Pity the Home Schooled

Joseph whittles away at camp

Following our Sunday afternoon return from backpacking, we worshiped with the lively Newman Catholic Campus Ministry crowd at their Sunday evening Mass at Western Washington University.  Our pastor, Father Altenhofen, chaplain, completed his first school year with NCCM at last night's Mass.  Father preached boldly, encouraging his flock to depart from campus with great missionary zeal into whichever parish community they land ~ whether on summer break or as graduates.  He exhorted them to take their flame of faith and keep it burning brightly to help build up the fires of faith in their homes and workplaces.  He reminded us that the message of the Gospel, the whole Truth, will be contradicted at every turn, especially in the so-very-secular Pacific Northwest, and rallied the troops to be a voice for Jesus in every situation.

One of these boys attended the camp-out despite great fear of the unknown and anxiety over the physical challenges.

After Mass, the 20+ graduates lined up to speak to the congregation.  After a brief introduction stating their name and degree, each one shared what their 'next step' would be and offered words of wisdom.  With great clarity and conviction, these young Christians inspired us with their wisdom:

• take your prayer time very seriously
• grow more in love with Jesus every day by scripture reading and prayer
• reach out in love to everyone you meet; the depth of loneliness on campus is appalling 
• be true to who you are and how God is calling you to serve Him
• play to your strengths ~ they are God given and meant to help you fulfill your unique mission
• stay close to the sacraments, stay grounded in prayer and connected to a faith-filled community
• don't let fear and anxiety control you ~ these are not from God

Zac on water duty at the lakeside

This morning one of our boys joined an off-season early morning work-out, and the topic of the weekend's mountainous adventure came up with one of his teammates, who replied:

"Is that how you poor home schoolers have to spend your weekends?  The rest of us are using drugs and partying!"

Pity the home schooled. 

Peter leads the charge for firewood retrieval as fire building forces gather.

A Scout is brave.

A Scout is cheerful.

Joseph seeks old growth support for his hammock.

Celebratory Battle {Joseph's 14th Birthday}

Joseph awoke in a celebratory mood on his 14th birthday, and dressed for Church without parental prompting.

Joseph spent most of the waking hours of his 14th birthday in battle (save a few peaceful hours at Church).  The weather cooperated, although for a neighborhood Nerf battle, the weather cooperating is of little consequence.  Big brother Zachary brought his A game, leading a crowd of willing warriors in a full-scale military-ish operation; complete with written 'missions' to follow for set points toward the ultimate victory.   And Zac's was the only true party foul, hopping in his car and driving away to foil Ezra's defensive maneuver to stay attached to it as a home base.  Suddenly relocating the home base out of Ezra's reach was a fine tactical move, but one that did not meet with (required) parental approval.

 Connor takes aim.

In a heated battle against the enemy, Ezra races for safety.

Collin and Joseph team up to defend against Zachary.

On Joseph's birthday party menu: Italian sausage pasta toss for dinner and ice cream pie for dessert.  On the party agenda: greet guests; battle; open a few gifts; battle; eat; battle in the dark; open a few more gifts; say good-bye to guests.  Outcome: a good time was had by all. 

This next year in Joseph's life promises to bring the beginning of his high school studies (continued home school with sports participation at the local high school) and the build-up to the beginning of a driving-permit experience.  He may very well choose to begin making steps toward an Eagle Project of his own, and will undoubtedly continue to seek high adventure in the great outdoors.   His texting skills continue to improve, and a big desire to maintain his cell phone privileges reign him in when he's almost heading out-of-bounds attitudinally speaking.  Good to his friends; one to love a prank and a good laugh; competitor extraordinaire; Joseph is a delightful, intelligent, and thoughtful young man, and a joy to know and love. 

 

There's no such thing as TOO prepared for battle.

Given to planning and organizing, Zachary's gifts were put to good use in leading Joseph's birthday battles. 

With perfect appeal, this gift for Joseph fit the day's theme to a T.

 Mini weapons of mass destruction... how fitting!

Fourteen and growing... we love you, Joseph!

Goodbye Piano {Simplified Home School}

Today our piano was relocated from home to our new music shop, where two lesson rooms have been set up for local music teachers to meet with students for instruction.  The old upright piano originally belonged to my grandparents and was played by my mom in her youth. Rather than continuing to collect dust in our family room, it will have a new life and hopefully be played regularly at its new location.  Delivered to our house when my parents divorced and the family home was sold and literally demolished, the piano joined three fiddles, two guitars, a drum and a mandolin already in play at our house.  I had high hopes that our instrument-filled home would someday resonate with pleasant sounds of family musical escapades.

The piano quickly became a source of great agony for (pre-reader) Peter, who was probably too young at that time for piano lessons.  Joseph enjoyed piano lessons, as a secondary instrument to the fiddle, which he had been playing for a few years.  Within about a year, the piano lessons fiddled out; a few years later the three boys' fiddle lessons also ceased after the instructor moved out of state.  The guitars, mandolin and drum fell into disuse as other hobbies, Scouts and sports (plus Zac's classes at the community college) rounded out our ever-evolving daily home school routine.

As it played out, my hopes of growing musically gifted children gave way to the reality of "you can't do everything."  Something had to give.  In this case, the various instrumental (and voice) lessons and the accompanying sounds of music in our home gave way to other interests, which is not a bad thing.  In fact, it's probably a good thing that we were able to simplify our to-do list and lighten the daily calendar a bit to avoid the likely burn-out and stress which comes from trying to do too much.  A particular temptation for us who home school ~ filling up the hours of would-be school time with a variety of wonderful extra-curricular electives.

The boys' fiddle performances, though relatively few and far between, will stand out as highlights in our home school extra curricular activities.  Although I had hoped that surrounding our boys with musical instruments and providing years of private lessons would produce musicians, our piano-era might have had a more lasting effect: teaching our children to foster a love of learning (for learning's sake), and helping them discern when the time is right to let something go. 

Post Season Begins {Shaving Event}

In a garage-turned-barbershop, Zachary's teammates buzzed and clipped away months of growth in preparation for the beginning of post-season swimming today.  In hopes that their silky smooth skin will help them go faster and improve their times, they willingly sacrificed vanity for efficiency.   The buzz cuts and full body shaving certainly set swimming apart from most other sports.  Of course, not all the swimmers and divers {Ezra} desired to have any part of the barbering action, and took precautions such as disappearing (leaving without saying good-bye), wearing hoods, wearing caps and hoods, and hiding in the dark bushes {Ezra}.

In an attempt to convince Ezra to lose the doo, Zachary sneaks up on him with the clippers.

Hunting Ezra in the dark of night, Zachary and teammates attempt to coerce him to get clipped. 

In the end, only those desiring a buzz cut were shorn.  The rest escaped the clippers.

Spring Skiing {In Winter}

Joseph + snowy mountain

Vitamin D day at the Mt. Baker Ski Area today, with bright blue skies and a balmy 43 degrees.  The mid-week prices make a day off work pay for Tim, who loves skiing with the boys any chance he can get. Today's ski trip conflicted with First Friday Mass and a planned visit with our former foster twins, Luke & Leia, so Peter opted to stay back.  Tim and Joseph stayed on mostly groomed runs for a change, after finding the outer limits heavy and difficult going.  Tim took the biggest fall in recent memory, and has the ice packs on his knee to prove it.  No one got sunburned, so the injury count remains relatively low.


Calling the ski report from bed makes sense in our neck of the woods.  No use making coffee if you can keep sleeping.  We are not exactly fair weather skiers, but the last planned ski day was promptly cancelled after the phone results, "It's 32 degrees and raining on the mountain".   Something about driving for an hour and paying a fortune to ski in the rain just doesn't sit well.

An inversion weather system hit today and caused confusion at the early morning departure.  The car (at sea level) was iced over while the mountain was a reported 43 degrees.  The higher they climbed, the warmer the weather.  Strange day, beautiful scenery.

Homeschool Habits (Math)

Peter & his tiny pencil take on Saxon Math.

Although math isn't anyone's favorite subject, it is the one subject we do every day for homeschool.

We do quite a few other subjects most days, but math is the one must.  

Taking a break for too long from math causes major... situations.

We use Saxon Math, and have since we purchased our first text book (ever) for Zachary when he was in about 4th or 5th grade.

Before that time, his math education was fully covered just by "real life" math.  Zachary was fascinated by exponential notation and other mathematics concepts at a very early age, which gave us (mostly Tim) many opportunities to teach math without the grind of daily practice.  Then one year, his math scores on the required standardized test showed a dip, and we decided it was time to make math habits happen at our homeschool.  Saxon to the rescue!  

Never has any of our students praised Saxon, in fact they all jest about burning their math books and other fine fantasies of retribution rituals.  

Saxon may be repetitive and lack-luster compared to other math texts, but it gets the job done! 

Yeah Saxon (sshh, don't let the kids hear me say that)!!

AND other big news in our Catholic community today:

Habemus Archepiscopum!

VATICAN CITY, 16 SEP 2010 (VIS) - 

The Holy Father appointed Bishop James Peter Sartain of Joliet in Illinois, U.S.A., as metropolitan archbishop of Seattle (area 64,269, population 5,141,000, Catholics 964,000, priests 313, permanent deacons 104, religious 551), U.S.A. The archbishop-elect was born in Memphis,U.S.A. in 1952, he was ordained a priest in 1978 and consecrated a bishop in 2000. He succeeds Archbishop Alexander J. Brunett, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.