Bits and Pieces: First Week of Advent

There are no 7 Quick Take Fridays over at This Ain't the Lyceum during Advent, so I thought I'd post my own Bits and Pieces today.

Why do I always think that I'll get really good schooling done during the six-week break of CCE? There are so many events going on that it chip, chip, chips away at school. I suppose that is probably true of those in school-school too, though.

Last Saturday, we enjoyed Family Olympics Fun Day before celebrating John's eleventh birthday on Sunday. On Wednesday we celebrated the Feast of St. Nicholas both at home and at our church.

I reorganized the homeschool room--yet again--which you can see here.

Twice this week, Thomas (2-1/2) has reached for a tiny crucifix and rosary booklet to clutch while he naps . . . so precious a child of God! Little Thomas is catching up on his speech and is now saying two- and three-word sentences, along with using his first pronoun this week: "I sit potty!"

We were enjoying gloriously crisp fall weather much of the week . . . until the wintry mix hit on Friday! Will we have snow on Saturday?

On Friday, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, we took the day off of school to enjoy a play date with friends, as well as Mom going to Mass in the early morning and Daddy taking the older kids to a solemn high Mass at night.

My favorite read-alouds of the week: 

• I am reading "Mr. Popper's Penguins" to Joseph (4) in anticipation of taking the children to see that play in January. They've all read the book repeatedly, but Joseph hadn't heard it yet. Fun!
• One night, one child asked me to read "Horatius at the Bridge" for our bedtime read-aloud. Nerdy homeschool mamas leap at the chance when asked to read a 70-stanza poem of battle fame, even in the face of another child protesting the choice. Then nerdy homeschool mamas are vindicated when said protester asks at the end, "What? That's all?" and wants to hear some more! (Listen here to someone reading this classic poem with better pronunciation of names than I can manage: it's worth every one of it's 22 minutes!)
• John received C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity" on CD for his birthday and he's eagerly listening to it during our driving time. This book was pivitol in my converting from nothing to Christianity (Protestantism at the time), and I'm greatly enjoying listening to Lewis' crisp thinking again and watching my oldest listen avidly.

That's all for now!