Christmas Break Begins

It's the first day of Christmas break!

We've kept the fire going all day, since it has been in the thirties all day. 

After a doctor's appointment this morning, we did routine the housework, a limited amount of schoolwork (we hardly ever totally stop), and we did a lot of reading.

With the free time, the littles started working together to write a book, and I caught them completing logic puzzles together and snapped a picture.  

 

Advent 2021

We have had the same Advent traditions since our oldest was a tiny, nursing babe. We have an ornament for every day of Advent that has a prophecy from the Old Testament about the Messiah on one side and how Jesus fulfilled it in the New Testament on the other side. We also have a book of doors to open that tells portions of the Christmas story straight from the Gospel of Luke. 

In previous years, we let the youngest read or we took turns reading.  At this point, the entire family can quote every word by heart, so we just fall into speaking the words out loud together as one... Delightful! 

Do not under estimate the power of memorization and repetition. There were years the kids grew bored with this tradition and grumbled, but we persisted. There were many nights we adults were really tired and bored with this, but nevertheless, we did not grow weary with the well-doing. 

The girls are surprised at how well we all know the words and there's joy in reciting it all together. Their faces light up. I wonder now if we will just continue reciting the words it together like this from now on. 

Pride and Prejudice and The Iliad as Comfort and Joy

Lately, I have been experiencing a lot of anxiety and grief over the fact that my oldest daughter will be going off the college next fall.  In my distress, I called a dear, wise friend who also homeschooled her daughter through high school. She gave me some words of encouragement and explanation. "For a homeschooling mother who has a great relationship with her daughter like you do, it's a devastating loss when your daughter goes to college, because she is a true, true friend. You are grieving. But don't let her see you grieve too often. It will make it harder for her to go. And it will be hard enough for her, because she will miss you, too." So I have prayed and cried in private, and the Lord has sent me some joyous moments to strengthen and encourage my heart. 

One such moment was when my daughter asked me to watch Pride and Prejudice with her. She had seen it already, the BBC edition from the 90s, after reading the novel for homeschool a few years ago. Since then, she's reread the book a few times, which just delights my heart. But like any intelligent, virtuous woman, she had a hankering to see the film version with Colin Firth again, so we spent a few hours two nights in a row watching. It was delightful to share one of my favorite things with her.  

Another moment was when she asked her little sisters if they wanted to have her tell them the story of The Iliad, which is now her favorite story of all stories. Her little sisters love it when she tells them stories, so they heartily agreed to this and ran upstairs and jumped on her bed. All my daughters know The Iliad from reading books on our shelves, but nevertheless, my oldest spent an hour as Homer, sitting with them, retelling the Greek epic in her own words. 

It's been moments like this and that that have worked like alchemy and turned my grief and anxiety into great joy and perfect peace.  I brought my oldest daughter up "without a governess" and at times, I was a "slave to her education," truly.  I see evidences like these above that show my daughter has a well-ordered, virtuous mind and heart and soul. Her appetites and delights are for and in what is good, true, beautiful. Her heart and imagination fires at noble ideas. She is humble enough to enjoy her sisters and bless them in her way.  

Though time marches forward, I have the comfort of seeing the seeds I have planted over the years as full grown trees now blooming and bearing lavish fruit in her life, fruit she readily enjoys and shares with others. The Lord's Spirit comforts me with these moments and asks, "What more could you want?"  And I have to admit, then I find myself "quite content with my situation in life."  There is no greater joy than seeing our children walking in Truth. 

Thanksgiving 2021

 

    Friends from church invited our family to dine with them and other guests on Thanksgiving Day. We took a fresh green salad topped with cranberry, apples, goat cheese, almonds, and a homemade vinaigrette to share. We also took Chocolate Delight, a layered chocolate dessert I grew up eating at church events.  Others brought roasted turkey, stuffing, roasted broccoli, sweet corn, green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, bread rolls, berry cobbler, pumpkin pie, chocolate truffle. 

    The conversation over the meal was as enjoyable as the food, and after we finished eating, we gathered in the living room and sang hymns and praise choruses as our host played the guitar.  We took turns sharing what we are thankful for, then we feasted again on several samplings of desserts with hot coffee. The event was as nourishing to our souls as it was to our bodies. 

    The day after Thanksgiving, we started decorating for Christmas as is our tradition. We like to be done decorating by December 1, so everything is ready when our Advent traditions begin. Instead of a regular meal that day, I made a number of appetizers and party foods including a homemade cheese ball, spinach dip, and buffalo chicken dip.  My youngest helped me with every step.  She is the most eager helper I have in the kitchen and a real blessing to me as we work together, especially as she gets older and more capable. 

It took a few days of our holiday to finish decorating (and to throughly clean up from all the decorating.) 

I also did a lot of reading, some Christmas shopping over break, and got started on wrapping some of the gifts. 

And over the holiday, we worked on a puzzle, as usual. 

 

Frontsite Trip

We all went to Frontsite last week. Dwayne went ahead of us and did a few rifle classes. Once we arrived, he did a few tactical handgun classes. Norah and I repeated the same four day defensive handgun training we did in the spring, and the littles attended the youth achievement class. Here are some photos from our range.

 

Thanksgiving Break

It's Thanksgiving Break, so I put a new puzzle out on the dining room table. 

We like to do puzzles to start all our vacations. 

This one was a gift from my sister in law. 

We are all working on it on and off. 

I am listening to the audio book of The City of God by Augustine as I work on it. 

Update

It's the middle of the homeschool year, so there isn't much time to blog.

Here's a brief update.  

I'm directing Challenge 4, so I'm constantly rereading portions of whatever books we are discussing at the moment. Right now, it's The Iliad, The Discoverers, the Old Testament, Invitation to the Psalms. I'm also devoting some time each week to Physics and/ or Advance Math. 

My oldest is such an independent student at this point, she rarely needs my help with her work. I usually just serve as her advisor her at this point. She comes down to chat about interesting stuff at least once a day. She has transitioned to working in her room at her desk or bed. It feels natural, since she'll be going to college next year. 

She and I spent some time the last several weeks driving and/or flying to visit colleges, making incredible memories, and having important conversations. She is done applying to her top three choices. Now, she waits to see whether or not she is accepted and what kind of scholarships she will merit.  

I'm taking my middle daughter through Challenge A and my youngest through Foundations and Essentials, so I'm always helping someone do math, or write a paper, or diagram a sentence, or drill vocabulary, or research for science fair, etc.  It fills up my day. 

The younger girls have started basketball at the recreation center, something they've never done before.  We go outside for half a hour and practice together if it's sunny.  I lead them through the same drills their coach does, so their skills improve between practices.  

I don't have a lot of margin for free reading, but nevertheless, before bed or early mornings before breakfast, I read portions of several books. I am rereading The Silmarillion and all the books in the Stormlight Archive.  I'm also reading portions of Ourselves by Charlotte Mason and Homeric Moments by Eva Braun.  I don't make a lot of progress in any one book, but I progress through them eventually. 

Everyday, I am also currently listening to portions of the audio of Surprised by Oxford by Carolyn Weber while I do housework.  

Of course, I also schedule all the appointments and do the shopping and make the meals. 

The pace of our lives is relentless right now and it's becoming mind-numbing, so I am looking forward to a break at Thanksgiving.