Gloria in Excelsis Deo: {SQT} Hurricane Florence

1. Hurricane Florence

Hurricane Florence, or the story of why we now own a generator, have a very organized closet, and all got to sleep in the den together: click here.

2. Scholastic Scenes

This week for History, I read aloud the Ian Serraillier version of Beowulf to my elementary school students (my sixth grader having read the Seamus Heaney version over the summer). The language is an exquisite enjoyment and all my children were gripped for 30-45 minutes per day, even causing my five-year-old boy who never stops bouncing unless he is asleep to be utterly still.

My 7- and 9-year-old girls took it upon themselves to draw illustrations of Grendel and the Fire Dragon. My 5-year-old boy said he needed to stop looking at these pictures because they would get into his head and keep him scared at night.

I simply love using Connecting with History for a devoutly Catholic and excellent history program that combines textbook sources with classic literature and historic fiction.

Margaret and I sit together to read her Apologia Zoology book: I read some of it aloud for sheer speed and modeling of pronunciation. Then I select shorter paragraphs for her to read aloud to me. I also have Joseph (5) sit with us and listen to Margaret reading. He's absorbing science at the same time, and this week I overheard him teaching the science he had heard to another of his siblings!

Margaret is also regularly teaching Joseph art, and he's becoming really quite skilled. I thanked her and she replied, "I've learned about guided drawing from my teacher, Miss L--" (the professional art teacher we hire).

3. Musical Moments

4. Thomas

Becoming three has many challenges (way more ornery than the "Terrible Twos," which I think are basically precious) but also explosive growth in intelligence, creativity, and abilities. Thomas is showing such new imagination these days. One day, he was quiet for half an hour lining up animals just precisely so.

He has also begun creating things out of Duplos, such as one day when he told me, "Me building Mary's Violin Shoppe. Me went there with Daddy." (True, Daddy took him there on an errand to repair Mary's violin, but Mary had to stay at home that day.) He told me knowingly, "Mary does not fit through the door." Oh, I see!

Apparently it is time to start giving Thomas some wee chores of his own (and I am serious). For months, he has bustled in to help empty the dishwasher when his big brother Joseph is doing it. Then yesterday, when Thomas saw all his siblings doing their afternoon chores, he ran and got a laundry basket: the only basket he was strong enough to drag downstairs was the nearly empty basket for towels. It had all of two towels in it and he was so proud of himself!

5. Sports

6. Weekday Mass

This was the first week of the academic year that we were able to send a contingent of our family to the Wednesday 7:00 a.m. TLM offered for the seminarians at our parish. It came on the heels of my reading the encouraging (and very realistic) "Moms at Mass, and Other Heroes," Although I happened not to be the one who went this week, due to scheduling issues, I do have hope that sometimes during this year I will introduce the Wednesday morning Mass to my routine!

7. Miscellaneous

A couple of years ago, Chris spent a lot of time teaching our two oldest numerous card games and that entertainment has now become a staple at home. This week, we realized that our seven-year-old has learned cards only from observation and that she deserves actual lessons from her dad so she doesn't lose every game. Thus, they're off playing card games whenever Chris has a spare moment.

This week, Joseph (5) used Magformers to make what he excitedly informed me was a "video game." One part slides back and forth, and then, "there is this button that I push!" Joseph told me, "During every break from school today, I'm going to play my video game" (which, to be clear, involved sliding a piece back and forth and pushing a button that does not depress or do anything).

If this creativity and contentment is what happens when we don't let our kids play video games, I'm a happy mama.