Gloria in Excelsis Deo: {SQT} Back to School

1. Vigil of Epiphany

Chris and I split Sunday Masses so he got to witness all the many folk who brought in containers for the blessing of Epiphany water. This ceremony lasts nearly an hour and contains many exorcisms, so, if you're a believe in holy water, this is the "high octane" stuff!

After Mass, John got a snake, which is grand fun for him.

We enjoyed hosting friends over after Mass for eating food and making music together. It was heartwarming and such a joy to watch many youth playing piano, violin, guitar and singing songs (in various languages!), all celebrating the Christ child while having wholesome fun together.

2. Feast of Epiphany

This year, the Feast of Epiphany fell on a Monday. We have opened presents in many various ways over the years and tried something new this year . . . because I could not complete all my duties and order gifts for our children in time for Christmas! Out of imperfections and failures comes good! We opened gifts from relatives and friends on Christmas Day, but saved gifts from within our immediate family for Epiphany day. In our family, we have long had a tradition of siblings drawing names for each other, so each sibling receives one "sibling gift," capped at about five dollars. The children each opened one sibling gift plus the one gift from their parents on Epiphany morning.

When Thomas (4) came downstairs and saw the twelve gift boxes, he admonished loudly, "This is too much, Mama! We are not a large family!"

But, seriously, this new method had some real benefits and I think we will do this purposefully next year. It allowed the children to more appreciate their gifts instead of being overwhelmed with so many gifts in one day. It give me a much calmer, slower two weeks (over Christmas break) to choose and order their gifts. It gave the kids longer to think about what gifts they would give each other. Lastly, it really ended the twelve days of Christmas in a significant way.

The top four children made me a very special Epiphany gift: a homemade wooden box! They holed up with tools in the garage for three to four hours during which I heard hammering and sawing. They even stained it! When they presented me the gift, I cried! This I will always treasure.

After the blessing of Epiphany water, which is always held on the Vigil of Epiphany, our family has a tradition of assembling home blessing kits for fellow parishioners. I didn't take a photo of "the minions" doing it this year, but you can envision a kitchen table full of kids pouring salt, snapping chalk, putting bits into bags, folding paper, and stapling.

3. Back to School

We started back to school Tuesday to continue for the second semester of the year. It is always daunting to get back into the school routine, but I do try a full week ahead to start enforcing early-to-bed and early-to-rise and I try to sit down and orient them to their daily lesson plans before Starting Day.

Our routine looks like this most days:

By 5:30-6:00 a.m., I'm awake and downstairs. During that hour, most kids wander downstairs. Things we usually do: Mama's prayers, empty dishwasher, wash any dirty dishes left out overnight, early risers are allowed to eat cold cereal, I will check email and do administrative tasks for the day, kids might watch TV. Kids about age 5+ are supposed to dress in their rooms before they even come downstairs--which for our homeschool means collared shirts and pants with belt loops or skirts with blouses.

7:00 a.m.: I go upstairs to shower, dress, and get the two littlest boys dressed, as well as make their beds. I'm finishing all that at 7:30 when I then roust any last sleepers out of bed. (7:30 is the latest our kids are allowed to sleep on a school day.) During this hour, there might even be kids playing outdoors: one of them likes to play hockey before school.

7:30 a.m.: I cook breakfast and serve it at 8:00. The children's "tickets" to eating breakfast is being dressed, having beds made, and having floors basically decent.

We say corporate (group) morning prayers and do religious read-alouds over breakfast, then clean up quickly. Often we clear tables and stack dirty dishes, leaving me to load dishes during a mid-morning break.

8:30-9:00 a.m.: School begins with group work. We do history together four mornings per week and, on the fifth day, group science study or group catechism.

By 9:30 or 10:00 a.m., I send the 7th and 5th graders to do independent work while I sit and guide subjects with the younger four. After some group memory work and singing, I send the 2- and 4-year-olds to play nearby so I can finish academic subjects with the 1st and 3rd graders. If they can finish their work by about 11:00 a.m. (which should be eminently possible if everyone is sweet, but you know how it goes!), then we could theoretically go on a walk before lunch (my big goal for this semester!), leaving behind the oldest two grades working independently.

11:30 a.m.: I start preparing lunch to serve by noon.

12:00: Serve lunch, might listen to some audio over lunch (e.g., Catholic Sprouts!). Tuck in 4-year-old for Quiet Time (audio CD and quiet toys), lay down 2-year-old for nap, older kids are on break till 1:00 p.m. I often don't clean up lunch till mid-afternoon: it would be nice if I required the older kids to clean up from lunch.

Around 1:00 p.m., we get back to work. Afternoons are variable due to activities, but I give my most attention to teaching the older kids during that time. There is still much management involved in their subjects.

Please, please, let school be done by 2:00 or 3:00 p.m.!

* * * * *

Thomas (4) loves to do art independently and I can usually count on him putting in time working on art while I teach.

Teaching spelling simultaneously: I alternate dictating sentences from their separate books.

Homeschooling Tip: Last year, I combined spelling and penmanship. Maybe it takes others fewer years of homeschooling to figure out the obvious than it does me. I find that I must still teach penmanship formally for the first few years, but once penmanship is solid, then spelling becomes our penmanship. I instruct the children to write their spelling in their best cursive and then that will count as daily penmanship and I won't require them to do more (which is a big incentive!).

Mary (11) chatting with/entertaining her two-year-old brother while she does her math.

I do our daily religious reading while we eat breakfast . . . on this day, the morning offering prayer, reviewing the Carmelite rules of recreation, reading from the Character Calendar for the day, and reading a moral story from The Catechist.

Joseph (6) doing math

We do a TAN history activity four mornings per week.

First grader reading

Two- and four-year-olds playing store while I teach

Doing a study of birds in winter using the No Sweat Nature Study, which we think is fantastic!

Thomas (4) fell asleep

4. Morning Walks

My goal this semester is to get the youngest children finished with school by around 11:00 so I can take them on a morning walk (get exercise! finally!) before I have to prepare lunch.

5. Building

The children have been building things feverishly all week! I love it, even with the mess in our garage!

Four- and six-year-olds hammering nails by themselves

Our almost-seven-year-old build a "cell phone" considering of a piece of wood with a hole bored out of it and a screw nailed into it (and later he drew buttons onto it). We don't buy noise-making toys or allow them into our home, and 13 years of experience shows me that this leads to a lot of creativity!

Another child built an outgoing letters box and two children have built secret gifts to give to others!

6. Miscellaneous Moments

A quiet moment at home, not posed--growing up so fast!

Thomas (4) just watched the 1954 "Robinson Crusoe" for the first time and second time and is already a huge fan!

Ready for Nerf battle!

7. Charlotte Symphony: Beethoven's Emperor Concerto

Chris' Epiphany present was tickets to see Beethoven's Emperor Concerto performed by the Charlotte Symphony. He had three charming companions for the evening!