St. Philip of the Joyous Heart - Book 3

I seem to be only able to read children's books right now. This book was our religion read aloud, these past few weeks. I had planned to read it two years ago when Hannah was staying in Rome with the University of Dallas. So I'm a little late. I knew nothing about this particular saint and picked up this book at a used book sale. It is a Vision book. I think Becky and Sean found it fairly interesting. I found it very much so. It is a little bit cloying and dated but for the most part it is well written. It is an older hard back edition and in the back it has the little manilla pocket with a library card stuck in it that used to be the way we checked out library books. There is a stamp on the back that says St. Mary of Celle School Library. First of all, I've never heard of St. Mary of Celle. Secondly, where do you think it might have been located? The last person to read it was Kim O'Conner, January 29. I wonder what year? The book was published in 1957. I wonder how Kim is doing today?

St. Philip was known for his patient perseverance and his cheerfulness (also his ecstasies, healings, visions and levitations). I think it was good to read about him to my often complaining, disgruntled children. I don't know how much scratched the surface, but I am praying some of it penetrated!

One funny thing is that I never knew the origins of the word Oratory. St. Philip seems to have founded them. At the same time I was reading about this to the kids, I was kind of daydreaming about going to England for our upcoming 25th wedding anniversary (in November). I was looking at different hotels in London and I stumbled on one that said it was a very short walk to the Brompton Oratory! This just after finding out what an Oratory is! Do you think that is a sign that we should go to England for our big anniversary? I am certainly reading it as such!

So I am glad I finally read the book and learned about St. Philip Neri. And now I am wondering what our next religion read aloud should be. Any suggestions?

For more book reviews go to 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

This Week (even thought it's only early Thursday morning)

I am stil stressing out over Sean. Things are hard. It is hard to be preserving in mid-January, I find.

But this morning I got up early to get ready to take Sean to his Aquinas Learning and it has been cancelled due to the weather. A little reprieve. Therefore, I decided to make myself another cup of coffee and just try to relax.

I thought I'd take a page from The Bookworm and do a This Week post.

The Weather: It snowed overnight. I hadn't been paying attention to the weather at all, so it completely surprised me. it is just enough to cancel everything apparently. Sean usually goes to Aquinas Learning on Thursday but not today!

I am wearing . . . my pajamas. It is 6:27 a.m. here.

I am reading . . . Robin Hood, told by Roger Lancelyn Green. Very enjoyable. Also, I am slowly reading St. Philip of the Joyous Heart. I only seem to read it aloud a couple mornings a week, but I am enjoying learning about St. Philip Neri, who I knew nothing about before.

I am creating. . . hmmm. I am not a very creative person. Right now I am in investigating and planning mode. I am researching possible schools for Sean to attend for 9th grade. I am also planning for my Aquinas Learning, my homeschool, summer vacations, 25th wedding anniversary, etc. etc.

I am listening . . . Lately I have been stuck on Bach's Goldberg Variations. I've been playing a cd I have (don't even know who the pianist is!) pretty much every morning. I am also listening to a Teaching Company course on The Early Middle Ages. I listen to that when I am driving around in the car. Very, very interesting!

I am watching . . . mostly I watch video clips and youtube clips that the kids want to show me. I've been watching things from My Froggy Stuff and Rhett and Link that Becky shows me. Sean was showing me things on line yesterday, various strange prehistoric animals. On Monday Josh and I sat and watched all 17+ minutes of Martin Luther King's famous I Have a Dream speech.

I am enjoying . . . this is crazy but I cancelled my 2x a month cleaners. They had moved my cleaning time to 8:00 a.m. Friday morning and I just couldn't take it. I am enjoying (and this is bizarre!) having no cleaners and cleaning my house in odd moments here and there. Yes, I am enjoying it, if you can believe it.

From the learning rooms . . . my whole house is a learning room. Right now we are steeped in Roman history, trying to write papers (Josh is halfway through writing a 10 page paper on the Commerce Clause, Sean is about to launch into writing a research paper on some historical figure from Antiquity, and Becky is gearing up for the same), we are also trying to keep up on math so we can have a summer break from it.

On the Menu . . . so far this week:

Sunday - Rick grilled hamburgers and hot dogs
Monday - I made baked ziti
Tuesday - roast chicken
Wednesday - pumpkin pancakes and sausage
Thursday - tonight is pizza night
Friday - not sure
Saturday - not sure

On the calendar . . . today, if the roads are good, I am visiting a possible school for Sean. Next Tuesday Rick and I are hoping to attend another school's open house. Right now we are more interested in that one, but I figured I'd check out this other one today on my own. The March for Life is this Friday (tomorrow). Will and friend are coming back home tonight and then going into Washington, D.C. tomorrow for it. But no one else in the family is going. I am too tired and too overwhelmed and just want to focus on schoolish things. Last year when I went, I was exhausted the next day. I just don't have the energy right now. Maybe next year!

I also have to prepare for a meeting next Friday on starting an Aquinas Learning Schola Alta level at our local center. I am spearheading this and have several people coming over to talk about it.

No pictures! I can't even find my camera!

Processing Speed

Right now I am a bit fixated on helping Sean improve his 'processing speed' as the psych testing he did calls it. We've run across this territory before back when Will was tested and also had slow processing. I don't know exactly what processing means here. But I do think it is connected to the speed with which one writes. Sean writes painfully slowly. Will had been diagnosed dysgraphic when he was 12 or so. This was before he did vision therapy or occupation therapy for it. Sean has had VT which also contained some OT, so his handwriting is legible and he forms his letters way better than Will did so he's not technically dysgraphic, but I think he still really is and needs to work on automaticity and speed now. So I've been perusing the internet trying to figure out ways to help him.

1. I am making up my own copy work using this school script font found here. Hannah managed to download it on my laptop. I can take quotes from things we are learning and have the kids copy it three days a week. On Fridays we do dictation with it, but I'm not strict about the dictation. If they need help with spelling or punctuation, I give it to them. Even after all these years of fits and starts in cursive copywork they still ask questions like "how do you make a lower case f." That's a lack of automaticity which makes their speed go way, way down. (I am including Becky in this too, as she writes really slowly too).

2. I am having Sean do exercises to strengthen his arms. His legs are strong, he can do lots of sit ups in a row, but his arms are weak. It is like they have very little tone in them for some reason. The other kids arms are naturally wiry, but not Sean's. They look so soft for some reason. Anyway, I got a list of exercises from this site. I'm having Sean do the leopard crawl, the wall push and the crab walk as well as trying to do push ups.

3. I just stumbled across this wonderful series of articles on homeschooling a student with dysgraphia. A lot of it is so unschoolish. Play games! Let them develop at their own pace! Be creative and think outside the box! But the articles are full of great suggestions and are very inspirational. I plan to mine them for ideas for Sean (and Becky). One thing I'm going to do is have Sean play with modeling clay while we are reading aloud.

I know that Sean will probably rely on typing and technology for a lot but I still want him to have basic literacy when it comes to writing himself, the old fashioned way. I've said this before, but I came to this conclusion when Will was struggling with this same issue. Everyone was saying accommodate, accommodate! At the time we had someone finishing up the basement in our house. We were talking over plans with him and he was inputting all the info into his laptop and then his laptop died! He didn't pause for a beat. He got out a paper and pen and proceeded to write. Even with all our technology, to be a competent adult, you need to be able to write quickly and accurately. It might just take Sean a longer while to get there, but that's the goal.

The Canterbury Tales (retold) - Book 2

I am continuing to pre-read possible selections for our Medieval studies next year. This week I read Geraldine McCaughrean's retelling of The Canterbury Tales published by Puffin Classics. I have a confession to make. I have never enjoyed the actual Canterbury Tales. They are too cynical, bawdy and slapstick to my tastes. I recognize on an intellectual level why they are so important to the development of English literature. I understand what a wonderful window they give us into that time and place, but I still don't care for them.

However, Geraldine McCaughrean does a wonderful job of retelling these stories. They are not dumbed down. The author is a good writer and is able to capture the flavor of the old language while still making things easily accessible to the modern child. Thankfully, the bawdiness is reduced and tactfully handled so that they are appropriate for middle school children. I don't know when I've enjoyed The Canterbury Tales more.

So this version goes on my recommended list for next year.

For more book reviews, go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Update on New Year's Resolutions - Reset!

Hah! I have not been doing too well on these. So I think it might be time to do a reset!

I think I'll just work my way through all of them and discern just how things have been going.

For my health plan:

1. I have remembered to drink more water, pretty consistently. I could do better.

2. I am also very inconsistent on eating more fruits and vegetables. Yesterday I ate a big salad for lunch but that was it. Often I remember to eat at least one piece of fruit, sometimes two, and then some veggies with dinner. I could do better here.

3. I have not done well in the healthy snack department. Except for yogurt. I've been snacking on yogurt more, so that's good. But either I or my sons or my husband have been bringing lots of junk into the house and I have been helping to eat it! Bad, bad, bad!

4. I also keep completely forgetting to keep a record of what I am eating. I think I need to do it on my ipad instead of a litte notebook. I keep misplacing the notebook, whereas I am much more careful about the ipad.

5. Yesterday I was especially bad about the bread/sugar intake. Some days I am much better than others.

6. Exercising started off really well. I was doing this with Sean but since Sean has been getting tachycardia we've not been exercising as before. Today I'll try to do some yoga at least.

Housekeeping:

1. I haven't been able to be consistent on my grocery shopping. I don't know how things keep coming up. So then I tend to do stop gap shopping which isn't good. I did go this weekend and I planned out every meal until Thursday. So I'm going to try to stick to that.

2. Oops. Need to do a load of dish towels right now. So I need to work on this one too.

3. Last night wasn't so good kitchen-wise, BUT I have been better at keeping the kitchen clean. Also, I think I am getting rid of my 2x a month cleaners and I am just going to try to do things myself (for the whole house). For one, I tend to rely on the cleaners too much and yet I don't want them to come more frequently because I find them so disruptive. So the house is often just neglected. I think if I had to take more responsibility for it I'd: 1) get off my duff more and, you know, do things! and 2) I could get into better habits about keeping house. I came up with a plan that I think could be workable.

4. I haven't been consistent but we have done this ten minute tidy up much more frequently than before, so things are better, but need improvement.

5. Ack. I haven't done anything on helping the kids form better habits. I'm too busy not forming them myself! LOL.

Being a better mom

1. I have been getting better at getting the kids up earlier and more consistently. Again, still needs improvement. I realize one of the problems is that I am out of the house three mornings a week. I'm out with Becky on Monday mornings, so I have no control over Sean and Josh then. I am out with Sean on Thursday mornings so no control over Becky and Josh. And then again on Sunday mornings I am out of the house with Sean again and no control. So that's really part of the problem. Next year, if Sean isn't going to the Manassas Schola Alta, I'll have more control again in that regard.

2. I think I could be more regular with the read alouds, but to be fair, because Hannah and Will are here, our schedules have been thrown off a lot. They'll both be gone this weekend (boo hoo!) so things should settle down and become more consistent then.

3. Haven't done the date thing yet.

4. I've been trying a bit here, but again not consistently.

5. I have been praying for and with them!

Be a better wife

1. I think I've failed in the no snapping resolution. Though I am apologetic afterwards. LOL. Does that help???

2. I have been trying to do little things here and there but not as often as I could.

3. We went out for dinner last weekend. It was nice. We mostly talked about Sean. But I find my husband's presence relaxing. A glass of wine and my Rick sitting across the table from me is always pleasant to me.

Be a better human:

1. I have been trying to pray the morning office. I've been pretty good.

2. I'm off to a rocky start with Read 52, but if I focus this week, I should have two books read by Sunday.

3. I'm trying on the calendar.

4. I'm having great fun working on Schola Alta stuff.

So I am trying, I'm not consistent but better on some of these things. Other things have really yet to take off. A couple took off but then crashed! I think if I keep checking back with myself, I'll be more aware of what's going on and hopefully that will help in perseverance.

Otto of the Silver Hand - Book 1 - 2013

Lately I've just felt completely snowed under by life! I stopped going to facebook thinking it would help free up more time and it did. But like sand filling in a hole you're digging, that free time got swallowed up by other things, somehow. Anyway, here we are, it's already January 13th and I am justing posting book 1 for my 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge. I started reading another book (hopefully that will be Book 2 or maybe 3) on January 1st, however, just before I finished it I managed to mislay it. I found it again several days later. And I still haven't finished it. Ah well. Enough of that.

Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle is a lovely story, It is set in the dark ages of Medieval Germany among the feuding robber barons. Otto is the gentle son born to the ferocious Baron Conrad Veulph and raised in a monastery until his father comes to get him to teach him how to carry on the Veulph name. Great suspense, tragedy and heroism ensue.

Pyle writes exquisitely. He captures those olden days so well, his characters are beautifully and fully drawn in a sparse way. Pyle uses quaint language so skillfully and vivid descriptions of castles and armor, that the reader is completely transported to these days of old. One of the loveliest things about this book is its illustrations. Howard Pyle was an awesome illustrator that even Vincent van Gogh admired! He started the Brandywine School of Art which included his students such as N.C.Wyeth and Jessie Wilcox Smith.

This book is part of a fun project I've been launched on. I am exploring possible books to be used next year for Aquinas Learning's Schola Alta I program. I am definitely putting this book on my recommended list!

Two thumbs up! For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

40 Days for the Poor - Day 39 - Spirit Team

Seano's getting ready to be confirmed this spring. One thing the confirmandi need to do to prepare is to participate as a team in six different service/community activities. I was late getting Sean signed up for his Spirit Team but fortunately there is one other boy Sean knows who also homeschools on the team. Unfortunately, we seem to miss almost every activity for one reason or another. Hopefully, Sean will make it to the service project scheduled for this Saturday. There is a day shelter for the homeless located in the next little city south of us. This center feeds them, provides laundry facilities, job counseling, other types of counseling, Bible study, and lots of other things. Sean is going on Saturday from 10:00 to 12:30 to help make and serve lunch and to help with laundry and other sundry things. I am hoping nothing pops up that prevents him. We are going to be squeaking by with the required six!

I know he:

1 Helped serve food and drinks at last year's confirmation reception, which is held every year after the ceremony.

2. I'm pretty sure he went on one other spirit team activity at someone's house at some point back in September. I can not remember what it was. I think Rick or Josh drove him.

3. I know Sean's participated in at least one activity (probably two) after the once a month Youth Masses. The youth ministry always has some kind of activity going on.

4. Sean will probably be attending the March for Life -so that will count!

5. Sean is signed up to help out after a mass on Ash Wednesday. I wrote it down in my planner but unfortunately I didn't put in any detail so I don't know what it really is.

6. ??? Gotta come up with something!

Having a rough day

Today has felt really rough. So I thought I'd journal it a bit.

First of all I am kind of emotional dealing with Sean's depression and ADD. The psychologist is pushing high school for him next year. At first I was trying to be open minded; after all we were planning to send him to Trinity this year but it didn't work out (for the best!), but now looking at these other possible high schools, I'm thinking I don't really trust them to give him a good education and I think they'll create more stress and possibly bad influences, etc. I'm not happy.

So this a.m. I tried to be more structured. Got Sean and Josh up at a good time, got them to eat some breakfast. Becky was her usual bear self in the a.m. trying to pick a fight for the first 45 minutes or so. But I kept my cool. She ate a bit. I read some more of St. Philip of the Joyous Heart. Sean did copy work before breakfast, Becky did hers afterwards.

Josh and Sean didn't do any math between M and today but they seemed to have had a good session with the tutor at 10 a.m.

Becky and I started on the second book of Key To geometry which is on circles. We just practiced trying to draw circles with the inadequate compasses we have. For fractions we worked on greatest common factors again. Becky so needs to memorize her times tables but won't. She's foolishly stubborn like that!

Oh, Sean's heart was really racing for about an hour or more last night and it was still racing this morning (or racing again), so I called the psychiatrist while we were out taking our morning exercise. It is a big effort to get people out there for exercise. I am trying to do it around 11 a.m. every morning. The day was so gloomy and not nearly as warm as the weather guys had predicted. Josh drove to the bike path and went jogging he says, but unfortunately with that boy I never know. He could have sat in the car listening to his ipod the whole time.

The psychiatrist called back and said he didn't think it was the Concerta because it (the racing heart) started after it was supposed to have worn off. But I think taking a stimulant every day has got to have something to do with a racing heart! Seems obvious! So I called the pediatrician who said don't give him any more stimulants and bring him in tomorrow. Today his heart rate has been a times in the 80s but also up as high as 137 or 'medium' at 114.

Woke W and H up around noon. I was waiting for the dr to call back. Sean was craving Chipotle. Since he didn't take the concerta he was suddenly very hungry. So I gave in and said we could get chipotle for lunch. I woke W up, made him a cup of coffee and then sent him off to get lunch. We all ate lunch late (around 1 or so). After eating I tried to read catechism to S but I started falling asleep. I always need a nap in the afternoon and with the cloudy dull weather and the big bean and rice burrito, I was really sleepy. So I tried to crawl into bed to sleep. TWice I almost drifted off just to have an offspring come into the room for one reason or another. So I gave up napping. I was lying in bed hoping that J was actually working on his paper. Sean came up and started working on his Latin in bed with me. IN the meantime Hannah, Will and Becky went to Target. Will really needs some jeans. And the others were going to buy things like socks and underwear.

S and I were having a terrible time with the Latin. It was really hard and he couldn't concentrate and my brain is dull as dishwater today. So it was painful and I wound up typing in the sentences into the laptop, translating them and THEN figuring out how each sentence worked and where we were stumped.

Josh gave up on his paper. Hopefully, right now he's either reading Physics or reading To Kill a Mockingbird. S still has catechism and writing to finish but he's taking a break while I write this.

I'm going to make a cup of coffee and somehow work up enough brain power to get through the remaining subjects! Sean is going in late to Aquinas tomorrow anyway because of the drs. appointment.

Anyway it has been a dreary slow day. The whole afternoon I just wanted to curl up on the couch and watch old movies or something.

Lord give me strength and patience.

40 Days for the Poor - Day 38 - Things I'd like to do

There are a few things I'd like to do in a spirit of charity that I've not yet done. They are in the back of my mind as in an unwritten future 'to do' list. One of these days when my life situation is a little different (when all the children have fledged perhaps?):

1. I'd like to be an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion to the sick. I am already an EMHC. I used to be assigned to one mass every Sunday, but there was some kind of mix up and I kind of became a floater/substitute one. And lately, I've not done it all. But when Aunt Jackie lived here, before she was well enough to go to Mass on Sundays, I would bring the Eucharist home to her. If ever I am not swamped with work on Sunday afternoons, that would be a ministry I would dearly cherish doing.

2. Teaching English as a Second Language - I can't remember if I mentioned this before but my parish has a big TESOL ministry going on. I've always wanted to volunteer but I feel at this point in my life, I simply don't have enough free time. Once, before children, I attempted to teach English to a woman from El Salvador. I went to the Laubach training and found it very interesting, but we didn't last long, as I really wasn't a very good teacher and she really didn't have the time to study. She was busy trying to eke out survival with her several children and an abusive husband. And then I started having children and soon drifted away from it. But I've always wanted to try again. Some day!

3. Meals on Wheels - I know several families that do this. It is a family thing for some homeschoolers, to pile into the car and deliver these meals. That's definitely something I could do, if I didn't already have to drive all over kingdom come, it feels. I am afraid to commit to it. But, again, maybe when the kids are older.

The Happiness Project - Book 60

Happy New Year! I finished reading The Happiness Project yesterday evening, but then I never did get around to writing this review for it. But it is my last book for 2012, not my first for 2013.

I liked this book a lot. There are many honest and very practical insights into maximizing one's happiness in it. It was inspiring in many ways, so it was a good book to read right before the new year, when I tend to have many resolutions rolling around in my head. The author, Gretchen Rubin, is very methodical in her efforts to appreciate life and its blessings and to dig to the bottom of what truly makes one happy. I liked many of her conclusions and on one level felt a real recognition of myself in some of her honest revelations about her own character and what really makes her happy. For one thing when she was studying Buddhism because everyone thought that would be a good way to study happiness, she could intelligently and in an informed way, say no, not for me! She put into words my own response to Buddhism almost exactly. I, however, have to say I have always found koans to be not so illuminating. I did like the way she translated traditional koans into the the little maxims she had run across in her life that had stuck with her. I thought that was a nice insight. The other thing that kind of amazed me about the author was her devotion to St. Therese of Lisieux. She admitted to owning 17 books about St. Therese! Rubin defines herself as a 'reverent agnostic.' I appreciated her sincerity and reverence.

Another thing I really was impressed by was how well read the author is. She really pulled from a wide variety of reading, from Ancient philosophers to Samuel Johnson to current psychological studies. She loves to research and she certainly did hers thoroughly. (As an aside, this book made me vow to myself that I am going to read Boswell's Life of Johnson this year. I started it a couple years ago on the Kindle but I decided it was the type of book where I wanted a real book not a Kindle version).

But there was something about this book that felt a little flat to me. I think it was that the author could take us to the brink of true spiritual happiness but never seemed to get further than that. The subject matter of happiness felt limited, like a goal to be met like losing weight or learning to cook better, but it didn't deliver at the level of the human soul, to me. It dances around that, and never quite delivered something truly profound. So I felt something lacking throughout the book and at times I felt like I was reading a series of magazine articles on happiness. There was a certain lack of depth and warmth, in spite of all the research and anecdotes about her husband and children.

That said, I am really curious about her resolutions chart! She said in the final analysis, the thing that kept her on track with her resolutions (resolutions helped her behave better and made her feel more accomplished) was a chart she made up at the beginning of the year and which she reviewed daily. I want that chart!

She has a website and a new book which I may read as well.