7 Quick Takes: Our 2015-2016 School Year

It's Friday!  We start our 2015-2016 school year in three days!  Aside from not quite having all of my books here yet (at least they're ordered!), I feel pretty ready thanks to our new schedule!

---1---

New schedule?  Well, after hearing Sarah MacKenzie and Pam Barnhill's webinar about block scheduling, I made up my own schedules on Word and decided to go for it in my own way.  What does this mean for us?

It means instead of doing a little bit of every subject each day, we are doing a lot of only several non-core subjects for about six weeks at a time.  Math, handwriting, and English will have daily lessons all year!  This is very different from my previous years of planning, in which I planned only three large terms, and worked on the same books for most of the year.  I found that Beth would lose steam when we did it the proper Charlotte Mason way of consuming only tiny chunks of information at a time.  And I'm a total believer in doing what works best, so we are moving away from that idea and we will see how this one goes!

We have also developed some good morning habits, and I hope we can maintain those for awhile.  After breakfast- we clean up, say morning prayers at our family altar, read a story from the children's bible, have quiet individual prayer for a couple of minutes, and then listen to and sing a hymn (I use The Cathedral Singers "Catholic Latin Classics," a free album on Amazon Prime, it's much less awkward  to me than singing alone unaccompanied).  Then they will get a small break while I pull myself together (read that as I will talk myself into tackling another day with a cheerful heart), and then we will start school.  This is my plan.  Will it happen like this every day?  Absolutely not, I know that.  But we will strive for the ideal.

---2---

I'm also pulling back a little more from Mater Amabilis, the free online Catholic Charlotte Mason-inspired curriculum we have mostly used in the past.  I just needed to streamline a few things, like combining grammar/phonics/copywork into one neat little book from Catholic Heritage Curricula (CHC for short).  All three kids will be using CHC phonics programs, including Little Stories for Little Folks (to learn how to read since 100 Easy Lessons isn't working well for Luke).  I'm looking forward to seeing how it works in our family, and I'm praying it makes our day a little smoother.  Beth will also be using CHC geography since she loved it so much at co-op last year, and we do our own history lessons with A Child's History of the World- which will alternate terms with Apologia's science.  I think everything else is taken from Mater Amabilis for Beth, and while the boys are in younger grades, I'm sure they will listen on and participate with some of Beth's lessons to a certain extent.

---3---

We share several subjects as a family: history, science, poetry, music and artist study, and some religion.  The boys are sharing family geography and literature (though I'm sure they'll listen on to Beth's literature as well).  Each child is using Faith and Life for catechism at their own level (well, Beth is doing 4th grade in that), and Luke will be preparing for his First Holy Communion next spring!  Both boys will hopefully learn to read at their own pace, and we will all share saint stories and advent/lent preparations.  Since we pretty naturally live a rich liturgical year at home, and since our parish hosts many amazing liturgical feasts throughout the years, I don't feel the need to hyper-focus on that for "school" time.  It will continue to be part of our daily life!

---4---

We will be participating in our beloved co-op again this year!  The kids are already super-excited about seeing their friends soon.  This year, Beth will have Bible History (which I'm terribly excited about because she's very passionate about reading the bible!), Art/Music, Ballet, and Junior Master Gardening.  Luke's class will be using Classically Catholic Memory (Beta Year), and Jack will be reading Tomie dePaola books, learning geography and math from me, religion studies, and play time/nature walks.  I'm so very nervous about Caeli being in the nursery for an hour- especially now that she's usually napping at 10 am every day.  I will probably try to have her nap on my back in the Ergo, but I suppose we will have to wait and see what actually happens in six weeks!

---5---

Caeli.  What am I going to do?  What are your best tips for teaching three children WHILE keeping a toddler alive and entertained?  I thought to pull out our old high chair.  She loves sitting in it and it might actually contain her for 30 minutes while I do reading lessons?  We are also utilizing more audiobooks this year, for history and some of Beth's geography, because I don't see how else I can do this!

---6---

We haven't decided what extracurricular activities we will do yet.  Ryan and I are very tempted to take a semester off from soccer (shhh, don't tell Luke- we're undecided!) because we will be traveling most weekends in September, and Ryan would actually like to go to an Aggie tailgate this year!  I think we're burned out from spending our Saturdays at the soccer field, and the fall semester is always SO hot...

Beth and Luke have been taking piano lessons all summer, and we will continue those.  I'd love to get Beth back into an art class of some sort, and Jack is begging to take gymnastics.  Maybe we can find an (air-conditioned) homeschool gymnastics class?  Air-conditioned soccer?! All three will also participate in their girls and boys clubs again this year, and we will most likely join 4H so we can start earning some college scholarship money!

---7---

Am I exhausted yet?  Not really.  Planning their schedules this way (instead of mapping out a day-to-day lesson plan) has been a cinch.  I still have to plan my co-op class and still have to figure out exactly how to use the LSFLF CHC readers, but I'm cautiously optimistic about everything.  I also know enough now that the fall semester is easier to tackle than the long, dark, rainy spring semester.  But I've planned my days of rest throughout the school year, and intend to use each of them in a truly meaningful way.  In fact, I plan to convince Ryan that I will need at least one night alone at the beach in February or March. ;-)

(Please don't feel behind in your own planning because I've posted this and have this part figured out.  I've learned that my planning doesn't have to be perfect- only that I have to participate in God's plan for our family, show up for the job, but then leave room for the Holy Spirit to guide us and inspire us.  It's very possible all of this will be thrown out the window sooner than later!  We are starting school early this year because we plan to take a two-week road trip in the fall, and I wanted to complete some school work before we left.  So I beg you, don't feel behind or bad, but I hope my resources and planning ideas might inspire you in your home school!)

7 Quick Takes: All About Rest

1. Two more weeks of summertime for us.  It's flown by, but luckily this week has been the first week with nothing big on my "to-do" list and we've been able to just chill at the pool, run errands at our leisure, watch movies in a cool darkened living room, casually read, and go to bed pretty much whenever we're tired.  It's awesome.

2. I've been in a bit of a funk this week.  I think it's hormonal (isn't it always?) but I'm always attacked with the same feeling that I'm only worth what I can do.  That I'm only liked because of what I offer, and when I step back and stop offering then I stop being worthwhile.  And even though I'm assured otherwise, and even though I know it's just Satan whispering lies and twisting reality into something horrible, it's a few days in the month when I just sort of have to pull back from everything and shut down.  I hate it but I also know that it's my reality and this is how I have to cope. 

3. The good thing about "shutting down" everything is that we can just do whatever we want and need to do.  Hence, spending those last few "leisurely summer days" in the truest sense of the words. 

4. I've been exploring the idea of "leisure" as I read Souls at Rest by Charlotte Ostermann.  She explains that the only way we will achieve true leisure as God intended is by honoring the Sabbath.

"Sabbath is the cure for the ills caused by neglect of God, by distracting busyness, by impatient haste, by the assault of noise and by running away from who we truly are."

Distracting busyness?  Assault of noise?  Didn't I recently complain of noise and being too busy?  Clearly I need me some Sabbath.

"God created this day of rest for you, for human beings, so to find out what makes it holy, we must look at what makes people whole."

What makes me whole?  Who am I, truly?  God knows my life, my virtue, my vices.  He already knows.  Yet I still find it hard to feel loved and accepted for me, just the way I am. 

Maybe through reading this book I'll have a better understanding of Sabbath rest, and I'll be able to come to know rest the way God intends for me.  Maybe that will help.  I know that I don't keep the Sabbath holy in the way that I probably should, because honestly it would add more work to the other days of the week, and that is daunting to me.

5. One thing I do know is that I am loved unconditionally by this man.  And through his love I know that God loves me.  I posted on Instagram, " I am much loved by God through my husband.  Our marriage has helped me understand just how much our Heavenly Father loves me, and Ryan reflects His love to me and our children daily." 

6. I'm wrapping up my lesson planning (more like "rough outline") of our 2015-2016, and I hope to do a more thorough post on it later.  Books, papers, calendars and schedules have been littering my desk for a week now.  With wisdom gleaned from podcasts, books, and blogs, I have scheduled six terms using a block schedule.  Not very Charlotte Mason of me, but I'm having to adapt to three school-aged children and one very busy toddler!  I have great hopes that this year will go well with the new schedule in place; it will allow us to do less subjects daily but cover more material through the year.  Multum non multa, right?

7. I've pre-ordered Sarah Mackenzie's Teaching From Rest and can't wait to read it, as I just adore her and everything she does.  She always breathes new life into my day and her podcasts are always so inspiring!  I know she will have many new thoughts and ideas for me to ponder!  Preemeptively, I'm also building in a time of rest for me, too, to re-evaluate life and plans as needed and bring it all together.  A "teacher work day," of sorts- but hopefully at a coffee shop with my laptop and some encouraging books. This idea was from an amazing podcast, but I have no idea when I listened to it and can't figure out which podcast it was from!  Sorry!  It's not a new idea but it will be new for me.

7 Quick Takes... Thoughts about Thinking

---1---
Being a friend is complicated.  Sometimes I get stuck in situations with certain people where I just fumble on my words.  I gush about myself or endure awkward silences when I'm secretly desperately trying to think of a new conversation topic.  It's always the same people too- they must think I'm an idiot!  I get myself worked up and then the words just don't come, or I wind up saying something totally dumb, or blabbing on about myself when I sincerely want to hear about them.  I hate that feeling!

---2---
I don't know why I let things bother me so much.  Like today I was on a country road and came up behind an older man in a truck going 50 mph in a 70.  He slowed down- I thought he was going to turn right- so I slowed down behind him.  He started waving for me to go around him but there was oncoming traffic and I didn't feel comfortable doing it since I would have had to cross over into the other lane.  He got really mad at me!  He had his window down, yelling Lord only knows what at me, waving his hands frantically.  I'm only happy he didn't make a specific one-fingered gesture but he was clearly ticked off at me and I can only imagine what he was thinking.  I was so confused!  He was doing something nice for me, but then got mad at me?  I let this incident eat at me off and on all afternoon.  I prayed for him after it happened but why did I dwell on it?

---3---
I guess I'm a thinker.  I do think about things for a long time, and I have to read as much information as I can before I make a decision.  I replay moments in my head over and over again, hoping I'll do better next time.  We've been thinking about something big over the past couple of months and it's taken some time for pieces to fall into place, but I've needed to gather all the facts.  This is difficult because sometimes you just can't gather everything; sometimes the facts don't exist.  Sometimes you have to pray and just trust God, and trust yourself to make the right decision even when some of the puzzle pieces are still missing.  But as I tell my clients- we make educated decisions with the information we have in this moment so we have no "what ifs" later.  We made part of our decision and although it's not originally what we'd wanted, we did gather as much information as we could and put the rest in God's hands. 

---4---
The good news about making a big decision is we've experienced a bit of relief knowing that it's officially Not An Option anymore.  Crossed it off the list.  That's always nice, don't you think?

---5---
Well, I guess we've made two decisions recently!  We also made a decision to say "yes" to a new church home.  We have become members of a parish that is right for our family. There are so many aspects of the parish and the liturgy that I just love.  We can truly say "yes" to God in so many new ways here.

It reminds me of the way we educate our children.  We don't buy literature that has been abridged or brought down to their level; we give them something of beauty and something to strive to understand, something for which to reach. Our faith life should be no different!   Here, we are all reaching, yet we are all nourished.

---6---

I'd have to say that I have a decent understanding of my role as mother, wife, and daughter of the King.  But it's hard for me to reach deeper sometimes because... I am a mother and wife! I've read the books- I know it's about prioritizing and coming outside of myself and self-donative love... And I have a missionary spirit. I am constantly being reminded that the best (and seemingly only) thing I should do right now is to love and raise my children.  I do agree!  Whole-heartedly!  Still, sometimes I struggle with the feeling that I should be doing more for God's kingdom.

---7---

Ahhhhh... God's kingdom.  Cuddling with this sweet, cuddly, ball of love.  The kingdom of God truly belongs to such as these, and I'm convinced she was given to me as a gift to help me heal from a lot of past hurts.  But have I mentioned she'd 10 months old?  It's starting to get a little complicated during the days!  She wants me so much, and the others want me so much too.  Then there's school work and chores and cooking to be done... Imagine my surprise when I went looking for this post for the first time since Caeli was born.  Gosh I knew exactly what I'd be thinking right now!  Time to take my own advice!

7 Quick Takes!

---1---

My mother's day was so very nice and relaxing.  Well, it started off a little busy- I got called to work at 4:30 am!  My first birth back was on mother's day!  It went pretty fast and I was home by 10 am so we could run to 11 am mass and come home for brunch.  Ryan and the kids made me a feast, and I was treated to a back massage by Luke while Ryan was cooking!  Of course we had mimosas, but also my favorite- toast with fried ham and cheesy eggs!  And bacon.  Always bacon.

---2---

But mother's day didn't really start there.  The day before, on Saturday, we drove out to a local plant nursery that I just adore.  They were serving frozen bellinis and I got to cruise around while Ryan hoarded the kids around.  I bought a few plants to put in the pots on my porch!  Before the day was even over there was already a hummingbird drinking from the pink salvia!

 ---3---

I have to tell you how proud I am of my garden.  It's grown so beautifully and perfectly.  We have fresh mixed salad almost daily!  Soon we should have carrots and onions too! I randomly threw in some naturtium seeds in an attempt to keep aphids off of my other plants.  They add a beautiful pop of color in both of the beds.

 

 ---4---

 This week and last Caeli has really gotten into some serious finger sucking.  She's the only kid who hasn't needed a pacifier, so I guess to compensate she uses her fingers.  I know how hard it was for the other kids to wean from their nuks, so when Caeli didn't seem to need one I didn't bother to offer.  And now she sucks her fingers.  Well... All three big kids still always have something in their mouths- fingers, toys, hair... I know finger-sucking is a hard habit to break, but it's not like a pacifier kept the other ones from sticking stuff in their mouths!

---5---

Oh yes.  The other big thing we did last weekend. ;-)  I made an impulsive decision because Ryan wouldn't decide for me!  At the farmer's market a man was selling bunnies, $10 each.  I offered $15 for two, and he accepted!  Meet our two newest family members,

Blaze

and Star

They're not quite as little as I wish they were but they're sweet bunnies who fit in perfectly with our crowd!  Of course the kids love them and they're doing super-well with them.  I got a rabbit for my 9th birthday and had various pet rabbits up through early high school, so my love for them is deeply ingrained, and I knew I wanted to have rabbits as a part of our family eventually.  So while it was impulsive, it was a tiny bit planned!  

They're named after animals in two of our favorite books- Star was one of Almanzo's cows in Farmer Boy, and Blaze is named after the horse from the Billy and Blaze books.  (If you have a boy under five years old, you have to read Billy and Blaze.  My boys love them!)

I've ordered a cage for them and I think we will set them up in our school room.  So far Finley is terribly interested- I think it's going to take some time for him to be calm around them.  I don't anticipate them being friends anytime soon, if ever, but he at least needs to chill out around them.  I won't ever take any chances with Finley or the cats around them, but they should all be able to at least coexist nicely!

---6---

Summer is almost here for us!  Beth is finishing up rather quickly so I think we will cut down on our weeks and finish in about 3 more weeks.  Since our co-op and other activities have drawn to a close, we're trying out some new things!  There is an Irish dance studio down the road, and they have a class with a lot of our home school friends, so we decided to join for the summer months.  Beth and Luke love it, and Jack sneaks in when no one is watching him!  It looks like so much fun!

---7---

Okay, I'm going to go out on a ledge here with this last one.  This has been heavy on my heart for months now and I want to get it out.  I re-joined my gym when Caeli was six weeks old.  I lost three pounds pretty quickly but I've hit a plateau with these last five pounds- and I'm okay with that.  I'm still a good two sizes larger than what I was before.  But I'm okay with that too.  I know what my body used to be, I know what it did (hosted 6 little souls and birthed 4 of them!), and I know what it is now.  

What I really want to say to everyone who feels like they have a right to comment on my body is this: Please.  Don't.  Please don't think anything of me at all.  It hurts my feelings and makes me feel very self-conscious.  I am not doing this to "look good."  Please don't jokingly tell me you "hate me" or that you're "jealous" of me.  Be proud of your own body, for what it has done, and what it is capable of.  Don't compare yourself to me or anyone else.

Because what you don't see is the inside of me.  You don't see the clouds that gather in my mind when I don't make it to the gym for an adrenaline rush.  Yes, I want to be strong, healthy, and to set a good example of health to my children, but most of all I want to be mentally present to them. I've found that for me, the best way to accomplish that is through exercise.

So the next time you see a woman who has dropped a lot of weight quickly after having a baby, please don't judge her, or silently be jealous.  I read an example in Simcha Fisher's book The Sinner's Guide to NFP that really made me think about how I can be judgemental.  A woman was so fit and athletic, but complained about not looking good enough to her friends, and everyone thought she was crazy because she was clearly a beautiful woman.  At the end of the example, the reader discovered that this woman was in an abusive relationship with her husband who told her she was fat and ugly, so she thought she wasn't good enough.  Would you have even considered for a second that maybe there was more to her story?  There's usually is.  There's so much more to my story.  (Though I should probably clarify, not abuse, thank God!)

I'd like to encourage anyone who feels the need to clear their mind to just find 20 minutes to go walk around the block.  It doesn't have to be some huge production at the gym.  Mental health is so important and worth it.  For your kids, your spouse, and for you.

Okay I'm off my soapbox now and done with my second 7 quick takes! Have a great weekend!

My First Seven Quick Takes

I'm trying something new!  For anyone who doesn't know, "7 Quick Takes" is a way to document the events from our past week, sometimes related events and sometimes not.  I think it will be good for me because right now I'm not really good at organizing my thoughts (I'm sort of lacking on time!) and so I can work on it when I have time, without having to worry about it "flowing."  It's "hosted" by Jen Fulwiler, and awesome Catholic convert blogger and author.  I hope you enjoy!

---1---

Sisters.  Finally, at last!  Beth still tells me, almost daily, about how happy she is that she has a sister.  She was so disappointed during my pregnancy that we didn't find out the gender; she would ask me how other women knew if they were having a boy or girl.  Beth always wants to hold or play with Caeli, and now that Caeli is getting older and becoming more interactive, Beth is wondering when they will share a bedroom.  I hope she still wants to share when Caeli is older and digging through her toys and clothes!

---2---

These are my great-grandmother's flowers. She passed away in 2007, and after her funeral, we gathered at her home.  Somehow I received a pot of flowers from her backyard, and I brought them back and cared for them the best I could (I don't have a good record of keeping plants in pots alive!).  Last year I repotted them, and I guess a little new soil was all they needed because this is the first year I've had them that they've actually bloomed!  Not only that, but they've spread throughout my gardens and they're blooming all over the backyard!  It's been so neat to see them everywhere!

---3---

Not only are the violets blooming, but now everything is in bloom!  The weather finally cooperated and Ryan was finally able to give the yard it's first yearly trim.  Wouldn't you know, the boys were both right behind him!  Luke still uses the weed wacker we gave him for his second birthday, which is now so broken and old that it hardly resembles a weed wacker anymore!  Ryan and I agreed that we'd buy them a new one this year, and probably another lawn mower as well.  They both spent 3 hours following Ryan around in the yard- taking turns riding on the mower with him, edging and weed wacking, and finally blowing everything off.  The yard always looks so fabulous when Ryan is done!

 

---4---

Yay!  Look at this happy girl!  She generally loves diaper changes and she especially loves baths!  I've had her in cloth diapers since she was about a month old and started to fit into them a little better.  She's mostly wearing the same diapers that both of her big brothers wore, but I will admit to buying a couple of new pink ones. :-)    She's also been wearing her amber teething necklace for about 2 or 3 weeks now, I put it on her after I noticed that she was starting to drool a lot.  I don't know that I completely believe that it will help with teething pains, but since: 1. I know it's authentic 2. I won it during a black Friday contest, 3. she's totally cute wearing it, and 4. I have friends who swear it helps with pain, she's going to wear it. I shall report back later!

---5---

My day planner.  Oh how I love it.  We talked about planners last week during my Restore workshop, and it renewed my interest in passion for how I use mine.  (In fact, I have a whole post about it that I'll publish next week!)  The workshop has also mentioned several times about the need for art and creativity in our lives.  I am pretty bad at this, in fact I'm certain that I'm the worst artist in my family!  (Beth is always asking me why I can only draw stick people!)  I'm making a concentrated effort to pick up and use the crayons or colored pencils or water colors when the kids are using them.  I drew a violet the other day, from my great-grandmother's pot, and it inspired the kids to get out their nature notebooks and also draw too, but they were afraid of...

 

---6---

...the wasp!

Can you see him inside of the bird house?  Ryan killed one the other day- he said it was super easy because it appeared to be sleeping or hibernating?  The next day we noticed this one in there, clearly at work building the nest, coming in and out throughout the day.  I'd go and peek in on him every few hours and I could see the progress of the nest- in a day, he made 3 or 5 little "pods."  My theory is Ryan killed a female and this guy is still building the nest, not realizing his lady isn't coming home!  I keep meaning to google it!

---7---

They were brave though, and decided to draw anyway.  They used crayons and spent about 20 minutes working on this.  Then they decided to play on our fort and build a pirate ship.  I am loving this nice weather! 

How did I do with my first 7 Quick Takes???  I hope I can keep it up, to get back to chronicling our lives!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!