{SQT} Super Tuesday Fun

1. Wholesome Weekend Fun

Last weekend was a hustle and bustle of fun. On Saturday evening, I was privileged to attend a get-together with some holy, lovely, and cheerful ladies. Our conversation was edifying and uplifting, the home beautiful, the food delicious, and we prayed a rosary together.  My life has changed so much over 20 years and I'm grateful for these friendships now which make me better, not a worse version of myself.

I baked muffins ahead of time as part of the family's dinner in my absence and David (2) sampled a bite from each and every one.

On Sunday, the boys played basketball with the once-monthly group of homeschool boys. The sports are so good for them and I love seeing the older boys help and encourage the younger ones, as the team spans six years old up through high-school. Any person at a parish with a large homeschool community could replicate this: ours is run competently by a 13-year-old kid!

Then we hosted four adults and seven kids for dinner and ice cream after Mass--we don't get home till at least 3:00--and we had a super time. I couldn't get it together to cook after our busy Saturday, which also included housecleaning, orchestra, a music competition, and grocery and Costco shopping. We still had good fellowship and I think our guests forgave the breakfast dishes still in my sink and the restaurant food delivered!

2. Political Parties and Popcorn

Chris and I are political bugs (me formerly in law school, him actually a professional in the state capitol for years), so we enjoy these seasons. We've been watching many of the Democratic debates and this week watched the Trump town hall.

On Monday, President Trump was in town for a rally, so Chris took the two oldest children. The stadium filled up with 10,000 people and a crowd of thousands milled outside.

On Super Tuesday, our family went as a whole to go vote, as always.

The two-year-old may or may not have been making a political statement when he came home and festooned our commode with "I Voted" stickers.

In the evening, we let the older children stay up an hour late and eat popcorn with us while we watched the Democratic nominee votes roll in on television. We had prepared them ahead of time with a lengthy article explaining the purpose of Super Tuesday, as well as many breakfast table conversations with parents. A new generation of political bugs is in the making.

3. Mega Music!

Last Saturday morning, the two girls competed in piano at the North Carolina Music Teachers Association (NCMTA). They both performed well and Mary is going on to the second-round competition!

The two girls are preparing for orchestral auditions, the oldest three are preparing for a recital at the Steinway studio this weekend, another competition is approaching for all three, plus the two oldest are both going to separate state-level auditions within four to six weeks. In order to accommodate their being in competition season, attending extra lessons and practicing sometimes for numerous hours daily, I reduced their school schedules significantly, as we can always do more book work over the summer.

I've done much thoughtful meditation and spousal discussion about homeschooling this year (more than in most years): One reason I keep coming back to our wanting to remain independent of others' strict schedules--despite the many benefits of things like a co-op or hybrid school--is that we are already subjecting ourselves voluntarily to the strict schedules of the music world. During hectic seasons like this, I reduce our book work load dramatically, and then we continue schooling over the summer. Flexibility of schedule is one of the beauties of homeschooling!

4. Teaching Phone Usage

On my mind this week was the topic of teaching children how to use the phone, something especially challenging in this day and age when most of us have personal cell phones and do not even use a family land line at home. For example, our children have almost no practice answering a family phone and passing the phone to the recipient of the call.

We are making intentional efforts to teach the 13- and 11-year-olds to make business calls. For example, John (13) maintains a 40-gallon fish tank which has faced fish illness lately as well as mismatched fish (fish which fight each other), thus has gone a complete rehabilitation in the last months. This has required much finding of information and calling around for help, which John did himself.

Just this past week, I needed information about Mary's (11) orthodontia, so she made the phone call to the doctor's office, introduced herself, and requested the information. Later, she forgot an item at a friend's home, so she called the friend's parent to inquire after the item.

There are also phone calls growing-up children and especially teenagers can learn to make for the family: ordering the pizza delivery, calling the city's hotline to report the street light burned out, or calling for just about any general information. So much information is available online these days, but I think it is very important to require young people to learn to communicate by phone as well. Some kids will be extroverted and will take to it easily while others will be reticent with shyness and will be required, probably under duress, to learn this skill.

5. A Random Day in the Life

On Thursday, my husband hit the road at 7:00 a.m., very generously (for me) driving to Tennessee and back in one day instead of peacefully and restfully staying in a hotel so that he could take our son to hockey the night prior and be home from Friday goings-on.

My duties from 5:00 a.m. to 12:30 included:

• three loads of laundry (washing, drying, putting away)
• encouraging them to go do their personal daily holy reading (e.g., saint books)
• my own prayer time
• dressing the littlest boys
• making three beds
• leading children in morning prayer and holy reading over breakfast
• cooking and cleaning up from hot breakfast
• listening to a history oral narration and giving the weekly exam to three kids; supervising and/or teaching four math lessons; one grammar lesson; one composition homework; preparation for National Latin Exam (one practice test, flash cards, reading Greek myths); phonics for the first grader; separate spelling levels for three kids; and supervising a cumulative four hours of music practice over four kids in two instruments. (Thursday is always about two-thirds of a regular day of school due to our schedule.)
• cooking and cleaning up from lunch

My duties from 12:30 p.m. till bedtime included:

• Driving 8-year-old to an extra violin lesson to prepare for Big Audition
• While she was in lesson, doing two errands
• Driving an hour each way (listening to Treasure Island) to take children to two-hour Scottish Dance lesson
• During dance lesson, taking the youngest three to a great play date which involved a trampoline, sand box, swings, and fresh air
• getting drive-through dinner, as we did not get home till 7:30 p.m.
• helping Chris give bath to boys who played in the sandbox, my cleaning up their bedroom of toys and reading to them (last book in The Mouse and the Motorcycle series)

6. Stress Relief

What do you do for stress relief? What do you do to live this homeschool lifestyle (as most of my readers are living) to prevent stress from building too high? I have appreciated articles of late that proposition that emergency self-care measures, such as going to the spa or taking a girls' weekend away, are not the best approach, but designing a life that daily is manageable is the better way.

For example, I keep the number of my outings minimal. I don't sign up for most kid outings or events unless my husband can drive them most of the time because Mama is--at this season of life--critical for keeping things running smoothly at home. I bring teachers into the home whenever possible and I take on volunteering anywhere sparingly. Despite all our activities, many weeks I leave the home only on Thursdays and Sundays! One of my barometers is that if I were to fall behind on daily laundry, that would tell me that I'm over-scheduling. I arrange our routine so that the house is picked up of school items and toys, looking pretty darn neat, nightly: if I can't do that, then I'm over-scheduling.

However, there's no such thing as no stress ever, and one day this week I was crying by the afternoon.

Toddler found the new tube of toothpaste

One of my personal coping techniques that is not self-destructive (like drink or drugs or binge spending!) is organizing disorder. I remember once being part of a car accident two decades ago: I got home around midnight and set about to clean my home to perfection. I haven't shaken the habit, so on the day I was crying, I went out to the messy garage and spent an hour putting it into as much order as I could, then after dinner duties, I retreated to our bathroom and organized our medicine cabinet (which is totally lacking in hand sanitizer and zinc lozenges due to the COVID-19 scare which has emptied shelves at the numerous stores I checked). I love organizing disorder, as it brings calm to me.

Of course, my other main stress-relievers are yelling and over-eating, so I'm far, far from holy perfection!

Do my readers have any pastimes that bring calm to you on a frenzied day?

7. Miscellaneous Moments

We get to use Playdough about once monthly . . . always fun!

Lately, Joseph (7) has been hammering and building much woodwork in the garage. Also, he has begun using a screwdriver to dismantle and recreate large toy cars. This strikes me as a wonderful use of the cost of a toy: who is to say that zooming it on the ground is more valuable than learning the mechanics of how to unbuild and build it?

Spring is springing, blooms are blooming . . .

. . . kids are getting outside more often . . .

. . . and we mounted a bee and butterfly box for our pollinating friends!

Our whole family has been listening to Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (1882) for probably the third time in the last decade. Some little kids are hearing it for the first time. As a result, I am being presented with many drawings of buccaneers  . . .

. . . and the kids of all ages are tricking each other into receiving The Black Spot (gasp!) and running away laughing, "You have until ten o'clock!"

Our family watched The Printing (1990) this week: "A story of religious persecution against Christians in the Soviet Union during the 1980s and the illegal printing of Bibles." The children (13, 11, 8) gave it two thumbs up. A similar family movie teaching against Communism is Night Crossing (1982). Both of these movies would be excellent to show during this political season when "Democratic Socialism" is being promoted to those who perhaps have never been taught history. Always feel free to check out my movie reviews here.


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