{SQT} One Very Busy Week

1. Day Trip to Columbia

On Friday afternoon last, I took the whole crew to Columbia, SC, ninety minutes away for John to practice with fellow homeschoolers for the upcoming Catholic Quiz Bowl (teams of grades 5+). The whole group of middle-schoolers was so earnest and enthusiastic: it was a delight to see!

We met at the beautiful Richland Library, whose children section was something to be admired like I haven't seen before!

On that note, we already owned but are now nearly daily using Catholic Trivia (Traditional Version), which I highly recommend! Our nearly 8-year-old knows scant answers, so she is often our reader of questions (an honored position she enjoys!) while the 10- and 12-year-olds and parents pretend to hit buzzers and shout out questions. The kids are having us play it at meal times and in the car, and it is so fun! Meanwhile, everyone is learning all the answers they are hearing.

2. Piano Recital Saturday

The children participated in what was for them a particularly big piano recital at Steinway Gallery on Saturday. Our studio requires students to perform at recital any songs they will be competing with, so John and Mary got all their songs out of the way without having to also devote a Saturday in March to a recital. Click here to enjoy photos and a cumulative 20 minutes of listening among all four kids!

3. Great Back Yard Bird Count

The children enjoyed participating in the Great Back Yard Bird Count on three of the four days it was running. (Mama enjoyed having kids old enough that her participation consisted only of entering their bird count lists into the website at the end of it all!) The below picture captures their triumphant return from tromping through the woods and falling into rain puddles such that they all took off their boots and poured water out of them in front of me. Their clothing was soaked in mud-water, too!

4. One Very Busy Schedule

This week was one of an absolutely wild schedule, but I reflected that, whereas in the past, I would have been in despair about us having achieved so little school and that done in a shotgun pattern, this time I faced it with calm and knew it would be alright: the change is because of my scheduling us down to the half-hour this year.

Sunday Mass

This week, we faced three doctor's appointments (no illnesses, all check-ups), two meetings, one required volunteering event, the housecleaners coming in the middle of a school day, our whole family attending the mid-week Mass that John being assigned to serve . . . on top of our regular schedule of four and a half hours of music lessons, three sports classes, an online class, our art class, and John's CCE on two days. When I looked at our calendar, we were reduced to doing formal school under my supervision for exactly one morning, a few pockets here and there, plus the children had a few periods when they would be home with Dad or a babysitter in which to do unsupervised (read: way less effective) school.

Six children at the dentist's office

But I did not panic! Because I have been scheduling our time, I feel good right now that we've been having a good year and have been sticking to school. (Some homeschooling years are good, some years are rough: such is life.) My normal rule is to guard our morning hours against all appointments, no matter how much push back we get about "being flexible homeschoolers who surely can take the morning off." So, when a bunch of appointments did for once coincide and steal our mornings, I felt okay about that.

Also, I still scheduled all our time this week. I printed out each child's weekly blank calendar, filled it in with all our appointments (including marking down simply "Mama gone" for these three hours, so I knew the child could be assigned only independent work), and then I got to work filling in with only the most core material and what was due to any outside teachers. I even accounted for my stress level, knowing that, yes, I might be walking back in the door at 10:30 a.m., but that I'd have to deal with all the kerfuffle of my being gone, and my mind would be distracted and that I really needed to build in buffers of a half hour or an hour of no assignments around my entrances and egresses: my brain and emotional status can't handle that much without moving into sins of yelling!

Anyway, this week was a good example for my own self of what is working. (It was different than if we all woke up sick with a terrible illness, which calls for a different kind of survival plan.)

5. Brave Guys

Who could be worried with these two brave soldiers defending the hearth and home?

6. Lent Approaches

This past week in the traditional calendar was Septagesima Sunday, which means it is definitely time to start planning for Lent for ourselves and our families.

"The time of Septagesima is somewhat like a prelude to Lent, the traditional time for spiritual reform. That is why the liturgy presents us today with a program which we must put into effect in order to bring about within ourselves a new, serious conversion, so that we may rise again with Christ at Easter. . . . The first step toward conversion always consists in humbly recognizing that we need to be converted. The lukewarm must become fervent, the fervent must reach perfection, the perfect must attain heroic virtue. Who can say that he does not need to advance in virtue and in sanctity?" (Divine Intimacy, Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, 1964)

I appreciated Leila Lawler's post at Like Mother, Like Daughter entitled "Choosing Lenten Devotionals: Wisdom from Blessed Colomba Marmion." Read her article for a very helpful exposition of Bl. Colomba's advice:

"We see how important it is in this matter to distrust our own judgment, our own lights; how important it is not to base our holiness upon such or such a practice of devotion, however excellent, which we choose for ourselves, nor upon such or such an observance of our religious rule.

"Such an observance may be suspended by a higher law, as is, for example, the law of charity towards our neighbor. Holiness for us must be based before and above all upon the fulfillment of the divine law, the natural law, the precepts of the decalogue, the commandments of the Church, and the duties of our state.

"A piety that does not respect this hierarchy of duties ought to be held suspect: all ascetism that is not governed by the precepts and doctrine of the Gospel cannot come from the Holy Spirit who inspired the Gospel. “Whosoever are led by the Spirit of God,” says Saint Paul, “they are the sons of God.” "

Each  member of our family (above the age of reason) uses this "LENT IS COMING" worksheet every year.

7. Bonus Reading

"Five Keys to Homeschool Success" by Mary Ellen Barrett at Tales from the Bonny Blue House. I can attest to all of these!

• Stop overthinking.
• Make children do chores everyday.
• Make a menu plan.
• Get dressed.
• Plan.

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

Piano Recital

On Saturday night, the oldest four children performed in a piano recital at the Steinway Gallery. This was a special night for Joseph, as he had only performed in one recital before, a single Christmas song more than a year ago. So, this really felt like his first real recital!

They all worked hard and are at different places on their journeys with learning music, learning how to learn, learning how to practice, learning how to perform . . . and we're proud of them all for what each one is learning!

Joseph (newly 6) performed:

• Old MacDonald Had a Farm
• I've Been Working on the Railroad

Margaret (almost 8) performed:

• Arabesque by Friedrich Burgmuller
• First Dancing Lesson by Komanetsky

Mary (10) performed the following but would not like her video posted:

• Aria by Handel
• Spokane Falls by Labenske
• Perpetual Motion by Andre Previn
• Inquietude by Moskowski
• Alla Tarantella by Edvard MacDowell

John (12) performed:

• Sonata in C Major K. 95 L. 358
• Grand Tetons by Valerie Roubos
• Concerto in C Major 1st Mvt by Haydn
• Consolation by Mendelssohn
• Jazz Exercise by Oscar Peterson

{SQT} The St. Valentine's Day Edition

1. What's Working Well?

Click here for some latest little practices that are working well for us. I can't always be focusing on the areas that need improvement, right? 

2. Confession

We have found a new location to go to weekly Confession and at a better time too. The parish is fewer than ten minutes away and has Confession most days early enough so we are home starting school by nine. The kids and I are loving it.

Our three-year-old sees a kneeler and kneels to pray!

This was my week to take a turn sitting in the cry room with the little boys while the big kids went to Confession, so I just brought along Joseph's catechism reading.

3. Getting Outside When We Can

The weather dipped back to chilly and wet this week. The kids were not deterred, and even I got out for a couple of walks!

I've been pondering lately . . . There are long-term, pernicious ill-effects from television (and we don't allow video games) that end up taking time from my day (mostly in the form of bad behavior that has to be dealt with), so it's usually not worth putting it on, even if the alternative (cleaning up muddy clothing and footprints on my floors or picking up board game and puzzle pieces) also takes time. I think the alternative clean-ups probably even take up less time . . . and don't damage the soul/conscience/character. I'm pretty positive my children would refuse to play outside if screen time were an option more often, but at the moment, I've been able to hold the line pretty well . . .

Six- and seven-year-olds pushing their three-year-old brother on the swing

Visiting the playground during their older brother's Latin class at church

We don't let a downpour stop us!

Begging to play hockey in 35-degree weather before breakfast

4. Math

Joseph's numerical literacy is growing by leaps and bounds in only two weeks of switching to RightStart Math, which I had used with my first three Kindergarteners. He "gets it" immediately with these better explanations. I am soooooooooo glad I switched.

All my attempts to teach place value with the other curriculum failed
until I got out my trusty Place Value Cards from RightStart.

5. St. Valentine's Day

Click here to see our family celebration!

6. Thomas Draws

My sturdy boy Thomas (3-1/2) with his delayed speech that is almost all caught up has begun drawing lately. It's so exciting to this mama!

One morning, he brought me a book and asked me what it was. I explained that it is a book to teach a person how to draw animals. When I was walking away to teach Joseph and saw Thomas had set himself up with the instructional book, a paper, and a fat crayon, I even snapped a picture thinking it was so cute, since obviously Thomas was too young to follow the directions.

I was mistaken, and Thomas produced this wonderful purple cat with no help from any siblings.

He also drew this picture of David, which is a whole new level of sophistication for a stick person.

Bonus pic of littles playing Play-Doh

7. Etiquette Education

I really enjoy books about etiquette and manners and, in fact, collected and read many of them in high-school and college, as evidenced below. FYI, old books of etiquette are really interesting snapshots into days of yore and into changing societal mores.

This year, I had my girls read Emilie Barnes' "A Little Book of Manners: Courtesy and Kindness for Young Ladies." That was a great hit, so when I recently realized that Joseph at six is perfectly old enough for some formal etiquette instruction, I bought Emilie Barnes' "A Little Book of Manners: A Game Plan for Getting Along with Others." It teaches the same manners but in a way appealing to little boys (who, despite the news these days, are very different than little girls).

Big brother John (12) will be reading this book to the boys several times per week, which lends the study of manners a decided cool factor. The three fellas are enjoying it already!

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

St. Valentine's Day 2019

It is a wonderful, but humbling, phenomenon to have older children who start taking over family traditions for a mama. I did manage to read aloud about the real St. Valentine the day before the feast day, but by that night I found myself on the fourth of sixth weeks with my husband absent on business travel and me juggling all the balls and trying to drop none. I was ill prepared for this Catholic feast day when my children eagerly asked me, "So, Mama, when are you going to decorate for St. Valentine's Day tomorrow?!"

Late that night, after I'd tucked in all the kids, I trudged downstairs to figure out how to make something out of nothing when I found this sign on the kitchen door: "Do not come in, Mama! I am making a surprise! Mary."

She dug through all our table treasures, handed down from various grandparents and aunties, used my old birthday flowers from two weeks ago, and made a beautiful table setting! She had even secretly bought gifts for me and her daddy.

I was completely out of all colors of construction paper except black, and I certainly had not managed to purchase greeting cards or holy cards, so I found some creme-colored card stock, cut it into heart shapes, and wrote love notes all around the table. I strew some chocolates around as well. Then I went to our bin of "gifts to give later" (a handy bin to have) and found a beautiful blue candle Chris had bought, which I set out.

Gifts from 10-year-old Mary, decorated with pine cones

And very late at night, Chris was able to fly home from his business trip and not have to stay extra days, as he'd thought was likely. We enjoyed breakfast together as a family before a regular school day.

Happy St. Valentine's Day!

What's Working Well?

I see any glass as half empty and I can spot flaws in any situation, so as a salutary exercise for my own self, this week I'm writing about a few good things I see working well around my home . . . even amidst the chaos and the noise! Maybe some of my practices will be helpful for someone else, too.

1. Planning Works

I plan everything that I can. Some homeschooling moms buy an open-and-go curriculum; I make my own, but the end result remains being able to open and go. I usually start writing out the lesson plans on Friday afternoon, and then over the weekend, transfer those to an actual schedule (by the half hour) for the week. It is rare that appointments come up during that very week that I did not already know about.

2. Using Baskets Works

Some of my planning does not involve specific page numbers, but involves tackling a subject for a certain amount of time. This is particularly true of the youngest grades: "do catechism for 15 minutes." Over the summer, I will have assembled a basket of catechism supplies for my Kindergartner and I will dip into them all year during catechism time, as the spirit moves me, so to speak.

No running off to bookshelves, hunting here or there. I already know the dozen books I want to cover over the year and they are sitting in the basket marked, "Joseph's Religion."

This week, the three littlest boys enjoyed coloring their Seton coloring books while I read aloud from The Wonder Series, published by St. Augustine Academy Press.

What beautiful illustrations--both in The Wonder Days and on my little boys' pages!

I have baskets of subjects all over the house, all carefully organized and where I need them to be, and they work so well for me!

3. Teaching Chores Works

This week, Joseph has graduated to knowing how to clean a bathroom (to a sufficient level for me)! He is already six, and his oldest three siblings were newly five when I taught them how to clean a bathroom: that's how desperate I was. But now that I have three kids who can clean bathrooms well and only three bathrooms in the house, I let Joseph ride all the way till six before I realized that I really should graduate the oldest kids up onto more complex tasks and let Joseph clean a bathroom each week.

One week, I had Joseph shadow me and I cleaned the bathroom while talking through every step. The next week, I shadowed Joseph and directed him verbally on every step. Now he can do it, but I know from experience that I will continue shadowing him probably for a few months. Is that a hassle? Yes. But it will result in a child I can send to clean the bathroom any time and he will do it well and easily!

Requiring chores isn't fun or easy. Any mom knows that I could more easily clean the bathroom myself than teaching a resistant six-year-old to do so. ("Ewwww! I'm not touching that!") I keep my eye on the long view, which is that a family of eight, with a mom who cycles in and out of pregnancies, and who knows what drama life will throw at us some day, can only function with all the family members doing chores daily and weekly with a minimum of fuss.

But don't be fooled. Some kids (among mine) are more tough than others, and some kids (among mine) require a lot of discipline before being willing to do chores. Standoffs of many hours or removal of all privileges until the child cooperates are not unfamiliar to the process, but the end result of kids who calmly do their chores is well worth it.

4. Reading Aloud Works

I've noted before that I read daily for hours upon hours to my oldest couple of children for probably the first five years of parenting. I avoided twaddle and read classics above their reading level. I truly believe that this really does produce beautiful results! Even if a particular child has trouble learning to read, as statistically some children will no matter what, their hearing such reading aloud will cause them to have a well-trained ear and an appreciation of fine and grammatically correct writing.

I can no longer read for hours and hours. I notice that now, I'm reading to the younger set mostly.

I read History to everyone during Morning Snack, and have for years. My three-year-old treasures that I read a book only to him when I lay him down for nap. On occasion, I read literature aloud to everyone during Afternoon Snack. In the evening, I read aloud to the youngest three boys, and on an occasional treat for all of us, I still get to read aloud to the older kids at night.

These are the bedtime books I've been reading from to the boys ages 6, 3, and 1 this week.

When we were last in the Medieval history cycle three years ago, I borrowed from the library "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" to read aloud to the children and it was the real Robert Browning version of text, but insipid illustrations. Now that we've cycled around again, I treated myself to buying an exquisite copy of this fine poem illustrated by Kate Greenaway (1846-1901). Reading it aloud was an absolute treat of language--despite some rascally behavior from the crew--and by the end of the poem, one of my more tender children was actually crying at Browning's tale.

My beautiful new (old) Pied Piper

After I read aloud to Thomas each day at nap time, he insists on grabbing a book and flipping through all the pictures, then clutching it while he sleeps.

If I knew a mom was floundering about homeschooling and I could advise just one thing, I'd say, Read aloud the best literature you can find! Read, read, read!

{SQT} A Nice, Calm Week

1. Music, Its Powerful Influence

This past week, I published some resources for an individual or family discerning what music is good for their souls: "Music, Its Powerful Influence."

2. Kindergarten with Joseph

I feel positive overall about Joseph's Kindergarten year with more than half of it behind us. Nothing in homeschooling is perfect and sometimes his schooling gets skipped because higher priority matters arise. That said, it is working well that I assign Mary (10) a daily 30 minutes teaching Joseph some assigned tasks, Margaret (7) teaches him on an ad-hoc basis, John (12) coaches him daily for piano practice, and then I teach him for 45 minutes about four days per week.

Joseph's daily routine:

• Starts daily prayer and Baltimore Catechism with all of us
• Play break
• Mary (10) teaches him a variety of Bible, Penmanship, Science read-aloud, Music Theory
• Play break
• He joins us all for group History lesson.
• I teach him Math, Catechism (specifically for his age), and Phonics, I hope all three daily. If I'm scrambling and too busy, I assign Margaret (7) to teach him math. (Margaret has her own individual history assignments to read and I often assign her to read them aloud to Joseph, so I get more benefit for all the students involved.)
• Play break
• Piano practice with John (12) coaching him
• Lunch
• Quiet rest time

And that's how I do it! I couldn't provide him a good Kindergarten year anywhere near this good without his older siblings helping daily. I just love sharing this Kindergarten experience with my children and would never want to miss it by sending them to school!

I'm switching back to RightStart Math. For three children, I've taught RightStart in Kindergarten and first grade before launching the children in third grade into Teaching Textbooks (self-teaches, self-corrects, self-grades). This year, I was feeling overwhelmed so tried a workbook-based math program that uses no manipulatives for Joseph. After half a year, I can attest that he is not gaining numerical literacy anywhere near as well as his siblings did under RightStart, so I'm going back to it, even though it is teacher-intensive and involves pulling out all the math manipulatives each day!

Three boys using math manipulatives

Counting bears are good for mathematics . . .

. . . and for then setting up a quiet battle with your brother while you listen to your catechism lesson!

Counting bears battle

I continue to recommend "Chats with God's Little Ones" (Our Lady of Victory Press) for a Kindergarten catechism (even though it is advertised as for the First Holy Communion year). I love it!

Learning phonics is better while wearing a homemade beard. It just is.

3. Mary

Mary patiently let her adoring little brother Thomas sit on her lap quietly during her online composition class just because he needed a snuggle: homeschooling at its finest!

This week, she made up little feedback tickets for Joseph to rate her after she teaches him each day!

John is going to do a Catholic Quiz Bowl with friends this year, and sister Mary is quizzing him with our traddie trivia cards. Such fun!

4. Margaret

Last week, the kids were taught pointillism by their art teacher. I've introduced some assigned art history into Margaret's weekly lesson plan and she is one happy girl.

Like John, Margaret has been bitten by the weaving bug!

5. David

I'm a couple of weeks into the process of dropping his morning nap. It's helping his sleep tremendously, but sometimes he falls asleep at the start of lunchtime!

6. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

The kids sure have been enjoying the spring zephyrs and temperatures in the 70s this week! Evening tennis class was so much more fun in these temperatures than in the temps even down into the 30s sometimes. I keep reminding them that it is still early February and we should anticipate cold weather returning.

Three-year-old on his bicycle

7. Current Reading

I've got some new books I'm in the midst of reading, including a book I've read several times before (not pictured): "Wife, Mother, and Mystic: Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi."

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