Oh, this week seemed so long and so short at the same time!! It was a lovely week. The weather, though off and on rainy for the majority of the time, was warm and the final signs of winter (freezing cold nights) seems to have finally left us.
We began our week where I left you in our last weekly wrap up. The Cracker Jack's had their First Communions on Saturday and their cousin had her Confirmation on Sunday. You can read all about it here . For those of you who aren't Catholic and aren't familiar with these terms here's a quick rundown for you. A child reaches their First Communion usually around second grade, this is when they receive the body and blood of Christ for the first time. It's a pretty big deal! In the Catholic faith (though all parishes vary somewhat) children go to religious instruction classes, or catechism, classes from around first grade until eighth grade. Some parishes begin in Kindergarten, while others do not. Anyway, children in second grade (or later once they've received the instruction and are aware of what they are actually receiving) have their first confession and a few months later (again the time can vary here) they receive their First Communion. Every mass they attend afterwards they are allowed to take part in the act of communion so long as they've cleared their conscious with confession, normally children only say confession about once a year or so unless they feel strongly that they should do so more often. In eighth grade a child, if they feel in their heart that they want to remain Catholic, will have their Confirmation. This is where they are blessed by a Bishop and recognized within the Church as adults, the actions they take within the Church are thereafter their own decisions and they are held accountable for them. Parents remain their guides, along with the priests and other members of the Church, for the rest of their lives, but the child no longer attends specific classes as they are considered to be "adults" and can attend other things within the Church.
Monday the girls both had physicals scheduled with their doctor and so we had a half day. They campers all finished their lessons quickly in the morning and then we went off to the doctor appointments. Both of them checked out extremely healthy so there are no concerns there, thank God. YCJ very seldom sees the doctor, she's very healthy and usually only needs to go in for a physical now and again. So, she was a little nervous and worked up about the visit and relaxed once she realized that she was OK.
Tuesday Daddy had a few tests that needed to be run for his knee damage before we can move on to the next step of his care. So, the children and I stayed home and had a full days worth of lessons. All of them finished early and we were able to get a TON of time outside that afternoon. Well, they got time outside while Mommy sat in the sun room with her crochet and worked on a dress for Peanut. The campers cleaned up the yard from the last wind storm, played a lot, and ECJ worked on his skills with cartwheels and walking on his hands (5 whole steps on his hands!). He's done cartwheels for years but has only just started on his hand walking skills. Poor guy pulled a muscle in his side but no serious damage and no harm done, he's feeling much better now.
Wednesday was another full day of school for the campers. And this is how our mornings usually look...
ECJ at the kitchen table, the girls each at their desks, and I'm usually set up with our grade book and lesson plans (along with the ever present cup of coffee) at the coffee table. Peanut finished working through the entire alphabet this past week and is now concentrating on review and her phonics/reading skills. She even earned her first sticker for the Sesame Street books she's working through!
So, that leaves Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. What in the world did we do? Thursday I'd scheduled us for a half day's worth of lessons as Noni was coming to pick me up for some early birthday shopping and a girls time at the coffee house! We ended up skipping the lessons because it was nearly 80* F and no one wanted to concentrate! We had some informal lessons and ECJ studied for his Apologia Unit 9 test but that's about it. (I enjoyed a wonderful time with my mother shopping and relaxing together with coffee, not having to think about the things at the house for a little while.) Peanut also picked up her new glasses with Daddy on Thursday. Friday we'd had regular lessons scheduled but decided again to skip them and opt for some real life lessons instead. We went used car shopping, and though we didn't end up leaving the lot with anything we didn't already own each of the children took away something different from the experience. Peanut thinks car shopping is boring but the new cars are neat to look at, YCJ thinks that even used cars cost too darned much and that prices should be lowered, and ECJ learned that you can't always trust a salesman (an important life lesson that I'm glad he's learned now instead of when he's shopping for his first car). We also stopped in to visit Grandma and Papa again because we were in their area and *just beat the thunderstorms home.
Saturday the weather dawned clear and beautiful. The campers and I headed up to the library for some craft/story time. Where all three of them made these interesting spring themed tic-tac-toe boards and pieces...
And then the girls played while ECJ joined with the teens to make "Colors of Faith" bracelets for myself and Noni (I didn't grab a photo of him finishing this because I didn't want to embarrass him in front of the girls he was hanging out with)...
He made a couple of new friends while he was at it, including a girl who thought it was completely awesome that he's homeschooled (she wishes she could be) and that it was great that he likes to crochet and make crafts!! He was entirely over the moon about this fact.
When we got home the campers went out to play with their friends from across the street and then once they came in we all watched Frozen together as a family (a gift from Noni on Thursday, Daddy hadn't gone to the theater to watch it with us when we'd gone).
So, we had a lot of wonderful family time this week. The children all learned, spent time with friends, and had fun. Mommy and Daddy remembered that sometimes it's OK to just let things ride and enjoy the moments. We really had a good week. I was going to show off a picture of the dress I'd finished for Peanut, but it's not quiet done yet (some trimming and final touches needed)... So, if you like us on Facebook you'll see that photo sometime this week. I'm planning on beginning work for a different style of dress for YCJ this week as well.
Well, this happy Mamma is off to finish making supper (while wearing my Colors of Faith Mother's Day gift) and then settle the campers down for the night.
OH! We added another 15.75 hours outside this week to our grand total so far for the year. Which brings us up to 254 hours year to date for our 1000 Hours Outside Challenge !!
Posts you may have missed this week:
Many Blessings, Busy Weekend
Things My Kids Should Know
How I Choose Some Other Curriculum
and
Taking Time to Relax
Linking up this week with:
Great Peace Academy
Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
Homegrown Learners
Squishable Baby
and
Faithful Mom of 9
Find us on Facebook here or subscribe to the blog for tips on homeschooling, book reviews, how to get your children helping out in the kitchen, and to see many pictures of the cute kiddos, plus much more!
So, if you read the weekly wrap up you're already aware that the Cracker Jack's both made their First Communions this Saturday!! (And, if you hadn't read it, now you do know. ;-) ) But, our weekend really started on Friday and was super busy all weekend long.
Friday we not only had to do all of our normal monthly errand running, but the dogs both needed to go to the groomers, I had a special shopping trip to take, we had to finish cleaning up the main part of the house, and get ready to have people over the next day! Up and atom before 8 AM we did manage to get all of that done. The dogs looked great, we had what we needed from our errands, I got a new vacuum cleaner, I took a shopping trip with Grandma, the house got cleaned (mostly), and all was ready for the next morning. We did vacuum Saturday morning and extend the table out for more seating, as well as put the table cloth on. We hadn't gotten home from our running until nearly the campers bedtime, but we managed to get it all ready pretty much.
My shopping trip with Grandma, while Daddy and Papa watched the kids? Well, I hadn't bought a new bathing suit since prior to Peanut being born. The two I had sitting in my drawer either didn't fit at all or barely fit. I've gotten a bit more modest than I used to be five, nearly six (YIKES!), years ago and the one that barely fit I just wasn't comfortable at all in. Thanks to some department store cash gifted me by Noni, a discount card that Grandma had, and an early donation to my birthday I was able to get a wonderful new bathing suit! Nope. No pictures, it's not warm enough to swim and really y'all don't wanna see that LOL.
OK, back on topic (though the new bathing suit is a blessing for me, have y'all seen the prices on those things lately??). Saturday morning we were up before 8 AM again. Doing the last minute cleaning, making sure everyone ate breakfast, and getting dressed. ECJ looked very smart in his suit and YCJ nearly broke my heart in her little white dress. Off to the church, thinking we'd given plenty of time to save seats and everything else... Only to find out the number of children had more than doubled because our parish and another had decided to join together, and somehow we'd missed the announcement! Oh well. We all managed to find seats. I went back with the Cracker Jack's and made sure that they were ready, including putting on YCJ's veil (which did break my heart and I was a mess the rest of mass, they get too big and too beautiful too fast). I went out to sit with the rest of the family and we all watched as mass began.
When it was finished we took lots of pictures, Mommy cried some more, and then we headed back to the house for the celebrations. Family members we don't get to see very often, in some cases less than once a year, were there and made the day extra special. We were missing some family that day, but they were with us in spirit even if they couldn't make the long distance travel. YCJ hadn't realized that you were given gifts when you made your First Communion and that just made her day. She loves statues, jewelry, and rosaries and she got one or more of each. Peanut pouted on and off all day long because it wasn't her day, but being with cousins she loves really helped.
Most of us agreed that since they were making it at the same time, due to us moving so much in the past, that it was like shopping for twins. (I feel this way a lot due to their similar sizes in clothing.) But, we all agreed that it would be much simpler from now on since they'll be making their sacraments at different times from now on. Two years from now ECJ will be making his Confirmation when Peanut is making her First Communion. We have cousins in between every age so pretty much every year one member of the family or another will be making a milestone at church, but this year we had four!
That's right, four! Buddy, the eldest camper, made his Confirmation last month , the Cracker Jacks both made their First Communion on Saturday, and the eldest cousin made her Confirmation on Sunday! As that part of the family lives more than 70 miles away, we were again up before 8 AM and ready to leave shortly there after. The mass was beautiful, I love seeing how other churches hold mass and their church is much more "musical" than ours. The cousin was lovely and did well receiving the sacrament. The family celebrations at Auntie's house were wonderful, Mommy ate far more food than she should have, and the cousins had a wonderful time.
Three days in a row they saw their grandparents this week and that made them very happy.
Even though we did school today (Monday), it felt more like a weekend day than a school day. I'd scheduled us for a half day as the girls both had check ups at the doctors this afternoon. Lessons flew by quickly (a blessing on Monday's or any day) and Mommy's been able to catch up on some of the laundry around here. I managed some crochet time in this weekend just to keep my hands busy while I tried to unwind my mind before sleep.
It's been such a busy, but blessed, weekend!!
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This week we had only a four day week. Instead of doing lessons on Friday, or running our monthly errands on the third, we're doing our monthly errands on Friday (the 2nd) because we have the Cracker Jack's First Communion on Saturday!!
So, why is the weather wretched but the week wonderful? We've had rain in several different forms (drizzle, thunderstorms, downpours, and "drippy" rain) and a freak snow flurry!!! Needless to say we've gotten less than 15 minutes outside this week because none of us likes being outside during gray weather. It actually makes us all tired and want to curl up with our favorite thing, be it a book, crochet, or movies.
On Monday we had a day simply blessed. Our Mondays are always horrid, no one wants to do anything, no one can concentrate, and Murphey's Law is almost always in full effect. Not this Monday. Small little blessings all day long kept everyone in a wonderful mood and cooperative in their lessons. Our day went by in no time at all and there wasn't a single snarky comment or "mean" tone.
Tuesday was also a good day. Again, it was like the Twilight Zone here because everyone did their lessons with no issue and all the new concepts were "clicking" not to mention ECJ earned a 91% in his Module 9 quiz in Apologia General Science. I also shared a few funny videos (in a closed group) of my "belly button" crochet style and how I'm doing learning to do it "the right way" after 20+ years.
I'm posting the short video of how I'm getting along the "correct" way on our Facebook page .
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| Dictionary skills!! |
Wednesday came and the children were looking towards the long weekend, the rain was making them cranky and restless, and we plugged quietly through our lessons. Most of which got finished, some of which didn't. But, again, we had some blessings thrown our way. The biggest of which being that the store we use for our eyeglass needs has given us a brand new set of glasses (with better frames) for Peanut since her's had broken again! We'll be receiving them sometime next week. I also made an adorable little crochet covered headband for Peanut after she went to sleep this night.
The last day of lessons this week, Thursday, could have gone better but most certainly could have gone worse! "Most" of our lessons were completed, what wasn't has been scheduled to be finished on our half day next Monday. We finally received our code for three months free of Math Seeds (having completed a survey early last month and waiting two weeks after we were supposed to have been emailed it). We also received four free weeks of Reading Eggs through email that we're allowed to pass on to anyone and everyone (this happened on Wednesday but we didn't plug the code in until today)! So, if you want to try out Reading Eggs for a month free just contact me with your e-mail address and I'll forward the email to you! Easy peasy lemon squeezy!
So, now, Thursday night as I type this we're looking forward to our long, though very busy, weekend. A day of errands on Friday, a First Communion and celebration later at our house on Saturday, one of our niece's Confirmation on Sunday, and the girls have a doctor appointment on Monday. I'm as ready for it as I can be at this point. The house is 99% clean, the clothing is all prepped, we pick up the cake tomorrow, dogs are scheduled at the beauty salon tomorrow for baths, and I have a game plan for scheduling. We'll see how it goes! Look for a post on this blessed weekend we'll be having, which I will be posting (God willing) Monday sometime.
YCJ had a bit of a difficult week and kept making it known by dragging out her math lessons so as to avoid her health and history lessons this week. She did spend some time on Eggy 100 (an app for 100 sight words) early during the week, read some of her library books willingly, and finished up one of her science workbooks. I do have to say that she gives the camera some of the most interesting looks I've ever seen!
Peanut keeps checking off all those little boxes! She's enjoying making letter crafts (given to us graciously by one of our local librarians), learning her math dollar store style, finishing off one set of beginning readers and moving on to another (!!!), and all around being a ham when the camera isn't on.
ECJ hasn't given us a problem this week with his lessons. But, boy (!), has he been testing our patience in other ways! I swear it's the age or the fact that he's a boy (or a combination of both) but sometimes he'll do his chores with no issues and sometimes he'll go through weeks of basically not doing them at all! We fabricated some curtains and tie backs for his room earlier in the week. Simply took a felt blanket, cut (basically) up the middle and left a good section uncut, added some buttons, and used some old lamp chain we had lying around to fasten the buttons with and make tie back's. This has given him much more privacy.
Around the house: We've managed to clean out the car, the sun porch, finish the sun porch off (at least until we get some indoor/outdoor carpeting and some more paint), ate 4 suppers from the crock pot (which saved us a bunch of time and aggravation this week), and I worked on many little crochet projects throughout the week.
I also caught a cute picture of the dogs waiting on Daddy to come home from an errand earlier in the week as well...
Posts to look for next week: A special post on our First Communion receivers and other blessings of this weekend on Monday. The next part of the series for "How I Choose Our ... Curriculum" on Wednesday. And several other oddities that'll make you smile (I hope) throughout the week.
Posts you may have missed this week:
Did We do It Again?
It's Monday? Have Faith...
7 Things I Will Never Do Again
How I Choose Our History Curriculum
Dollar Store Math
Who we're linking up with this week: (when I can find a second)
Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
Faithful Mom of 9
Homegrown Learners
and
Great Peace Academy (link up there is on Saturday)
If you're reading this and I haven't linked up yet just know that I will be.
**((Didn't link up OR post this until Saturday after 4 PM, it was the first time I sat and had a few minutes to do so! :-) ))**
Find us on Facebook here or subscribe to the blog for tips on homeschooling, book reviews, how to get your children helping out in the kitchen, and to see many pictures of the cute kiddos, plus much more!
Oh boy! It's Monday again! Another Monday that started out oh so slow and I didn't think we'd ever get anything done. Yes, I had little faith.
However, by 2 PM we had over half of our school work finished, most of the laundry done, 2 loads of dishes done, one crock pot of beans portioned up/bagged/and in the freezer for those who we're giving them to (and later for when I make burritos), the other crock pot of beans was seasoned for supper tonight (beans and cornbread) with whatever is remaining to be the start of our chili for tomorrow night, and we'd planned our next crock pot meal (for Wednesday night) for chicken.
The girls finished only slightly behind schedule at 4:30 PM with their lessons and it was agreed by ECJ, Daddy, and myself that he could take the rest of the evening to finish his lessons if he needed to.
God worked a miracle in our home today because as each task was completed without loss of limb or temper I became calmer. Though there was still much on my mind.
ECJ and YCJ are both making their First Communion this upcoming Saturday! We're also having a small get together at our home afterwards to celebrate. My what a check list to go through and make me slightly nervous and stressed. I am not used to holding parties and both of the Cracker Jacks are making their First Communions behind schedule as it is because we've moved so many times over the years.
Instead of panicking, as I'm prone to do, I began looking around at what God had already allowed us to accomplish.
All three children's rooms were freshly painted and had new flooring (wood or carpeting). Our "scary" bathroom was now as calm as a spa thanks to a fresh coat of paint, and since that's for the children and the guests this was important. Our living room, hallway, classroom area, dining room, and laundry area all had new flooring down as well. ECJ's suit was ready for him to wear and YCJ communion dress and veil had been to the dry cleaners and back looking beautiful. We have 90% of the menu for Saturday planned as well as the cake ordered for pick up on Friday.
So, what was left to do? Finish planning the meal and pick up all the ingredients for it by Friday, easily enough accomplished on Friday itself. Exchange the gas bottle for the grill, also easily enough done on Friday. Clean the house, thanks to most of the house already being cleaned this can be done Friday evening also. And, last but never least, pray.
Very little left to do, very little to worry about, and yet here I was stressing out. I had not attended to my duties by putting the children through catechism all these years so that they'd have already had their First Communions with their classes. I made sure that this wouldn't happen again as we're going to make sure they all take their classes from now on as scheduled.
The First Communion is the second rite in the Catholic church, it usually happens in second grade and always after the child has been baptized (the first rite). This will be the first time that two of my children are allowed to receive the body and blood of Christ and take part in the Eucharist. It is a wonderful, beautiful, and blessed moment in their lives. I am very proud of them for working so hard this year not only in their own catechism classes but also to learn all they needed to know for their First Communion.
This is a wonderful moment for my children and our family. Though we noticed today that ECJ has a few pimples developing (he's 12 and we knew they would happen sooner or later, but another week of waiting wouldn't have hurt anything lol) and that he's chewed his bottom lip until he has a scab there. I handed him some of my facial scrub in hopes that it would help as we have nothing for acne here in our home, we hadn't needed any yet, and a brand new tube of chap stick.
We've convinced YCJ that she does not need to wear lip gloss to her First Communion, but that we'll allow a really pale pink nail polish. We also are planning on surprising her with a brand new hair style that will compliment her veil.
Later on we'll have pictures taken professionally to commemorate this day, but for now we'll enjoy it. I'll take a deep breath and remember to have faith that all will go well.
How can it not? I trust in Him, and He even made our Monday work well for us!!! Monday's hardly ever go well for us. Thank you Lord for this day and the lesson You taught me about keeping faith!!
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I seem to often forget to write about things that are meaningful. Not that homeschooling isn't meaningful, it's just that it's now such a part of our daily lives that it's not a struggle for me to sit down and map out or write a long post about homeschooling. Instead of another list of art projects, craft projects, or homeschool goals I've decided to jot down just a few thoughts on our faith.
Most of you have noticed that we're Catholic. This comes with varying degrees of responsibility and varying degrees of how people treat those responsibilities (as any faith path does). I am not a fully converted Catholic (yet) but I like to tell people, "I'm Catholic all except for the paper work." What does that mean? Well, to convert there's paperwork to file since this is neither my husband's or mine first marriage, paperwork which must then be accepted for me to become Catholic and my marriage to be recognized within the church. I also need to go through some classes, which I began this past fall and then stopped when the paperwork was going to take longer than originally thought. I plan on attending the classes again in the fall of 2014.
I say my rosary, I read and meditate on my readings, I pray at meals, pray when I wake up, and pray before going to bed. I teach my children their prayers and rosaries and have never had a second thought about it. I send our children to catechism classes and when their books come home in the spring we finish whatever wasn't able to be done in their weekly class throughout the year.
There are sacraments that must be made, stepping stones in the path of faith if you will. Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation, Marriage, for priests or nuns there is yet another sacrament, and Last Rights given to those of us who are ready to pass on to meet our Lord.
As "a Catholic except for the paperwork" I do not partake of communion, it simply wouldn't be right. I sit in our place in church and watch everyone else take communion. I ponder and pray about my place in the church. I watch as my children and husband go off to make confession when they are ready to do so, I watch as they walk their path of faith, and I wait.
Yes, I would love to take every step that they take. Hold their hands in mine as they walk that path. Yet, God has a different plan in mind for me. As a convert he's not making this especially easy for me. Baby steps, He says, and to have faith. Without that faith I would be lost. Without His guiding hand I would loose my way. It is easy to become frustrated about the process when it doesn't move "fast enough". But, then, I am reminded I must have faith.
I pray for guidance in my own life, how I mother my children, how I guide them on their path to adulthood in faith, and to help keep me patient while I take my baby steps.
I pray for those who are sick and in need, those who request prayers (and the list I have is rather long), those whom I know need prayers but have not asked for them, and so much more.
I let Him know that I am grateful for all He has given me.
And yet, sometimes, I whine to Him. I'll whine how things "should" be, "aught" to be, how "I want" them to be, or how "unfair" things are. I do not question Him and yet I whine (sometimes). Faith is a tricky thing, children seem to have it in abundance and as we age some of us keep that totally blind faith without question ... some of us stray. We question, we whine, we complain; sometimes we even turn our backs on our faith. I've been down those paths and they never ended well for me.
The year of 2014, for me, is the year for baby steps. I will take each small step that I should be taking along my path to bring me back to that place of trusting faith without question. God has a plan for me. I may not know exactly what that plan is or what steps to take to fulfill that path. But, He does. And in my halting baby steps I will relearn how to walk in faith with Him before I learn to spread my wings and fly with the love He gives me.
Even though this isn't technically a list of things to share, I am sharing it for List It {Tuesday} over at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
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