{SQT} First Week of Summer Break

1. The School Year is a Wrap!

I wrote up a big retrospective of our school year, which you can read here. This was our first week of the new summer schedule.

2. Greenville

Chris (and Margaret and Joseph) went to Greenville, SC, on Sunday for another of Fr. Cunningham's First Masses and to discuss Latin Mass community planning business with so many of our community gathered in one place. There was a fabulous party afterward with a live band, face painting, catered food, and much joy.

3. Steinway Piano Competition

Meanwhile, on Saturday, Mary placed second in the Steinway Piano Competition 2018 (click here to see results) by playing Invention No. 8 by Bach and Summer by Catherine Rollin.

She really deserves Rocky theme music because she injured her finger--likely fractured--two and a half weeks before competition and was off all practice for a week, and then could do only light practice. (Playing on a grand requires much more muscle power than on an upright or keyboard.) But she still rallied and placed second, coming within a finger's width of winning the $400 prize!

Therefore, since Chris was out of town, I took her to the winners' recital on Sunday afternoon. In a brilliant, last-minute maneuver, I requested John babysit both Thomas and David outside the glass doors so I could watch Mary. Then we traded spots and I let John enjoy the rest of the concert while I played with the boys outside.

Babysitting outside

The first, second, and third place winners of the three divisions

4. Egg Drop

The kids desired to do an egg drop event all by themselves, so I decided to donate four eggs to the cause and see what happened. My only job was to take photos.

Result: three of four eggs survived a two-story drop!

5. Horticulture

Growing a carrot top

6. Reading

Well, we've misplaced "The Boxcar Children," which was Joseph's latest read-aloud chapter book, so he's asked me to read to him "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."  I'm very cautious about so-called children's versions of classic works because, more often than not, they dumb down the language when the beautiful language is the entire reason to read aloud classics to children. However, sometimes a story does benefit from softening of the plot line, and Huck Finn may be one of those stories. The nuances of alcoholism, an abusive father, slavery, and the understanding that Huck absolutely loves and recognizes dignity in N--- Jim are above my five-year-old's understanding, so reading a children's version is a good way to meet his desire for the story.

Or do I simply disallow this book before a certain age, just like I won't allow one of my favorites, "To Kill a Mockingbird," before perhaps age 13-14? These are questions that keep me awake at night.

Nonetheless, the English major in me bristles badly at a bowdlerized version of a classic. This article ("Light Out, Huck, They Still Want to Sivilize You" by Michiko Kakutani) is a useful exploration of the topic.

Mary (9) has decided she'd like to start reading the Bible (the children's Bible! Ha!) to Joseph (5). It's good somebody is making time for his Christian education!

And Thomas (almost 3) may be a bit behind in speech, but when it catches up, he's all ready to start reading: he's imitating already!

7. Movie Recommendation

Mary's illustration of a movie scene, drawn in charcoal on sidewalk

I'd like to recommend a movie, "Treasures of the Snow" (1981) (click here to watch it on YouTube). It was so excellent, I've added the original 1950 book to our wish list.

"A story of vicious revenge and hard repentance Annette and Lucien are enemies. After Annette gets Lucien into trouble at school, he decides to get back at her by threatening the most precious thing in the world to her: her little brother Dani. But tragedy strikes. Annette is so filled with rage that she sets out to alienate and humiliate Lucien at every turn. As Lucien seeks to repent and restore, light floods both of their dark hearts and Christ proves that He makes all things new."

As our children's godfather wrote to us of the movie, "​Sometimes of the ​consequences of our sins are hard to accept. But we must all be taught about grace, forgiveness and repentance. Otherwise the consequences of our sins could be too hard to bear."

Forewarning: There is an especially difficult opening scene in which an angry boy dangles a kitten over a cliff, the kitten falls, and a five-year-old boy falls after him, and we presume he has died. We watched this scene ahead of time, then explained it to our 5- and 7-year-olds, that these were actors. This movie is so good that it was worth our children seeing that scene--that scene is the sin qua non of the plot.


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