7 Quick Takes Friday

Just for coming to visit this blog, you get to enjoy this photo of my 10-month-old with a pretzel container stuck on his head! That is worth the 'click' right there!

1.

Milestones . . . 

In one week, Thomas (10-1/2 months) cut two teeth, began signing reliably (MORE), began throwing visibly obvious toddler temper tantrums when he doesn't get his way, and took his first steps!

He is now standing much of the time, crouching up and down, and taking up to three steps in a row. (I will keep trying to get video.)

2.

Moments in School . . . 

As children rotate through piano lessons, Margaret has a 45-minute gap which is a good time to do one-on-one school with her.

Copywork at piano lessons

Bonus picture of our three sons at piano lessons . . .

My Morning Basket time is getting too long, even though I love its richness. I'm currently covering catechism, science (animals), famous paintings, Shakespeare memorization, and flash cards for music theory and math. In order to shorten it up, I'm taking two items out of our Morning Basket and "anchoring" them to other moments in our day.

I'm trying to read our Saint of the Day over breakfast . . .

. . . and our holy reading (currently "Under Angel Wings") over lunch. Borrowing the monastic tradition of listening to edifying reading while eating has the bonus side effect of cutting way down on ridiculous, nonsense talk and noises of small children.

3.

Family Books of the Week (in progress or completed)

• Read-alouds
• "Baltimore Catechism No. 2" (originally published 1885)
• "Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints" (Loreto Publications, originally published 1894)
• "Under Angel Wings: The Autobiography of Sr. Maria Antonia" (originally published 1949)
• Many picture books to the younger children
• Mama
• "The Upside of Downtime: Why Boredom is Good" by Sandi Mann
• "Guidance to Heaven" by Cardinal Giovanna Bona (written in the 1600s)
• "St. Francis of Assissi" by Michael de la Bedoyere (2011)
• "Witchcraft Goes Mainstream" by Brooks Alexander
• John
• "Blessed James Alberione: Media Apostle"
• "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" (1950)
• "Lad, a Dog" (original published 1919) 
• Mary
• "Clara Barton: Founder of the American Red Cross"--Finished almost in one night, said the last two chapters were the best!
• "A Little Princess" by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1905)--Reading this for the second time, already halfway through in a few days, in large part because of hiding her flashlight at night so she can read an hour longer without my noticing that she is still awake.
• "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" (1950)

Having scaled some built-in bookshelves that go up to our ceiling, John and Mary retrieved some good, old books and I came upon them reading quietly.

John reading C.S. Lewis' "God in the Dock"

Mary reading "Catholic Truth"

4. 

Scenes from Church . . . 

Our church hosted a 40 hours' adoration in honor Corpus Christi on Thursday, so our family signed up for an hour. I took the first thirty minutes with the girls, then Chris took the second half hour with John. It was one of those special moments that one must slog through a decade of parenting to reach: I sat there with my two sweet girls, both actually eager to be there, and we prayed our Rosary together, then we all silently read holy books fitting to each person. 

As we left, Mary remarked, "Adoration is so good for your body. It makes you just slow down so you're not going-going-going all the time. I feel so peaceful."

Adoration for Corpus Christi

On Sunday, our parish held a Corpus Christi procession for the external observance of the feast day. Something like two dozen First Communicants led the procession, including "the three Marys" below.

Three Marys at the Corpus Christi procession

5.

Meals of the Week 

. . . shared to show that "My career is homeschool teacher, not a gourmet chef!"

• Saturday
• Ribs (thanks, Aldi's!), corn bread, watermelon, salad
• 
  
• Sunday
• Restaurant
• Monday (Memorial Day)
• Hot dogs, roasted potatoes, corn on the cob, watermelon
• Tuesday
• Turkey breast, pasta, frozen veggie
• Wednesday
• Frozen cheeze pizza, chicken nuggets
• Thursday
• Smoked sausages, cheese tortellini, frozen veggie
• Friday: Sacred Heart of Jesus (first-class feast!)
• bacon-wrapped steaks (thanks, Aldi's!) and--for the kids--chicken nuggets, egg noodles with four cheese marinara, sauteed Portobella mushrooms, green salad, chocolate chip cookies for dessert

Mary decorated the table for the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
including spotting the above candle at the grocery store
and asking me to buy it because the feast day was a week in the future.

6.

Fun Times . . . 

Who says homeschoolers aren't socialized?

We keep on chugging with school year-round. In the meanwhile, there is so much fun, I'm tuckered out! On Wednesday night, I took the older two children to the Fine Arts program kick-off night where they met their teachers and ran about with 75 of their pals for a couple of hours.

On Thursday, we went to a play date with five other children, and on Friday we hosted Football Friday for five families--so many friends! Then on Saturday, we're anticipated two different guests at different events, but that story will have to wait for another blog post.

Listening to a radio play

We've rediscovered the enjoyment of listening to old-fashioned radio plays. We've owned a set of Classic Radio CDs for years, enjoying those on car drives. This week, we found on YouTube audio of The Great Gildersleeves, as well as Ozzie and Harriet--our kids are really enjoying listening and I'm really enjoying witnessing their active listening. They're so much more engaged with their minds as they listen acutely to follow the story than the Zombie Effect any time a television is turned on; additionally, I see none of the frenetic result in their affect after the radio is turned off like I do after the television is turned off. This week, I experimented with things like having the children color at the table while I cooked dinner and we all listened to a radio play: they were guffawing, sharing commentary, and engaging!

I look forward to further exploring old-time radio shows. A quick Google search reveals tens of thousands of episodes of radio plays . . . a window into a more family-friendly era.

If you know of old-fashioned radio plays, or remember them from your childhood, please leave a comment in the blog post and share names with me.

7.

Today I tried my hand at a family tradition of Abby Sasscer, who promotes simplicity and detachment from objects in our domestic churches (homes): First Friday Reparation Cleaning and De-Cluttering. The idea is that by putting our de-cluttering on the calendar, and on a day of reparation no less, we will slowly but surely achieve more detachment and simplify our lives at home.

After our Friday morning guests went home, the children and I spent just one simple hour de-cluttering the linen closet and kitchen (and really, only about half the cupboards). I was able to take six large bags of donations to the thrift store, as well as throw away a lot of items. It felt great!

For more 7 Quick Takes Friday, check out This Ain't the Lyceum.