my kid is smarter than I am

And he is only 9.

Yesterday while reading a science lesson about force, the diagram showed a water wheel in a stream. I pointed out how the water turns the wheel and turns the shaft to power whatever machine is hooked up to it. Will said, "No, Mommy, the water turns it the opposite direction, see?" He then drew me a blow-up diagram of a water wheel so I could understand it better.

On the same day he studied the LEGO Technic book and constructed a candy dispenser even though we still have not gotten the extra parts bag in the mail. (due tomorrow)

At this rate, I think that my future will include hours of driving my child to college classes when he's 12. I'm sure I'll do better in teaching him biology than physics, after all, I know lots about child development!

city quiz

Found this over at rosetta stone. I guess it is a good thing that we are moving to Maine, I'll be pretty close to my "ideal city."

You Are Boston

Both modern and old school, you never forget your roots. Well educated and a little snobby, you demand the best. And quite frankly, you think you are the best. Famous people from the Boston area: Conan O'Brien, Ben Affleck, New Kids on the Block

What American City Are You?

red vader?

We have been immersed in Star Wars mania due to the fact that Will received the 3 original movies on DVD for Christmas. Every afternoon, after school and piano practice are complete and the babysitter arrives, the children can usually watch a movie. I feel sorry for the teenage girl who watches them, after all, I feel overwhelmed by them most days. If they are staring at the screen for an hour or so, at least I know it is something I picked out.

But I had to cut off Star Wars after Charlie started throwing homemade LEGO bombs down the stairs and Maggie asked for the tenth time, "Can we watch the baby bears?" Will came up with this outfit after discovering we own no black dress up clothes. He made the light saber from red cellophane and a wrapping paper tube.

Celebration

We recently honored St. Timothy on his feast day since two members of our house are named after the Saint. My main contribution was to make a cake in honor of the event. Meanwhile, Will constructed an enormous sign and Mary wrote a letter, complete with envelope addressed to, "Mr. Daddy and Timmy C., room first, from Miss Mary C, room 3." The children had the lovely idea of writing "pray for us" on the cake. Well, since I used most of the minuscule tube of white frosting gel on spelling out St. Timothy, I didn't think I had enough left to write it all, but I managed to squeeze out just enough to finish the last letter. It was delicious and baby Timmy ate his piece all up.

Carnival of Homeschooling

Last week's carnival is at Alasandra and Her Cats. Here is this week's carnival at Tiffany's.

I can't do it

Quit blogging that is.

After a year of writing every day about our trials and joys as a largish Catholic homeschooling family, it seems to have become a part of my life. Perhaps I won't write every day, but I can promise more color since Tim bought me a digital camera and I can post pictures much more easily now.

ta-da!

Yesterday I realized that one of Tim's work colleagues was expecting a baby any day and I hadn't yet made her a baby quilt. Mary, my big sewing helper, and I selected a pattern, picked out a dozen pink fabrics and cut out and sewed the quilt top. Mary did a great deal of the sewing, though I did have to take out a few wonkily pieced seams. Today I basted, quilted it in a big meandering stipple pattern, and sewed on the binding. The back features a quote I found in a book about motherhood, "The most important handshake of your life will happen when your newborn infant's tiny hand grabs hold of your index finger."

Not bad for 2 afternoon's worth of work.

sometimes it doesn't pay

Earlier this week I hit the local thrift shop for a bit of fashion rejuvenation. While they don't have a good selection of children's clothes, they do have cheap and good quality women's wear. I found some sweaters and a pretty red knit dress from Talbots, as well as 2 skirts, 10 pieces in all for about $40. While waiting in line I picked up a few magazines for the children and a LEGO Technic Klutz book to build simple machines. Since the bag seemed full of various bits I figured Will would find in interesting and purchased it for $2. However, when I got home and presented it to him, he found that almost 1/2 of the parts were missing. His distress at not being able to make a single machine led us to search LEGO's website and attempt to email to a local mom who's son is immersed in building Technic creations. Finally, Will found a Klutz website address and we found the exact bag of replacement parts we needed for $10. So my bargain turned out to cost $13, still less than the new price, but not quite the steal I had originally thought.

let's eat some doughnuts!

This Saturday I am running in the Krispy Kreme Challenge 4 mile run. It sounds like more of a fun event than what I am used to, basically you are to run 2 miles to the KK store, eat as many or as few doughnuts as you would like, then run the 2 miles back. There is a competitor class where you are required to eat a dozen hot, glazed confections before you start back and the rules state that you should try not to upchuck on the course. I passed on that, since while I can easily eat 12 of the little fat balls, I didn't know if you were allowed milk or water alongside.

It will be an interesting race to say the least, and I promised the children I would bring home some doughnuts for them. I have a feeling I won't be interested in chowing down with them afterwards.

12 Original Glazed Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

2400 calories
1200 fat calories
144g of fat
36g of saturated fat
60mg of Cholesterol
1140mg of sodium
120g of sugar
24g of protein

furiously writing

Not me, Will.

For the past 3 years I have coaxed this child to dictate book reports or write short paragraphs about his likes, activities, and adventures, only to hear agonizing groans every single time. This year has been especially disheartening because Seton lesson plans contain weekly writing assignments in English as well as a 4 paragraph book report in Reading. I did see glimmers of encouragement when Will wrote several letters to his auntie, even addressing the envelope correctly. But today! Today I was presented with a scrapbook, complete with a homemade cover, in which he is journaling his activities.

"I woke up early and played with timmy. I went into mary's room and got her flashlight and gave it to timmy and then saw daddy turn out the lights. So I did horse rides with them and then got out of bed. And I remebered my "days story" so I started righting."

Does this mean that the next writing assignment will be met with joyous accolades? I doubt it, but now I know he is capable of writing much more than I previously thought and I won't let his excuses wear me down quite so much.

found this under Mary's bed:

DAYS CHART

1 Brush teeth in morning and eveing.

2 Make bed before going down stairs.

3 get dressed.

4 take laundury down stairs and do it.

5. Say prayers,

6. Eat breakfast.

7. Do more laundury.

8. Go play.

9. Pracktcs the Multapacachin tables.

10. Make lunch.

11. Eat Lunch.

12. Do more laurndury.

13. Go play.

14. Do more laundury , if is anay more.

15. Go play.

16. Take shower.

17. Put Charile to bed.

18. Read a little.

19. Say prayers.

20. Go to bed.

NOTICE

this chart is Mon-Fri only.

(notice that #7: Do school is nowhere on the list.) If she actually did 1/2 of the actual work on this chart I would be able to lie on the sofa and eat bon-bons much of the day. Unfortunately, I am the one who does most of the laundry, though Will does some days and both kids carry the basket up the stairs and dump it on my bed. I recall making these kinds of lists when I was little, but she is much more ambitious than I ever planned on being.

I needed a conk on the head?

This morning our little scholars finished up the 2nd quarter by 9:30am so I decided to first clean up the house a bit and then head over to the library. I had ordered a few CDs from The Teaching Company and then was advised to see if the local library had others on the shelf. Well, they do, so we pulled up in the parking lot to discover (for the 3rd time) that the library does not open until 2pm on Fridays. Since 10 other cars pulled up while we were there, I realize that I was not the only citizen to forget these new cost-saving, yet aggravating measures.

After I stepped out of the car to at least put our stacks of books in the book drop, I jumped over a puddle and hit my head on the side view mirror. The smacking sound could be heard all over the parking lot, "Are you okay?" "Yeah, okay," I mumbled and then went around the other side to hold my head and cry. It hurt so badly that both Will and Mary got out of the car to give me a hug and put the books away for me. A few hours later I am feeling a better, but still a little sore. As I am pretty casual about the kid's pains and boo-boos, "It's not bleeding, you will be fine. Now go play," I think this will remind me to be more kind to my children when they are injured, as they were to me today.

Of course

this is the weather when we are paying for two properties to be snowplowed. The driveway to the farm has to be kept clear for the builder and we agreed to include yard work in the lease for the house in town because the tenant is a little old lady.

New England's first major winter storm of 2008 snarled the Monday morning commute with heavy snow and closed hundreds of schools.
Following the snowiest December on record in some parts of the region, and a spell of spring-like warmth, meteorologists said as much as 14 inches of snow was possible in southern New Hampshire and areas west and north of Boston.
Hundreds of public and private schools canceled classes for the day in anticipation of the snow in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island and parts of eastern New York.

A High Mass that lifted hearts and inspired souls

This afternoon I packed the girls into the Jeep and took off west to the town of Greensboro following the latest sighting of a Traditional Latin Mass in central North Carolina. Motu Proprio fever has taken off here with a monthly High Mass in Raleigh and several training sessions for priests set up by FSSP, as well as other Tridentine Masses scattered across the state.

Father Robert Ferguson filled in several times at St. Benedict's in Chesapeake, Virginia and the parishioners were very grateful for his enthusiasm and love for the Catholic faith. Currently, I understand, he is teaching at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary and also training groups of diocesan priests who want to learn the Extraordinary Form. This evening's Mass at Our Lady Of Grace was to show priests and faithful alike what a wonder and inspiration the Mass can be and it proved to be so. From the first note sung by the talented choir and the separate men's schola, the music lifted all our hearts to Heaven. The majesty of Mozart's Coronation Mass Gloria, the depth of Haydn's St John of God Mass Credo, the loft of HJ Steward's Sanctus was certainly some of the most beautiful music ever created for the glory of God. This was not just a Gregorian chant dialogue High Mass (which is extraordinarily beautiful); this brought to mind the singing of the angels.

There were some rough spots like when a few dozen folks didn't understand the rubrics and insisted on standing throughout the Gloria and Credo, even after Father sat down, and when many people started leaving during the final hymn. Also, most of the women did not cover their heads in imitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in both her maternity and modesty. But the chatter I overheard as we headed back to the car, "Wasn't that the most beautiful thing you have ever experienced?" pushed the little irritants aside. I am so grateful to be coming out of the desert of the past 40 years and personally experiencing the re-birth of the Church.

Thanks must be given to Father Parkerson as well, who assisted in distributing Holy Communion to the full, but not uncomfortably packed crowd, and to the bishop of Charlotte, who I think was in attendance. May our hearts and minds focus on Our Lord and his sacrifice for us. May many souls be brought to Heaven from this Mass and the others like it to follow. Let us all pray for Our Holy Father, good priests like Father Ferguson, and seminarians who want to learn the Mass of the Ages.

a good story and a goodbye

Once upon a time there was this girl who had four friends.

She loved the 4th friend the most and adored him with rich robes and treated him to the finest of delicacies. She gave him nothing but the best.

She also loved the 3rd friend very much and was always showing him off to neighboring kingdoms. However, she feared that one day he would leave her for another.

She also loved her 2nd friend. He was her confidant and was always kind, considerate and patient with her. Whenever this girl faced a problem, she could confide in him, and he would help her get through the difficult times.

The girls 1st friend was a very loyal partner and had made great contributions in maintaining her wealth and kingdom. However, she did not love the first friend. Although he loved her deeply, she hardly took notice of him!

One day, the girl fell ill and she knew her time was short. She thought of her luxurious life and wondered, "I now have four friends with me, but when I die, I'll be all alone." Thus, she asked the 4th friend, "I loved you the most, endowed you with the finest clothing and showered great care over you. Now that I'm dying, will you follow me and keep me company?"

"No way!", replied the 4th friend, and he walked away without another word. His answer cut like a sharp knife right into her heart.

The sad girl then asked the 3rd friend, "I loved you all my life. Now that I'm dying, will you follow me and keep me company?"

"No!", replied the 3rd friend. "Life is too good! When you die, I'm going to marry someone else!" Her heart sank and turned cold.

She asked the 2nd friend, "I have always turned to you for help and you've always been there for me. When I die, will you follow me and keep me company?"

"I'm sorry, I can't help you out this time!", he replied. "At the very most, I can only walk with you to your grave." His answer struck her like a bolt of lightning, and the girl was devastated.

Then a voice called out: "I'll go with you. I'll follow you no matter where you go." The girl looked up, and there was her first friend. He was very skinny as he suffered from malnutrition and neglect.

Greatly grieved, the girl said, "I should have taken much better care of you when I had the chance!"

In truth, you have 4 friends in your lives: Your 4th friend is your body. No matter how much time and effort you lavish in making it look good, it will leave you when you die. Your 3rd friend is your possessions, status and wealth. When you die, it will all go to others. Your 2nd friend is your family and friends. No matter how much they have been there for you, the furthest they can stay by you is up to the grave.

Your 1st friend is your Soul. Often neglected in pursuit of wealth, power and pleasures of the world. However, your Soul is the only thing that will follow you where ever you go. Cultivate, strengthen and cherish it now, for it is he only part of you that will follow you to the throne of God and continue with you throughout Eternity.

I have been thinking a great deal about time and what I choose to do with it. Right now I choose to homeschool my older children, care for and nurture my younger children, run, read, and work on a writing class. In the past 6 months I have neglected my other great love of quilting. I can't both blog and quilt as both take up the precious daily hour I carve out for myself.

It has been said many times after someone found a quilt of Jane Austin's making, "The world would be better off if she had written another book rather than spent her time making a quilt." I think it would be better if I make more quilts than write. So, I will continue to read up on other's homeschooling exploits, and may occasionally post, but I need to get back to my passion for color and design, for crafting something that will warm the body as well as the soul.

homeschooling doesn't have to be hard

From the beginning, I didn't find homeschooling to be a difficult thing. I do however, find managing many little children, and organizing a household while homeschooling a more challenging task. It helps to start with a good attitude, realistic expectations, and good resources.

There is such a thing as thinking and analyzing too much when it comes to picking resources to use in schooling. On-line forums are full of moms asking, "What is the best spelling program? What math series do you use?" The responses offer dozens of different solutions, "We use XYZ series and it works! Jainey now loves to spell." The poor new homeschooler is left in the same place she was before with no clear-cut solution to her selection process. Usually it is better to not get on the do-it-yourself merry-go-round and just dive in head-first with using an in-the-box program. It seems that it is already enough work to sit down and cover the material with all the children than to add in finding the "perfect" books for each subject, making up lesson plans, and determining grades. Sure, some people are super-organized and use guides such as Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum, but I have found it easier to stick with a good program like Seton and supplement with extras when needed.

So, to respond the statement below, "Its not an easy thing to do," I would say the ease or difficulty of homeschooling depends on how hard you make it.

The state's number of home-schoolers has grown about 6 percent to 9 percent annually during the last decade, according to Raleigh-based North Carolinians for Home Education, a volunteer organization that supports home schools.
Parents say reasons for home schooling their kids vary as much as the dozens of teaching programs available to them. Of the estimated 68,707 home-schoolers enrolled statewide, 67 percent are in home schools with religious themes, according to the state's 2006-07 report.
Others, like Lockard, are dissatisfied with public and private education options.

Starting a home school is easy, but parents caution newbies to do some research.

While getting started is simple, running a home school is time consuming and costly due to lost income, says Waxhaw's Keith Holmes.
"It's not an easy thing to do," he says. "You have to educate your child, and you have no one else to blame."

Frankly my dear, I don't give a ...

A quick scan of the new books at the library and I found another good story, Rhett Butler's People, by Donald McCaig. The author was selected by the Margaret Mitchell Foundation to write this 500 page novel, showing one of the most famous literary romances of all time from other character's perspectives. The book aligns with Gone With The Wind, but giving us the thoughts and backgrounds of Ashley, Melanie, Belle Watling, and of course Rhett Butler.

This is one of those books you shouldn't start right before you go to bed, because you might end up like I did, creeping downstairs at 11pm to find out what happens next. One chapter follows the next and so before you know it, the clock strikes 2am when you close the cover. Even though a bleary eyed day awaited me the next morning, I didn't regret it because it was such a delightful read.

what are you doing here?

This is what happens when two people who don't follow God's Laws #6, #8, #9, and #10:

WARSAW (Reuters) - A Polish man got the shock of his life when he visited a brothel and spotted his wife among the establishment's employees. Polish tabloid Super Express said the woman had been making some extra money on the side while telling her husband she worked at a store in a nearby town.
"I was dumfounded. I thought I was dreaming," the husband told the newspaper Wednesday.
The couple, married for 14 years, are now divorcing, the newspaper reported.


God didn't give us the Ten Commandments to be mean, he gave them to us so we could be happy. It is said that a married couple who practices NFP cuts their risk of divorce by over 50% and it is said that married couples with many children are less likely to divorce as well. This is perhaps because both the husband and wife are striving to follow God's law and not be selfish. People who give of themselves to God and their neighbor are happier and assured they will never find their spouse working in or patronizing a brothel.

Carnival of Homeschooling

Is up at Red Sea School.

a boy and his cars

There is nothing more sweet yet anxiety provoking than tucking in a 3 year old who insists on sleeping with a red Jeep under one arm and a VHS operating video with a cover shot of a Jeep flying over a dirt pile under the other.

Why do I have this feeling that one day, not too many years from now, I will have to hide the keys so the boys will not take off 4-wheeling in the woods? My placid sheep and cows might not like that too much. I did read an article in the Jeep magazine (it comes for free, we don't subscribe or anything) of a guy who bought 100 acres of Maine woods for trails and jumps for his Jeep. Maybe he could share?

are you letting your kid wear that?

This past weekend I made my usual weekly run to the local library, where we are very grateful there are plenty of new and exciting books on the shelves. The town in Maine where our farm is located has a tiny, century old, stone structure that only seems to house dusty tomes from the 1950's. I don't think they have bought a new book in 20 years, so it seems that I will have to either make updating the library my new volunteer project, or I will have to travel 30 minutes to the big city and peruse the thousands of new volumes donated by author Steven King.

One of my finds this past trip was Girls Gone Mild, Young Women Reclaim Self-Respect and Find It's Not Bad to Be Good. While I thought it was well researched and well written, I think the author went a bit over the top in her assessment of how skanky our culture has become. Either that or having no TV, no newspaper, and no child in the public school system has insulated me from the general culture.

Wendy Shalit covers the gamut from preschoolers playing with Bratz dolls and wearing clothes fit for a lady of the evening, to the college scene of drunken hook-ups replacing old-fashioned dating. While I know that many parents let their children dress in hooker clothes and many sorority chicks do bounce from one sleepover to another, there are alternatives for the rest of us. We don't have to buy clothes at stores that cater to that element, we don't have to send our children to colleges that have dual gender dorms and unisex bathrooms. We can purchase clothes at thrift stores (my favorite) and children's consignment stores (they have high end stuff cheap), from catalogues like Lands End and Hanna Anderson, and on ebay. We can send our teens to colleges that strive to retain some semblance of excellence in the academic and social realms, and we can refuse to donate money to an alma mater that has gone completely over the edge. We must vote with our feet and our pocketbooks, otherwise what Mrs. Shalit describes might come to pass for the majority of our youth.

Tridentine High Mass at the Cathedral

This afternoon we piled everyone in the van and headed to Raleigh to Sacred Heart Cathedral for the first High Mass held there in likely 40 years. I heard about it on the Internet at the blog Summorum Pontificum, which links to all things related. Weighted down with 5 missals, a sippy cup, a baggie of Cheerios, several rosaries, and a tiny photo album chock-full of holy cards we slipped in the door 30 minutes before Mass was to begin. We have found it prudent over the years to get to any Mass early if we want to all sit together. By 4:20 there wasn't a single seat left and people filled the vestibule and lined the outer walls. It seems a great many came out of curiosity since less than 1/3 of the women wore a veil and many folks didn't seem to be able to follow the order of the Mass. I tried to help one older lady in front of me find her place in a missal she obviously had been given for the occasion, but after 20 minutes she and her friend seemed to give up in frustration and left.

The beauty of the Cathedral seemed made for this evening. The stars on the ceiling seemed to sparkle extra brightly as the choir, brought in from Sacred Heart parish, sang the Kyrie and Credo in harmonious chant. The organ seemed to belt out with extra vigor the Sanctus, and the parishioners sang with gusto the Processional, We Three Kings. The bishop gave a short homily, mentioning that starting tomorrow 15 diocesan priests will be training to say the Extraordinary Form. He said that he thinks the Pope would be pleased at the generosity of these priests to provide the TLM throughout the diocese of Raleigh. While next month's High Mass likely will not be quite so grand, with 5 priests and the bishop in attendance, or so crowded, it will continue to be the most perfect offering that man has ever given to God. I am grateful to have participated in this historic occasion, but more pleased at the possibility that the Mass of the Ages will spread and touch many more hearts than just those tonight.

talking or not talking

I recall when my first child was in utero I read every pregnancy book available cover to cover. It didn't matter that I had an ultrasound showing 1 little sac, I even read the book on twins, "just in case". So, when he finally arrived I naturally started reading What to Expect The First Year. As Will grew I became more concerned about the little boxes each month stating what an infant that age was supposed to be accomplishing. While my baby was a cheerful boy who slept through the night, sat up, and eventually crawled and walked, he didn't say any real words. In fact, I have in his baby book a list of 10 words he had said at the age of 2. Some of the words he had only said once, but since he followed directions, "Go get the ball," "Bring Mommy the block," "Clean your room," (just kidding on that last one) Tim was not at all concerned. But I was convinced that something was wrong and it didn't help that the Italian day care he went to once a week thought there was something wrong too. So, I signed him up for testing and speech therapy and finally before we came back to the states, at almost 3 years old, Will started jabbering and really hasn't stopped since. There wasn't anything wrong with him, he just talked late.

Now, I am afraid we are about to start the same emotional roller coaster again with baby Timmy, but this time I likely know more about child development (expressly the development of my brood) than the pediatrician. Timmy has a well-baby check on Monday, his first in a great many months since it fell through the cracks in the move, trip to Maine, and Mother's death. According to What to Expect The Toddler Years, he should be using 3 words, point to a desired object, build a tower of 4 blocks, walk up steps, take off his clothes, feed a doll, and identify items in a book by pointing. Well, he can't do any of those things and I know the pediatrician will ask about these or similar skills. While there is that remnant of fear that something could be wrong with him, I know that my happy, expressive boy is normal indeed. Normal in this house where his every need is anticipated by 4 children eager to make him comfortable. I remind myself not to compare his skills to other babies and to enjoy the peace, such as it is, because before I know it, he too will be whooping and hollering with the rest of them.

creativity day

A few months ago, I heard about a store, called The Scrap Exchange where you could find recycled and overstock art supplies really cheap. Then a few days ago, Will complained about the lack of stiff paper after his little brother and sister had destroyed his construction paper mailbox he had made the day before. He had put a lot of time into it, complete with a latch to shut the door and I felt badly, since this sort of thing happens more frequently than I would like. We drew some diagrams of ways to keep a new mailbox out of reach, using a pulley. I figured I could satisfy my curiosity and promised him that we would go shopping on Wednesday.

The store was easy to find, even with a couple of missed turns, but I was disappointed at what we found inside. It was basically thrift store bits all in bins and barrels you could pick through to fill your $7.50 bag. With a little scrounging we did find some treasures: upholstery scraps for bedspreads and curtains for the dollhouse, some glittery sticker paper, yarn for our knitting frames, but there was a lot of junk that I had to be firm about not making it into the van.

When we got home the schoolroom turned into a colorful madhouse with Will sawing away on a cardboard tube to make a pulley, Mary cutting holes in pink fuzzy fabric to make a front pack baby carrier for her American Girl doll, and Maggie and Charlie waltzing around in dress up clothes complete with their new gold tone broken watches. "Jewels!" they pronounced grandly.

When Tim came home he was inundated with little voices calling, "Daddy, come look at my room!" The girl's room was decorated with a new Manet poster, a hammock for a doll, and a primitive elevator. In the boy's room was displayed a poster of a Greek statue and the finished 3 sided mailbox. He was very impressed, except for the holes in the wall.

This morning I am sitting in the schoolroom, preparing for another day of math and reading, science and spelling, surrounded by paper bits and fabric scraps. I have decided that Creativity Day is going to be followed by Clean Up Day so we can get back to some order and peace.

Carnival of Homeschooling

The second anniversary edition is up at Why Homeschool. In the past year there have been over 2000 posts by over 300 bloggers in the carnival, really giving good ideas, encouragement, and laughs about this wonderful educational method. Please post a thank you to Henry and all the other Cate family members for starting the carnival and keeping it so well organized.

resolution run

This morning I got up early and headed out for yet another 5K. It was a gently sloping road race, with a long downhill the last 1/2 mile. With several u-turns it was easy to count the number of women in front of me, but I kicked hard at the end and blew by 2 of them for a 23:14 finish. I came in 3rd for my age group, but I really did well in the estimating my time contest. I guessed 23:15 and came in 2nd with a $10 gift certificate to the New Balance store as the prize. Since my footwear is over a year old, I know what I am getting for Valentine's Day: baby needs a new pair of shoes!

Happy New Year!