/ypzogm

Here's how it will work:

Each week for twelve weeks, one "teacher" will blog about a particular subject. She will post at least five times that week. Emma, for example, will do five posts about a woman's personal presentation starting on Monday.

Any of us who are interested will read the "teacher's" blog that week. We students can leave comments on her blog to encourage the "teacher" and let her know what we're learning.

Additionally, any of us who choose can post our thoughts about that same subject on our own blog, as well. If we are already experienced in subject, we can share hints that others might enjoy. Or, if we're new to a subject, we can post what we're learning as we read along with the "teacher".

Don't worry if you don't have a blog. You don't need one to participate. All you need is access to the Internet in order to read the blogs of the "teachers".

We'll gather all of the posts into one blog especially dedicated to the Finishing School. We'll give you that link in a few days. After a subject has been covered, the "teacher's" posts will be archived on the Finishing School Blog. That way, you can catch up if you have been out of town or had a busy week. You can also use it to refer back to a particular subject.

Please note:

1) This school is for fun and to provide a resource for those who have an interest in these topics. There will be no homework, no tests, and no pressure to accomplish certain goals. The teachers will suggest practice exercises. You can choose to do them or not, as you have time and interest. (You are also free to use this as part of a homeschooling project, of course, in which case you would set your own expectations for your children.)

2) We won't be able to cover each subject as thoroughly as it would be covered in a real finishing school. Each teacher will list resources you can use if you would like to learn more about the subject on your own. Essentially, we are providing a taste of different topics, and you can choose which ones, if any, you want to pursue in more depth. If we all enjoy this, we might do a Finishing School, Course II at some point.

3) These are subjects that can add beauty our lives. They will also be of use as we strive to live out our faith, to love others, and to make a home for our family. HOWEVER, you can be a loving, faithful, and capable woman without ever taking a course in any of these subjects! So, please take what you find that is interesting and useful to you, and don't worry about the rest. The last thing we want to do is to make busy wives and mothers feel that they have to fit some human-made ideal of the "finished lady". All we want to do is to have fun and to learn a few things in the process.

4) We realize that many of you may be just as versed in a subject as "the teacher" is, or even moreso. We invite you to participate along with us. Some of us will know very little about a subject to begin with, while others may know quite a bit. But, no matter what each person's current skill level is, we can always grow.

Here's our projected schedule. We may tweak this as we go along. Each week, we'll give you the name of each teacher, along with a link to her blog. We'll also provide a little introduction telling why she is interested in this topic.

Week I: June 25-30 Personal Presentation, Part I. posture, grooming, health, clothing care, etc.

Break: July 1-7 – Independence Day in America – We’ll give our teachers and readers a semi-break. However, we might do some posts about American customs/culture during this week.

Week II: July 8-14 Bastille Day in France -- How French culture has influenced decorating, fashion, cooking, etc. How to prepare a simple French meal. Why it was considered important for finishing school students to learn about other cultures and how that can still be useful in today’s world. Simple French phrases that you might come across when reading books in English.

Week III: July 15-21: Baking: A romantic cake. Tea goodies.

Week IV: July 22-28 – the culture of Central Asia, what we can learn from Central Aisian women.

Week V: July 29-August-4 Creating a lovely needlework pillow.

Week VI: August 5-11 Flowers, flowers, and more flowers!.

Week VII: August 12-18 Correspondence and Etiquette – particularly modern etiquette: email, cell phones, etc.

Week : VIII August 19-25 The best things we can learn from various cultures, customs in European countries

Week IX August 26-Sept. 1 – How to sew a pretty handkerchief (or nightgown, we're still deciding), ribbon embroidery – a woman can choose to purchase something ready-made on which to do the ribbon embroidery.

Week X: September 2-8 -- How to set a pretty table for various occasions; the correct way to set a table for a casual lunch, a buffet, a dinner, a shower, etc.
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Week XI September 9-15 Another week on personal presentation, keeping our bedrooms pretty and organized

Week XII September 16-22 Gracious Living on a Budget

See you at Emma's for class on Monday!

Enjoy!

Elizabeth