what we will remember
It's not about the eggs. The thousands of plastic eggs scattered across the soccer field were there just to hold joy for a little while. To bottle it up and spread it around some. They did that well. Little faces watched expectantly for the ridiculous bunny to start the race. Little people were ringing the edge of the field in anticipation, hearts racing when the whistle blows. There was the happy surprise of a new bunny erasers and hair ties. The bliss that is a balloon tied around your wrist. There is always time for that, even during weeks like this, so we got the older girls settled and resting (wisdom teeth out yesterday) and slipped out for an hour to make memories.
It will be a simple holiday here. Semi-homemade. We have girls who are still under the weather and a big month ahead. It's all about easy and fun right now. I figure they aren't going to remember if I nailed that recipe or if their dresses were perfect. They are going to remember if they laughed. So we are laughing. : )
Triduum
The day passed preparing eggs for dying and discussing the Last Supper. We prepped some material to make some small skirts this weekend. Tomorrow will be a big day. The older girls have a double header at the oral surgeon's office in the afternoon to have their wisdom teeth removed. The timing couldn't be helped. One was absessing and the other is starting work soon. So it was deemed best to just knock the procedures out together. At 3pm Good Friday, a coincidental time to suffer. They are in good spirits though, and looking forward to having this behind them. Their brothers are looking forward to seeing how they handle their IV sedation. Not gonna lie ; )
Some quiet work for the little people….
3D Good Friday constructions here.
Last Supper youtube for big people and little people
Coloring page we modeled our notebook pages after here. Lots more here. We are finding coloring pages to be good drawing guides.
Beautiful watercolor project for Good Friday here.
Vintage radio broadcast of the Stations of the Cross here.
Fridge art downloaded from a Facebook group. Can't find the original source.
We are still in the temporary house but decorating is therapeutic for me. When we realized we would be here for Easter I went out and picked up some things for a centerpiece. I was going to set it up ahead of time but when I got this far decided it looked remarkably like a crown of thorns. So, here it stays until Sunday. The rest will transform it then.
Weekend menu for two:
I should turn in my crunchy mom card right here shouldn't I? It is what it is though. I bought Campbell's and smashed potatoes in a box and Jello. Because…double wisdom tooth extraction. Heck *I* may be eating the jello before this is over. ; D
taking notes
There has been a lot of notebook love going around here. I am loving it too in this latest incarnation. The younger children all got simple bound sketchbooks just for lesson time. Unlike the millions of drafts and doodles on printer paper, only the very best work gets done in the notebook. Unlike the millions of pieces of printer paper, the work stays together.
Bound books for the win.
The girls picked up Grandma Chickenlegs during our long awaited first library trip locally. I probably wouldn't have picked it up myself but it ended up being a good read. Tess was quick to tell me the story had elements from both Hansel and Gretel and Cinderella. We talked about story elements and found some printables. My heart isn't in printables at the moment, partly because there is no printer and partly because of those millions of pieces of paper thing. We ended up making our own simple pages including those things mentioned on the posters.
We've made a page a day since and I hope to share some more.
fresh water
I was planning to share a very ordinary and wonderfully uneventful afternoon feeding the birds. Still am. It wasn't until a conversation at the store earlier that though, that I realized how eventful it actually was. While checking out I was visiting with the cashier and noticed her name tag. It read 'Jinks.' I commented that it was a great tag and there was a story there. She said, no really, it's my name. She went on to say that her father thought he was done with babies and then she came along. He figured he was jinxed. I guess he thought that was funny. As we talked though she noticed an error she made typing in a code, shook her head, and said, "See, I am just a jinx. Name fits"
People, hear this.
In that moment it was driven home to me better than any parenting book I have read how powerful our words can be, how they can build up little people or break them down. Forever. Somehow, in her mind, there was more to the name than a funny joke. There was a message, still intact and in force, many decades later.
I think of the words that flow from me regularly. I think of St James saying that blessing and cursing come from the same mouth and that this should not be. "Can fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?"
It's easy to be gentle spirited on days like these. Not as easy when the going gets rough, when things are less than idyllic. Stories like these remind me to be more mindful, less flippant, and not to assume that our words won't be taken literally in growing hearts.
Afternoons like these are not optional. It is necessary, all this tying of heartstrings. It affirms to a child over and over that no matter what the circumstances of our lives when they entered into the story it all got a whole lot better by them being there.
No jinxes. No mistakes. We are blessed and not cursed. Oh that our words would always reflect that.
of steers and spurs
Few things make Colorado girls feel like they've come back home like a night of college rodeo. It's about as iconically American West as it gets and it never gets old. When we found out we had arrived in time for the regional college rodeo we sure as heck weren't missing it. At $4 a head it was half the price of your average movie ticket.
Every place has a story. This one is reading really well.
There's a story behind those chaps. I'm tellin' you. There's gotta be. You don't sew that into leather for nothing.
Aidan said if he was ever to do a rodeo event it would be steer wrestling.
His sisters pointed out that you don't get to pad up like football for steer wrestling…
So much fun. But I'm pretty sure we are all gonna be saying, "Son of a gun!" for the rest of the week now at least. Have I mentioned the emcee?
awesome
Weekending
Because when you move back to America you should at least once have your own Slurpee. And because our family really does earn that 7th one free.
A very good way to end a very good weekend.
Today is Friday
"Today is Friday,
Today is Friday,
Friday fish,
Thursday roast beef,
Wednesday soup,
Tuesday string beans,
Monday wash day,
All you hungry brothers,
We wish the same to you."
It rolled right off the tongue. Right after "Friday fish" on the menu my brain erupted into old camp songs sung with many hungry brothers over the years. After listening on cassettes and then dvds the lyrics are seared into my memory.
Kieran had an exam today on a Tolstoy short story. As soon as he began the plot and the questions came back to me. The same way, I could have jotted down the supplies for a senses unit in my sleep I think, the activities and associated projects so familiar to me now. And then we settled in to dipping cod into batter the same way the church ladies prepared the Friday fish fry line, week after week, in my childhood.
It occurred to me we really are reaping the rewards of habit. Although we are in another new house, another new location, another new job, so many things roll along the same well-worn paths charted so long ago. People don't factor that in when they hear family size. They assume a reckless amassing of liabilities and exponential multiplication of chores and subtraction of brain cells. It didn't work out that way though.
New things are a challenge. They always are. It was so difficult to learn how to teach - reading, math, science, and gasp, latin. Oh my word. Manuals and how-to's and reviews of the manuals and how to books stacked up on my side tables for YEARS. It seemed for a long stretch every aspect of life was that way, so much to get up to speed on in so many areas. How do you safely carry a baby, feed a baby? Then how do you feed a whole bunch of people? When should they walk/talk/train/drive a car? How do we accomodate allergies? Repair a dryer? Alter the uniform? How do you research your doctor/dentist? All of it requiring action on my part at once.
It left my head spinning.
Sometimes it isn't until the spinning stops that you notice. Once day, just like that, the thing – whatever the thing happens to be – just happens effortlessly, like clockwork. You can wing the lesson. Your little liabilities slip into the kitchen and begin slicing and mixing alongside you. You know the answer to the teen's question. You know exactly how long it is between tylenol doses. You may not know when it came together. Just that at some point it did. The added bonus is that not only do you know these things, but every year more of your clan knows them too. All those years you were not just pushing the building capacity to bursting. You were building a community, a shared culture, a team. You were learning skills together that only needed to be mastered once and then they would serve you faithfully for years to come.
There are always new things. That's a given. Eventually, though, there are a whole lot of other things that are no longer foreign, freeing you up to concentrate on fewer things at once. Those others just begin to work on autopilot in the background.
After years of struggle and fatigue my friend, that.is.awesome.
(Traditional beer batter fish fry here.)
Exploring – Snowbasin
It was so warm in town we figured we would venture up to a trail near Snowbasin ski resort. When we got there the trail was still pretty soggy and as you can see there was still plenty of snow. We decided to backtrack down the mountain a little way and hiked through the canyon but not without looking around the area a little.
The High School Decision
While responding to a letter about discerning homeschool high it occurred to me other people might also be having similar thoughts this time of year. Many of us look at our kids' education in two chunks, elementary school and high school. As the one comes to a close there are usually some very big discussions about how to handle the latter. Even seasoned home educators can be apprehensive about the prospect, understandably. If your child is planning to attend college (and you really want to keep that as an option til the very end of their education so no doors are closed prematurely) there are required courses to complete and records to be kept. Likewise, transferring to an on-site high school has all sorts of new demands.
There is a lot to think about and steps to take, either way. Just off the top of my head this is what I said in reply:
Raising teens is intimidating, period. There are so many variables with high school – the child's temperament, your temperament, your current working relationship. Those are the first things to consider. Homeschooling works best in collaboration so if there is any resistance or conflict it can almost be counterproductive in some cases. My best advice is to do what best preserves family peace, what best keeps their hearts. For many, that is homeschooling. Sometimes though, parents can assume a cheerleader/mentor role better when the child is away at school. Each child/parent/teacher relationship is unique. Whatever is most conducive to team building as a family is best.
If you choose to use the public school you'll have much more supervising and damage control to do morally and theologically, but far less to do by way of preparation and paperwork and legwork. If you choose to homeschool you will have far more to do to ensure the student stays on track and meets the appropriate educational goals and deadlines. Contrary to what some home-ed folks assert it has NOT been our experience that a student can fall way behind in math and suddenly cover 4 yrs of upper level math effectively and thoroughly inside a year, even if properly motivated. They may figure out enough to meet college entry guidelines but will not like become engineers. Some things cannot be easily caught up or done fast so it's important to stay on top of it as you go.
If you homeschool it is a good idea to look around several colleges and high schools and see what is suggested for college bound students. Plan your courses accordingly and keep a blank working transcript handy to pencil in courses and extras as they happen. Then its easy to tweak and fill in senior year. It is NOT fun to sit at the table late in the night before application deadlines trying to remember what year they did American govt. or how many years of piano were done etc.
The more traditional your coursework, the easier transcripts will be. The more traditional your coursework is, the more challenging it can be to finish it with enthusiasm too. If you are un-schooly or non-traditional you will need to get up to speed on how to articulate your student's learning in typical 'edu-ese' language. It can be done, just requires more mental gymnastics on your part. Ideally, you'll have a mix of both approaches – enough traditional coursework to provide a thorough foundation and to familiarize the student with real world deadlines coupled with enough authentic learning experiences and hands-on activities to keep the fires burning without exhausting mom.
In many states you have a third option which is to partner with your local schools for some courses or extracurriculars. Many community colleges also offer quick start or dual enrollment options. Some communities have such large numbers of homeschoolers they are able to support co-op programs so be sure you research all your local resources.
When you finish out these years you will have moved from acting director to an advisory position in the big production of their lives. Your goal is to hand off the baton by the end of this period while still being a respected and trusted voice they turn to as they move into the bigger world. Every family has to discern how best to make that transition and it won't be the same for everyone. Either path chosen will have perks and drawbacks, some significant. That's a given. It's going to be hard work either way. You are absolutely right though, the best is yet to come! These years are the culmination of all those that came before and it is amazing to watch this transformation.
We have 'done' high school several different ways now. We have assembled our own courses and written transcripts. We have used the community college. We have enrolled in correspondence programs. We have had students play sports through public schools. It's likely we will mix it up yet again because some options are better fits for some students and different areas we've lived have had different opportunites. We will have this same discussion approximately every other year until Abbie Rose reaches the end of her elementary years.
It's sad to me that a search of 'homeschool high school' today pulls up page after page of ads for various schools and businesses. This decision, like all parenting decisions, seems better made around a kitchen table with trusted friends and family rather than by thumbing through flashy fliers.
Some encouraging virtual visits:
Starry Sky Journal 