2014 Christmas Kitten

 "Timmy" is Will(7)'s Christmas present.  The cat was $10 through the SPCA -- we spent $50 on a cat carrier, food, litter, box, etc.  LOL.  Timmy is 11 weeks old, now. We got him the week before Christmas.  Will is THRILLED with his kitten. 

Will got a BIG dose of reality when the kitten came home from the SPCA with a slight cough and it developed into a massive respiratory infection. Will wasn't allowed to touch his very sick kitten for about 5 days (over Christmas) while the cat rested and struggled for breath. At 7, the sweetness of a new kitten is too much temptation to be careful with every touch, so we held the kitten, but gave Timmy space from his excited, loving owner. Every night we warned Will the kitten might not make it through the night and every morning we held our breath when Will went to see his kitten in the morning. Indiana kids -- just learning life on life's terms. 

Another $20 for bublegum amoxicillan (.5ml 3x/day -- apparently, there are 2 doses for cats: .5ml for kittens and 1ml for full grown cats.  Good to know next time.) But the antibiotic did the trick and Will and the kitten are getting to be friends.

Jenny is our 3yr old smooth-coated collie / yellow lab mix we got as a Christmas puppy 3 yrs ago.  I wanted a rowdy puppy to keep the boys interested - and that's what I got.  Jenny is freaked out when the kitten tries to cuddle up to her, but Jenny and Timmy are having more and more positive "moments" now that Timmy is perking up and getting interesting.

  

Will chose the most playful kitten in the shelter.  While Timmy was cuddly when ill, he's now showing his true nature - Timmy apparently likes coffee in the morning (mine). The kitten also likes attacking my laptop screen with a flying leap everytime the page changes. 


Will, prayed every night during the rosary for nine months for a new kitten. The day he got the kitten, he told God THANK YOU, and asked for a bunny.

December 6th: Feast of St. Nicholas

I Saw Santa Punching Arius (video/song) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc_bkDnLHk0us 

All things St. Nicholas - http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/who-is-st-nicholas/

I hate the sweater in this graphic, but I love the sentiment.

New Homeschooler Question #32

I've decided to homeschool, now what?

I always advise new homeschool moms to start with a boxed curriculum.  Just START.

       - I really like Catholic Heritage Curricula if you're Catholic -- it's easy to use, gentle on your pocketbook, your child, and you as a new homeschool mom.
         - If you're protestant, My Father's World is really popular.  I also love Memoria Press and Sonlight:both GREAT choices.

Then, when you know what's working (or what's not) be prepared to just tweak a little.

IF you want to pick and choose (design your own) curriculum, I don't usually advise it in your first year.  However, kindergarten is a GREAT time to play around with different curriculum to learn how you like to teach and how your child learns best.

The way you do that is choose ONE subject, research, then choose.  If you get stuck and can't decide (you've narrowed down your choices and just can't pare them down any more), then try to figure out a different subject.  Come back to your undecided subjects with a little more information under your belt.  So which one are you going to start with?

• Math
• English
• History
• Literature
• Science
• Foreign Language

Do Something MEANINGFUL today -- this is one idea.

Read this. Then send $6 to my friend on the front lines. Many of you know, I open my house to help new homeschool moms get started. She opens her house to help mamas and babies LIVE. Read, then pray, then help.

http://www.blessedarethefeet.com/on-birth-stories-and-brave-women/

Our lives can sometimes feel so overwhelming -- and sometimes they are.  These are the stories she hears every. day.  Making a genuine difference in someone's life can sometimes cost alot -- time, relationships, vulnerability, heart ache. This time, it's only $6.  That's not alot.

Very often we have to be so cautious to know where our donation dollars go.  Research.  Analysis.  Time.  Effort.  This time, though, we know where it goes.  

Are you a Mama?  A grandpa?  An aunt?  Wouldn't you give so much more than $6 to make sure the young mother in your life is safe along with her baby?  This is just $6.

If you decide not help Colleen, then help someone in your life.  THIS is what makes life meaningful.

12 Years Done -- 12 Years To Go

Homeschooling can be surreal.  I had 4 and then 5 kids to raise, feed, play with.
I spent 12 years educating this kid.

- She was EASY to raise (compliant, sweet, compassionate, fun)

- and HARD to school (she was totally smart and EXPECTED that I would give her challenging work -- which was very difficult when she was reading and analyzing Don Quixote for fun in middle school)

- and required me to be PRAYERFUL to mother (she spent most of her high school years fairly sick and I not only worried but worked to get her healthy -- it's still a work in progress, but she's getting better -- just slower than I'd rather).

As she's getting better, she's sassier and more fun than ever!

 

Now that she's 18 and graduated from homeschool high school, I've got the first 12 years of homeschooling under my belt.
So I begin the next 12 years while I teach 1st grade all over again this year.  This will be my 5th time teaching 1st grade and the last time I teach it (that I know of)...

Being done/beginning...It's all a little -- SURREAL.

Prairie Parties

It's been at least a decade since we did them -- but that school year is one of the most solidified in my memory -- such sweet, sweet memories of learning and FUN.

You choose one book in the "Little House on the Prairie" series per month and have everyone in your group read it.  My house could accommodate 20 kids, so ~6 families. 

Sept - Little House in the Big Woods
Oct - Little House on the Prairie
Nov - Farmer Boy
Dec - On the Banks of Plumb Creek
Jan - By the Shores of Silver Lake
Feb - The Long Winter
Mar - Little Town on the Prairie
Apr - These Happy Golden Years
May - The First Four Years

Prairie Primer is the book I used to jump start our Prairie Parties.  For my family the book wasn't academically challenging enough to use as a stand-alone curriculum.  But it really gave me ideas on how to pull activities from the series. The book is available at our library - ACPL.  Each family selected any topic from the book of that month to do an activity with everyone.    Everyone brought a dish to share for lunch after the party was over. 

Examples of activities that moms chose:

Butter making with a ball jar and whole milk (shaking)

Using a washboard and tub to wash an item of clothing

Taste testing real maple syrup vs. imitation

A presentation on hibernation of bears

Making a pumpkin pie from scratch

Quilting

Candlemaking

A lesson on Native Americans

A lesson on bee “dancing” and taste testing different types of honey (clover, etc.)

Bonnet making (kids cut it out and moms sewed it together at home)

A lesson on square dancing

4BR, 2 1/2 BA, 2,376sq ft, 2-story home for sale in Fort Wayne, IN for $119,900

We have decided to sell our home in Blackhawk for $119,900. (Current property tax values assess it at $123K.)

We haven't listed it yet, but while we're getting it ready, would you like to buy our home and help make the decisions? It's driving me crazy making the decisions for someone else. What color carpet throughout? Which rooms would you like painted and what color? Anything in particular with the landscaping? It will take us a few weeks to make all the decisions. Please share this with friends of friends and see if we can sell the house before we list and have to have open houses to show it (not looking forward to that part). Anybody can stop by and see the house before we officially list it, but please note that the 5 kids are all working on it and it may be in disarray.

6714 Winnebago Drive, Fort Wayne, IN 46815
4 Bedrooms, 2 1/2 Baths
Home size 2,376 Sq Ft
Lot Size 0.25 Acres
Built 1969

Central Air, Baseboard Hot Water Heat, Whole House Attic Fan.
This is a book-lover's dream: Living Room is a true library with floor to ceiling bookshelves. Ceiling Fans in every bedroom, Dining Room & Family Room. Family Room has wood fireplace. Large open kitchen and breakfast nook with ceramic tile. Attached 2 Car Garage with Attic storage. 3 Seasons room. 4 Bedrooms upstairs and Master has it's own bathroom. Half Bath is on first floor. Great backyard for kids and pets with multiple swingsets under shade tree.

New laminate wood flooring in Living Room-Library in January 2014
Most windows replaced in 2013 and new Front Screen Door in 2013
6 yr old asphalt roof
Swingset is negotiable

Schools: Croninger, Blackhawk Middle School, Snider

Contact us at (260) 485-8828 

Welcome to my Messy House

"Quick! Clean up!  Someone's coming!"  -or- "Here!  Take these dirty underwear I picked up off the floor and stuff them down the clothes chute." -or- "I'll talk to them in there and you clean up in here."  We've all done it.  It's the loving thing to do to make things nice for someone.  But when making things nice is at the expense of someone -- we have a problem.  We have to stop worrying about how things look to the exclusion of having people over.  We can't live in House Beautiful or a Southern Living magazine all the time. (Honestly, not even some of the time).  We try, but we fail.  That failure is "just life", not a fatal flaw of morality.

My children are a gift from God so I share them with the world. Do I keep my child from talking to someone because he's a filthy mess from playing at the park? No.  My home, too, is a gift and given to me to share with others. 

 I'm pretty good about this. Annette Funicello, America's sweetheart, appeared on TV with full-blown MS in a wheelchair and with her mouth a little disfigured, but as big of a smile as she could manage said, "Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful."  
 It's a theme of my life.  I say it to myself over again and again and have for years.

I do warn guests when they need to use the bathroom, 'I'm not promising it's clean, but you're welcome to it.' Most of them KNOW what a 6yr old boy can do to a previously clean bathroom. And if not, it's time they learn. Approximately half of the population has been or will be a 6 year old boy.  Being ourselves gives our guests permission to be themselves. 

I have people over when my house is 'lived-in', to LOVE them. How many exhausted moms of preschoolers feel like they can't keep up? How many men feel like they don't measure up? My aunt committed suicide and the toll on the family was horrendous.  We can't put so much pressure on each other to 'measure up'.  How many times have we seen a teen in the news who committed suicide?  In their pain they think things would never feel better than they do in that moment.  The response from the rest of the world is that we want to shout from the rooftops that it doesn't matter what everyone thinks or how chaotic it feels - life CAN get better. 

By sharing our chaos with the the world, I'm shouting to everyone who walks through my door, 'I love you and you're welcome here just the way you are. Come share some of the less-than attractive places in my life and I'll share your pain with you.'

The test of this was having our priest over for dinner when life was chaotic. As I fed him out of my messy fridge and he sat on my gross floor (I had cleaned it, but you know...) with my smelly dog on his lap he told us that he'd had a black lab as a boy and was too busy for a dog now. He said that not many families with kids had him over - he assumed due to the stress of life - and I saw that us inviting him into our chaos helped fill something in him. 

I want my guests to feel loved and I have to be 'real' to do that. Some may judge me, but I want to say back to those, 'This is my best. And a way to love you, because "Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful."

This post started my rant self-reflection.

Why Scruffy Hospitality Creates Space for Friendship

How Do I Prepare Myself to Teach High School?

Not everyone thinks this way, but I am a whole-to-parts kind of thinker.  I use an organizing principle to begin, plan and end.   In my mind the tool looks like a wrapped piece of candy.  So, I start with an organizing principle to begin my planning, stuff all the details in as I go on planning, and end the year finishing up with the same organizing principle.

And this magical tool is -- a transcript.  I KNOW, I KNOW, I KNOW -- that's the scary part at the end of high school for most homeschool moms.  Just hang with me.  It's just a piece of paper.  (Mine is an excel document, but you can do it in Word or just on a piece of paper.)  

If you need to meet your state's requirements for graduation, this is where you take it into account.

First, take your blank piece of paper and put down categories that you want your student to learn.  And put at least 4 lines between each:

Transcript

Math

1.        

2.        

3.        

4.        

Science  

      

English

History

Theology

X-Curricular

       

Next, fill in what you know.  Do you know what math curriculum you'll use? (We're Math-U-See fans, here.)  Even if you're unsure if your child will make it to Calculus in his 4th year, fill in what you'd  like his high school to look like.  It's just a piece of paper.  

You'll obviously have some blank spaces.  Do your best to fill them in.  Don't know what English curriculum you'll use?  Call it English 1, English 2, English 3, & English 4.  Even if you don't know what x-curricular classes your child will take? Guess.  Might he like photography?  You have 4 years to make it accurate, for now just fill it in with your best guess.  When you're relatively sure about something, highlight it.  Then do a happy dance.  When you get a chance, move onto the next thing you're close to figuring it out.

Now, when you've filled it all out, you have a 4-year tentative plan. 

Mock Transcript

http://www.scribd.com/doc/225495765/Mock-Transcript

Next, you're ready to buy some books and start lesson planning. (This is the start of the candy part.) 

My finalized lesson plans look like this.  The kids get a printed copy in glued into their student planner and I glue a copy for me for each child into my teacher planner.  Then as the year progresses, I track grades on it and where we are in each subject compared to where my plan thought we should be (because those things NEVER match up).

Then at the end of the year, I update my transcript for what actually occurred through the year, adding class descriptions and a books read list (organized by class).  I also use my transcript to begin planning for next year.

How Do I Prepare My Kids for High School Work?

It's one of the big 10 questions every homeschooler gets - "What about high school?"

Most moms I know FREAK OUT (including me) when deciding if they can handle homeschooling high school their first kid.

#1  You’re not wrong to freak out.  Is it good to give cautious attention and consideration about who you marry?  Is it reasonable to be concerned about pregnancy and birth when you’re never done it before?  Then it’s reasonable to give cautious consideration about launching a child into adulthood.  Besides, it’s hard, as is good parenting.  Not impossible, but challenging.  

#2  Homeschool Connections is my favorite resource of all time for Catholic high school coursework.  You can read about our experience here. 

#3 Classes, activities and a good youth group has been GREAT for my high schoolers to socialize.  I’ve found it’s even more important in the high school years for my kids to have outside friends and opportunities for fun.  My kids get much of this from Catholic homeschool friends.  My kids have plenty of Protestant homeschool friends they love and friends who go to school, but their sense of identity can be solidified with like-minded friends when it comes to religion and world-view.

#4 Preparing kids for high school coursework

I tried so hard to adequately prepare my oldest for high school work.  As we started high school, I did find a few holes – that was a tough year for my oldest, but we both survived.  I have done a better job preparing my other kids for high school work. 

Now, I spend the middle school years working on 3 main skills: 

*Being accountable for their time and finishing assignments on time without holding their hand (or badgering) 

For this skill, I use a student planner and a hefty list of carrots and consequences. My favorite student planner is Good News Planners from Creative Communications.  Even my big kids like the boxes of the “Elementary Planner” better than the open spaces of the “High School” planner.  Here’s why I like that particular planner.

The way I use it is to give my 5^th & 6^th graders daily assignments.  I’ll break down big assignments into smaller pieces for them.  Eventually as they master that, I transition them so that by 7^th & 8^th grade I’m giving them weekly assignments and they can break them down into daily to-do list for themselves.  At first I monitor their to-do lists to make sure they’ve broken them down into reasonable pieces and they’re getting them done.  Hopefully, by the end of 8^th grade I’m only going over their planner at the beginning of the week  to get it set up and at the end of the week when they turn in their assignments.  This is how I handle the organization of their work throughout high school.

*Independently learning from a textbook & Ability to study independently and take tests  THIS SKILL is soooo IMPORTANT to any sense of a traditional highschool education.  It's not something kids innately know and it has to be taught.  It can also take several years to master.  It also isn't a skill covered in any of the delight-driven, literature-based, classical elementary school that I do with my kids.
       My favorite middle school resource for this is a good science textbook.  I cover how to teach this in Test Taking Skills.

*Paper Writing  This I a tough skill and although they work on it during all of high school, I want them to have the rudiments of it before then. Here is an example of the expectations I have of my kids in each grade level including high school.

 In 8^th grade each of my kids writes me a HUGE research paper following along with Seton’s Composition for Young Catholics. 

How I use the resource.  Starting in quarter 2 of the year (because the first couple months of school is always a blur), the kids do 1 chapter per week.  Starting in quarter 3 (2^nd semester), the kids do roughly 1 chapter per week.  Several chapters get more than 1 week: Chapter 12 – Note Taking gets 3 weeks, Chapter 16 – First Draft gets 2 weeks, and Chapter 19 – Final Edit gets 2 weeks.

Carrots and Consequences

I've made several posts about disciplining children through the years.

• How can I homeschool when.... my kids don't listen to me?
• Kids Chores
• Laziness in children
• Virtue-Vice Chart

But it all can be summed up with the phrase "Carrots and Consequences".  Give them a reason for being good and a consequence if they aren't. 

I see my job as a parent is to teach them that being good (obedience to God) has wonderful  benefits (Heaven) and not being good (disobedience to God) has terrible consequences (Hell).

 I love "catching them being good" and reward them for it. Since they know that, they'll let me know if they've done something worthy of rewarding.  Their agony comes when I had an activity planned that they didn't know about and it gets taken away.  Oh, the wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Toddlers & Preschoolers

Any activity involving parental interaction (play ball for 10 minutes, etc.) vs. Time-Out

     Time-out is usually 2x their age for a single infraction.  If they are 4, they can get up to 8 minutes in time-out.  If they've done 2 things wrong at the same time, they don't serve contiguous sentences.  But if they do a new thing wrong, they'll certainly be put back in time-out.  Some kids end up in time-out for almost years of their lives.  Some kids need me to be there while they're in time-out or they'll go play.

Elementary

Whatever is their favorite activity vs. Taking that away

     I've grounded kids from reading. I've grounded them from playing the piano.  Really, I've grounded them from all sorts of stuff: cooking, speaking, spending time with their siblings, friends, being alone in their room, whatever they value.  Those are the same things I'll use as carrots: getting to bake cookies, deciding what we'll eat for dinner that night between 3 options I give them, sleeping in the dog kennel or someplace different in the house, 15 minutes of time before bed, etc. 

     For the boys, it's always "screens" - any electronic device (computer, video game, tv, etc.)

Teens

Fun activities (that they're asking for on a regular basis) vs. grounding

     Grounding is my discipline friend during the teen years.  I have one child who has suggested having a picture of her face with a circle and a slash through it for all the days she's grounded from facebook so her friends will know why she's not responding.  I reassure her - they know.

 Depending on the child, what looks like consequence, may be a carrot for another child.  My preschool daughters begged me to allow them to pin rags together  for them to wear and talk mean to them while they played Cinderella and scrubbed my kitchen floor on their hands and knees.

"Catholic, are you saved?"

I loved the conciseness of this response because as Catholics our faith doesn't rely on one verse or phrase, but takes the whole of Christ's teaching into account. This I a great response.

Post by Bobbie Jo Rider.

Virtue-Vice Chart

This has helped my discipline so many times through the years.  It has helped me give more appropriate consequences, reinforced by God's authority (not just mine), and keep the child's eyes on the goal, the positive, even in a negative situation.

It's got virtues (10) on the left side and the corresponding vice (honesty & lying / generosity & stealing) on the right side, with 2 bible verses (1 corresponding to each item) in between.  This takes up 2/3 of the poster.  Then at the bottom I have a long list of privileges & a short list of consequences.  I LOVE this! 

I take the kids to "the board", we quickly assess that them trying to talk to me on the phone is "stealing" my time & attention.  The bible verse refers to a thief learning to work hard, so the natural consequence is an additional chore.  Then before we leave "the board", we look over what God's grace has in store for the child if only they'll choose it.  I affirm how naturally 'generous' my child is and we read the verse of what God thinks of him when he's generous.

This is MY chart.  I used virtue/ vice vocabulary we use regularly (or want to use) and you should change the categories to match your family.  Also, not everyone will want the same verses – so you can change those to suit your family. Obviously, not everyone will choose the same discipline techniques.

How To : Virtue / Vice part is the top 2/3 of the poster.  The Privileges / Consequences part is the lower 1/3 of the poster.

Top 2/3 :  There are 3 columns for the top 2/3 of the poster.  The first column is 6" long for virtues (don't use this word as a title) , second is 10" long for bible verses, third is 6" long for vices.  Each of the 10 rows are 2" tall.

Bottom 1/3 : There are 3 columns, evenly spaced.  The first 2 columns are for Privileges (use the word as a title).  The second is for Consequences (one of the reasons you want a lot of privileges is to keep things positive, and the other is that one of the consequences is a loss of privilege).

http://highlanddove.org/images/vicevi2.gif
©Highland Dove Homeschool

Quote of the Day

Last night Will led us in prayer "Our Father, who art in heaven, Howard is His name..."

I think we need to work on diction.

Christmas Newsletter -- Blast from the Past 2002

We've inconsistently sent out a Christmas letter through the years of the kids' growing up.  We were asked to repeat this oldie, but goodie from 2002.

Blessings to All,                                        December, 2002

            Life just gets crazier around the MacDonald house.  Last Christmas our present to ourselves was our new house.  I'm so thrilled with our new home.  It's beautiful (when it's clean which isn't very often), and spacious.  Except for a basement, it's everything we said we wanted.  Dave and the girls truly miss our first home and still speak of it often.  One family, one mission, and all of us are different people.  The pregnancy was a struggle for the whole family since I was put on partial bedrest from January until April.  Infections and fear, frustration and anxious test results plagued the first quarter of the year.  Friends and family were truly heaven-sent and provided help, meals, cleaning, babysitting, and lots of prayers.  To our relief, Peter Michael was born HAPPY and HEALTHY on May 2, 2002 at 8lbs and 12oz.  Finally a child who looks more like me than Dave.  His dark skin, eyes, and hair are a definite contrast to our hazel-eyed, blonde, fair group.  (Emmy has brown eyes, too!)  During this past spring Emmy had fallen off a patio table (that I'd told her not to stand on many times) and broken her collar bone (the opposite one that had been broken at birth).  Being on bedrest, it was hard to keep Drew from running and tackling Em as they as they often did to each other.  It took 3-4 weeks to heal up.

            Due to spring colds, I had gone into labor on little to no sleep from the previous two weeks.  Dave's parents (saints that they are), had all 3 children, (Kate was 6, Emmy was 4, and Drew was still under 2) overnight while Sweety-Petey and I were in the hospital.  To get some rest, I took my healthy, happy, big baby home before the 24 hours were up.  Dave's parents brought the kids home that evening.  Then life really got started.  As soon as Kate got home, she ran a fever.  For the next week and a half, she spiked temperatures of 104, had swelling throughout the glands in her neck, was in agonizing pain that the codeine didn't do much for, slept little, and cried all the time.  She threw up with the fever and the pain.  Kate and Peter were both in our room this week.  We went to the doctor's 3 times that week, and finally when Peter was 9 days old, the pediatrician admitted her to the hospital.  At just 9 days old, with NO sleep, I let a wonderful friend take my new baby home with her for the night with pumped milk, so I could sleep. 

            That first night in the hospital was horrible.  The pain medication and the antibiotics didn't seem to do much and in the middle of the night, though she was burning up to the touch and delirious, the nurses wouldn't believe me that the thermometer was broken when it continued to read 99.5.  I was too tired to argue and just fell in and out of sleep on the couch in her room with her cries.  At the morning shift change, when her fever felt like it had gone down quite a bit (by my touch), the new nurse found a new thermometer that measured 104.8.  She slowly got better and I kept the baby with me in the hospital most of the time.  Em was taken in by her Godparents, and Drew by my family.  They kept Kate in the hospital for 4 days and sent her home with lots of medication and still quite a bit of pain, but no more fever.  She'd had all the symptoms of West Nile, including the rash, but that was before anybody (including the doctor) knew what it was - lymph adonitis was the diagnosis.  Dave had been off work since the baby was born and had to go back to work the day we came home from the hospital.  I was scared to handle all those children on my own.  Exhausted, I prayed for life to get "normal".  God said, 'Not yet.'

            The next day, I had worked hard to get all the children down for a nap at the same time...I just had to get some sleep.  I fell asleep in my panties and bra after nursing Peter to sleep in my bed.  Hearing a scream, I thought Drew had climbed out of his bed and into Kate's top-bunk and was hurting her.  I scooched Peter to the middle of the bed and ran down the hall.  Passing the upstairs bathroom I saw the screen inside the house and the window wide open.  Praying that Drew hadn't fallen out of the window (how could the screen be on the inside, though, God?), I looked out.  Emmy was screaming on the ground 2 floors below me.  Running through the house (wishing I had some clothes to put on) I ran outside and brought her in.  Her foot was swollen up and she said she couldn't walk.  I called Dave and our lovely neighbors to see if someone could talk me through checking for broken bones.  Dave rushed home, the neighbor rushed over, and both Dave's parents came from work to help.  Em could put weight on her foot but her back hurt.  I couldn’t stop laughing – Dave wasn’t as amused.  Just a day after gettting out of the hospital we went back to X-ray Em.  Nothing broken and in 5 days she was wrestling with Drew again.  When asked why she did it, she said she knew she wasn't allowed to go out the door to play without asking, but no one said anything about the window.  My basic prayer for the rest of the summer was for God to please help me keep all these children alive.

            Dave planned out the landscaping in our new backyard over and over.  It was so nice working on something together that didn't involve the hospital.  During the pregnancy, Drew kept getting out of the yard and running toward the street.  I couldn’t catch him, so Kate had to.  The big accomplishment for the summer was getting our white vinyl fence installed.  Dave, some good friends, and wonderful family all worked their rear ends off to get it done...it's lovely.  Peter was baptized this summer and we had a big party with balloons flying off our new fence.  We've been discussing a brick patio and various beds for next summer, we'll just have to wait and see. 

            Our next interesting story is our lifestyle change...Kate is now homeschooling.  We prayed and talked and prayed and talked.  Everyone is happy with our new routine including Kate.  Dave was impressed with the opportunities in Fort Wayne for homeschool activities.  It's been a very easy transition.  This just seems to fit us and our family. About a month after we started to homeschool,  Child Protective Services of Allen County knocked on my door and demanded to see the children.  Someone had turned us in as endangering the children - taking Kate out of "school" was part of the report that was made, although it's completely legal.  The lady from CPS was very nice and said our children DID NOT look neglected or endangered.  It was scary at the time, and we'll be under investigation until April, but it seems to have come to nothing. (THANK GOD!!)   Em is still in preschool at St. Jude Catholic Church, but we're discussing bringing her home to homeschool for Kindergarten.  I'm a little anxious about homeschooling two kids with the boys underfoot, but God has time to prepare me. 

            Peter is a big, EASY baby.  He's so happy and rarely cries.  He's almost crawling at 7 months and gets into everything by scootching like a little commando.  We can barely keep him in baby food - he eats sooo much!  Drew is spoiled to the core.  He's just so cute, I can hardly stand to discipline him, so he's gotten to be somewhat of a terror - but so sweet and cute you want to melt.  If we could just get him to stop playing and wandering the house in the middle of the night, we'd be great.  Em's gotten to be such a terrific big sister.  Her favorite thing is to take care of the baby and except for being more precocious than I can quite keep up with, she's tried so hard to please us.  She's either hot or cold and sometimes both at the same time.  Kate is learning so much, she's such a joy to be around.  Sometimes she wants to please a little too much and we have to insist that she do what she wants, not someone else (including us).  She paves the way for her siblings and is a genuine leader.  Right now she's in love with the movie 'Grease'.  It's pretty bawdy for her, but she doesn't seem to get those parts.  She loves the music.

            The 2 big stressers this past year have been money (almost $10,000 out-of-pocket medical bills) and adjusting to (what seems to us) our very large family.  Our 2 big joys this year have been God keeping our family from those near-miss disasters (we're all still here and basically healthy) and God granting us one of his most precious gifts - our new baby.  Such is life - joy and sorrow mixed - we haven't gotten used to it.  Life has been challenging this year.  Wonderful, good, full of life, and challenging.  We trust that God will hold us up to the challenge.  I recall the year Em was born being a rough one , too.  Life gets easier ... please, please, please. 

            For Halloween Kate was the Statue of Liberty, Em was an American Flag, Drew was a fireman, and Peter was a dalmatian.  The next day was All Saints Day and the kids dressed up and I had their picture taken.  The others were the Holy Family, but Kate wanted to be St. Bernadette.  So... St. Bernadette and the Holy Family wish you a Blessed Christmas. 

Do you let your kids read Percy Jackson or 39 Clues series?

 I allow my 5th grade up crowd access to both series (39 Clues AND Percy Jackson). 

I have to explain that we do ALOT of discussion with our books and the kids are TAUGHT to analyze what they read. That being said, the middle school crowd are not the most analytical people I've ever met and they ususally need help. 

The gods in Percy Jackson, who do bad things, are presented as good people and the kids need help to see that their bad acts, no matter how funny & likable, makes them bad characters. The kids DO NOT see this on their own and argue vehemently that because they are likable, the gods are good characters.     

In 39 Clues the main characters (children) must do morally objectionable things (steal boats, even if it's from bad guys, tell lies) and it's all presented as very justifiable.  My kids need talked through each moral dilemma - they won't necessarily see that the kids in the story have a choice to do moral actions when the immoral actions are presented as so reasonable.      

As long as you talk through the issues in the books with the kids I see them as positive learning tools. (Which is NOT how I see those vampire books...)  Yes, the books are mainly for enjoyment and can ABSOLUTELY get a struggling reader (even an older one) hooked on reading.  But I completely agree with Martin Cothran - "Literature is dangerous—except when taken in large doses."  http://www.memoriapress.com/articles/harry-potter-and-attack-critics   The above series' are books my kids read during summer or a break from school.  Their minds are FILLED with historical characters or classic literature the majority of the year.  I feel like that helps protect them from the "twaddle".

Something Greater CD Funding -- YOU DID IT!!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/emmamacdonald/something-greater-album/posts

 https://soundcloud.com/emma-macdonald-music/something-greater

  

https://soundcloud.com/emma-macdonald-music/never-let-you-go

"I'm so overjoyed that my goal on Kickstarter was reached!! Praise Jesus! Thank you again to everyone who was such great support in so many ways!!" - Emma MacDonald

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/emmamacdonald/something-greater-album/posts

Happy Thanksgiving

Mother Colette's first vows

This was such a tender moment to be part of. I was so touched as the brothers so gently and lovingly put Mother Colette's new black veil on her and took off the white one. It was as reverent and sweet as a moment could be. Mother was almost dancing person to person to get her hugs. Mother, you are such a wonderful gift from God for our family and we are honored to be a part of your life!

This is what volunteering looks like

February & November trips to St. Vincent de Paul store in Decatur to volunteer and help organize the store.  Our crews do a great job!! 

The Kates look snookered -- I'm happy to report that they weren't!