Fratello Piccolo and HalfPint

Here are pics of Fratello Piccolo at the Blue and Gold Banquet:

He received his belt loops, patches, and pins and a really cool patch blanket from his den.

His den did a funny little skit about not being afraid of anything but those icky girl scouts - LOL

Not to leave HalfPint out of things - I caught her again doing crafts. Here she is making a St. Valentine Day craft at a homeschooling event:

Fratello Maggiore is now a Boy Scout!

This year's Blue and Gold Banquet was a special one for us. Fratello Maggiore is no longer a Cub Scout...

...he got his Arrow of Light award (plus a real arrow) for Bridging over to Boys Scouts.

Here he is actually shooting his arrow... this is part of the ceremony before bridging over.

Here he is with the other 4 new Boy Scouts. His best friend "JP" is in the center.

We are so proud of him and he is excited to be moving on to bigger responsibility and more fun as a full-fledged scout!

In a ditch

Two weeks ago I decided to drive to the neigbor's house (instead of walking like a good gal in such bad weather.) This was the result. Thank goodness for AAA...

As we were sliding into the ditch, my mantra was, "We should have walked! We should have walked!"

FINALLY!

Praise and honor to you, O Lord Jesus Christ!!! My prayers have been answered.

Jeff just got great news last night...

he will finally be down to ONE JOB! Yippee, yahoo!!! The tool and die apprenticeship has finally turned into his career! He is so excited and so are we as he will be home a little more often.

An important day...

Praise and glory to Christ!! Today my father had his Rite of Sending at church. The best part is that I got to cantor the Mass! So I was able to raise my voice in prayer and song on such a special day. What a blessing this family has received today... (I am praying that I am able to cantor/co-cantor Easter Vigil, too.)

Mardi Gras party yesterday...

The Trio and I help my friend Carmela and her family celebrate Mardi Gras yesterday. Here is where you can read about the festivities and view a few pics:
http://ramblingsofacatholichomeschoolingmom.blogspot.com/


So now begins our season of Lent. The kids are lucky - they are too young to make a fast, so my tummy is the only one that is grumblin' right now. I decided to give up chocolate and to limit myself to 1 mug of coffee a day. Now to focus on prayer...

Finally photos! but with a catch...

Well, it seems the only way to get photos on my blog is to go to Carmela's house. She is my high-speed internet friend. (I am still on dial up, need I say more?!)

So I will post pics whenever I can do so from Carmela's "house of FIOS." So if I call up Carmela and say "Hey, can we come over?" she is going to say "WHAT?! Just to post photos? What am I: house-of-uploading-fotos R Us??!"

Honestly Carmela, I luv ya, my friend in Christ!

Misc photos

Here is The Trio with their Grandma Kate. HalfPint and Fratello Piccolo were in their aunt's wedding in September '07.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fratello Piccolo is one of my two animal lovers. Here he is with Keats (who died shortly after this photo). He really likes birds. HalfPint keeps asking for a horse...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Trio - Christmas 2007 during a breakfast with Santa at church.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The boys and I after receiving our newest belts in Shotokan karate.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Day at St. Francis

A typical school day consists of HalfPint doing her thing, usually with playdough or paints:

The boys are usually reading or doing various hands-on projects.

Here is Fratello Piccolo working a 3-D puzzle with his PapPap.

Here are the boys involved in Cub Scout activities: a trip to a deer farm

And the 2008 Pinewood Derby!

Fratello Piccolo is a Bear and

Fratello Maggiore is a Webelo II.

Cold

Hmmm... so now it is finally cold. The forcast tells me we'll be in single digits tomorrow. Hmmm... I'd like to see that global warming about which people (only the lunatics now I think) are yelling :-) So I was sitting under my electric blanket and chatting with my bestest pal, my CT "Sista." I sure miss her. I pray that things work out this year so that she and her family can visit PA.

I actually got to run errands today without The Trio. They stayed home with Nana and did their assignments. I ran to the natural foods store to stock up on soaps that are free from those nasty chemicals (Sodium Laureth Sulfate and other "ick." ) We all have developed a fondness for tea in this cold weather, so I also stocked up on some of those. I especially have a liking for Sleepytime tea...

Our choir director emailed me a photo of the new keyboard. Imagine I am almost excited about an electric instrument... thought the day would never come. I hear that I will be conducting the children's choir, so I'd better brush up on conduction time signatures. Do, a deer - a female deer, re, a drop of golden sun...

The fratellos are participating in their Cub Scout pack's Pinewood Derby tomorrow morning. So it looks like we are all "off to the races" after breakfast.

chillin out on Mama's bed

I am updating my blog and enjoying my cuppa java in peace. Well, peace as only a homeschooler would understand...



I have Fratello Maggiore doing his math at his desk - under threat of loss of the priveledge of participating in this year's Pinewood Derby...



Fratello Piccolo is, as always, willingly at his work and eagerly anticipating a piano lesson... he will get done in a timely manner so that he can finish his Pinewood Derby car's paint job. Dad wants to work with them on attaching the wheels tonight.



Half Pint is beside me on my bed. She has taken it upon herself to instruct me in the assembly of a 6-picture cube puzzle. We have already completed two pictures and she is deciding which of the remaining 4 to do next.



Also, I have added a link to my sidebar. I have been notified of the attempt to make parental rights a constitutional amendment and I like the idea.

first week o' school after the holidays

Here at SFAILA, it is still the Christmas season until the Baptism of the Lord on Sunday. We are still decorated and still in the holiday mood. However, I did start the kids back to the books this week and they were not happy. WHAT A SURPRISE! (not)

In celebration of resuming school, I am re-organizing things. My friend Carmela had a great idea with a (milk-carton type) plastic file holder per child. I ran out to get some today and already have the boys' subjects organized into hanging file folders. Ok, I know, what you are going to say - "See how long THAT idea lasts!" Since I am an eternal optimist, I'll pray for at least a week :-)

Fratello Maggiore decided not to rejoin the children's choir, so it was just Fratello Piccolo singing his heart out. He did such a great job and was really into learning the new Mass parts for Easter. In adult choir practice,we started to learn a new hymn "Here I Am" - a very comforting song. I found out this weekend that our choir director had to play/sing at 28 funerals as a result of 9/11. How heartbreaking...

January and swimming(?) weather

January has given us with a very warm day. Our local temperature is now up into the 60’s. It sure has made the kids’ day. They were outside whooping and hollering and running around like spring was in the air.
I wonder how quickly the press will scream “global warming!” and the second they schedule a summit, there will be a deep freeze. Bring it on, you tree huggers!!! Muhahahaha

Choir practice starts again this week. In addition to learning a new (to us) Mass (the Mass of Glory?), we are already working on Easter hymns. This year feels so rushed with Christmas nearly running head-on into Lent. Once I looked at the calendar, I realized that there is not much choir practice time until Easter!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
We hope that God has blessed you this year and this posting finds you and your family well. Our God is an awesome God and has kept us well for another year. We cannot complain. We have been blessed with many wonderful friends and a healthy and happy family. We only made one trip to the emergency room this year - Half Pint did a header into a chair and put a tooth through the skin underneath her bottom lip. She was fine and didn’t even require any sutures, so we got off easy.
Jeff made a job move this year and is doing production work as well as still apprenticing in the tool and die profession with my Dad and brother. That and serving as Cubmaster of the boys’ cub scout pack keeps him on his toes.
We are still learning at home. Fratello Maggiore now has a middle school workload (more than I had when I was in school!) and Fratello Piccolo is now in 3rd grade. Half Pint now asks to do school and play-do is the perfect way to keep her busy. That little gal can “do school” with that goo for up to 8 hours! This year, play-do was her favorite Christmas present, by far!
Fratello Maggiore is still loving Scouts and will ‘bridge over’ to Boy Scouts in February. It is fascinating how far he has gone! Fratello Piccolo really likes scouts, too. I think his favorite part so far this year was earning his whittling badge. He was thrilled to receive his first pocket knife for Christmas.
Karate is going well. Fratello Piccolo is a yellow belt, Fratello Maggiore is a blue belt, and I have earned a green belt. The boys enjoy the “cool stuff” like sparring and competition, but I just want to workout and learn the katas. (those are choreographed patterns)
I just recently learned that I can sing. At least I don’t torture others with my voice :’) I decided to sing for the music director at church and not only did he stick me in the choir as an alto, but encouraged me to cantor (lead the congregation and do some solo singing)! You can imagine my surprise as the only recent feedback I have ever received was the kids covering their ears and grimacing when I would sing out loud. LOL I guess they just didn’t want Mom singing and were not being critics - go figure. Of course, now they can’t shut me up! The choir members even talked me into singing with the funeral choir since I am home during the daytime…
The boys also tried their voices at children’s choir this Christmas. Fratello Piccolo seems to enjoy it, but Fratello Maggiore put up with it only this once. So only Fratello Piccolo will be participating for Easter, I suppose. He has a joyful, willing personality so he is thrilled to ‘make a joyful noise.”
May you and your family have a wonderful 2008 and may God continue to watch over you.

6 years have passed...

and the ache of this world's loss on Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001 is still there for me.

May all the victims and their families PLUS the families of all those who defend our freedoms with their lives rest in peace...

AMEN

Oh boy - BIG BROTHER

Well, it seems as if Big Brother is on our back... I just received a letter from our school district. They claim we are out of compliance because I didn't give them a copy of my diploma or send them the children's health records.

Oi vey! First of all, my legally notarized affidavit attests that I indeed have a high school diploma (I didn't mention all the education that occurred after that - LOL) and that I am claiming a medical ethical/religious exemption. (Ethically, they have no business knowing about our personal health! It is my responsibility to see to/protect their health and welfare AND THEIR PRIVACY!).

You'd think that school districts have enough to worry about with all the children that attend their schools. They have to nitpick our little home schools, especially over such redundancy?
I called the Dept of Education and verified that my document was enough to satisfy the state law. IT IS!!

I just finished a nice polite "Sorry-but-you-have-all-the-info-that-I-am-required-to-give-you-by-law" letter and am sitting here trying not to fume, but to let it go...

4 weeks down

Has it been two weeks already? Wow!

We are finishing the end of our 4th week of school and all is going fairly well. I offer things up to Heaven daily, but I can't complain...

Fratello Maggiore does not have the concept of the timing of his subjects yet. Although, to me it does seem that he is slowly making progress. Micro baby steps are STILL baby steps...

Fratello Piccolo seems to really love learning, no matter the subject! Hallelujah!!! He is constantly asking to do more and I am happy to let him :-)

Half Pint is happy doing dry-erase writing skills and art projects. We read a lot of books to her and she still enjoys "reading" to her tank full of fire belly toads.

We are currently hosting a Flat Traveller named Ladybug. We hope to take her someplace cool this weekend.

School has started

Oh my goodness! I can hardly believe it has been that long since my last post. Time flies and every time I sit down to post, life's events seem to turn me away. God's Will be done, I say!

School has begun here at St. Francis. Fratello Maggiore has started his middle school years. His work load is heavier that last year, but is still perfectly reasonable. If you ask him though, I have now enslaved him :-)
His work is as follows: followed by the time it should take to complete each day

• Singapore Math 5 30 minutes
• CHC Grammar 15 minutes and Spellers level D 20 minutes
• Handwriting 5 minutes
• Reading comprehension Stories of the Saints 1 15 minutes
• US history (Sea to Shining Sea) 15 minutes
• Geography (Cath Geo Bee and Map Skills 5) 15 minutes
• Science (Universe in My Hands) 15 minutes
• Catechism: Faith and Life 5 and Exploring the Mass 20 minutes
• Latin: Latina Christiana 1 15 minutes

I give him twice as much time per subject to complete his work. Anything not done by the end of his time is homework and he must do it before dinner in order to participate in any extra evening activities. You'd think I just chained him to the floor or something the way he has been carrying on about this the past two weeks. I am trying to be patient and teach him that it can be done if he stays on task. He'll have a ton of free time again once he gets this concept...

Fratello Piccolo has been doing a super job with schooling so far. A few moans and groans, of course, but he stays on task and he does not mind working ahead to finish early. His school work looks like this:

• Singapore Math 3
• CHC Grammar and Speller, level B
• Reading comp. Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls
• Handwriting
• Georaphy of Continents and Countries (Cath Geo Bee and Map Skills 3)
• Behold and See 3 Science
• Catechism: Faith and Life 3 and Called to Serve
• Latin: Prima Latina

Half-Pint just told me that she wants to do school now! I asked her the other day what she wants to learn and she said excitedly, "Maf!" I said "Math? OK then, we'll start with your numbers and letters. OK?" She nodded quickly and went dancing away to play with her animal figures. So I have been giving her things to count and things to match and pre-writing skills worksheets.

One of my favorite homeschool tips: to honor the copyright, but to make a consumable into a non-consumable, I simply cover the workbook page with a clear plastic report cover and have the student write with low-odor dry erase markers. I quickly check the work and remove plastic and erase!!

St. Francis Cafe is now open

Well, we tried to switch to a feeding system for the outdoor cat. (Mom's idea in the first place... I thought making the responsible boy do his daily deed was working pretty well.)
I didn't think about the food outdoors until we suddenly became the St. Francis Cafe and our first (noticeable) client was a SKUNK!! It sure was a good thing we didn't happen upon Pepe Le Pew whilst he was still upon our porch, or someone would still be sitting in a tub full of V8 tonight!
I'm thinking that said boy in charge of feeding cat will now have to set food out each a.m. and take it inside each p.m. Hmmm...

Well, at least I don't have killer roses (check out Sister Mary Martha's blog).

WARNING - Adult content!

An IM from a friend who lives in the same school district I do. It leaves my scratching my head and wondering about the state of the world. My prayers are with my friend on this one! Please pray for her children on this matter. On condition of anonymity, I got her permission to post this:
_____________________
my friend: you still there?
me: yup
my friend: you aren't gonna believe this
my friend: ds#1 just handed me a paper he had in school...... a test
my friend: on contraceptives
my friend: wt (expletive deleted)??
my friend: he had to write a paper on whether or not he wants to have s** [word for marital act] then he had a contraceptive match-up test.....can you believe it???
me: Oh my goodness! that is exactly why these guys are home with me!
me: that is ridiculous!
my friend: yes it is
my friend: they also discussed with them s** [word for marital act] toys!
me: what grade is ds#1 in?!
my friend: what do s** [word for marital act] toys have to do with anything?????? He is in 8th grade!
me: talking about such things is PORNOGRAPHY!
my friend: yep
me: what can you say [to the school] about that?
my friend: i really don't know, i'm (expletive deleted)
me: I'll pray for ya on this one - this is totally uncalled for! 8th grade?! I wasn't introduced to such topics until college and then I had to get special permission to take a course that "talked a little more explicitly about personal matters of sexuality" Students had to be 21 or older! Oh, and my college course talked about diseases and rape - not toys and related stuff!
my friend: i can't believe they did not get my permission to do this
me: you'd better check this out - but I believe that the schools have taken the position that they no longer have to bother getting permission from the parents on any "health education" matters
my friend: s** [word for marital act] toys? health education?? lmao
my friend: the kid can't spell but he knows how to use a d****??
me: <---- shaking my head -- exactly the sad state of things, yes?
my friend: i need to get him alone and find out exactly what was said
me: oh goodness - how sad! it still blows my mind what kids are 'taught'... mercy!
___________________

Sts Margaret of Cortona, Agatha, Dymphna, Maria Goretti
Pray for us...
Mary, Mother of God
Pray for us...