E is for Easter.....

Ok, this one is Easy.

What did you get up to this Easter? How did you celebrate it?
Well we headed to Cataract Park in Appin to a Easter Youth Pilgrimage. Light to the Nations.
It follows the Triduum from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday.
There were around 800 people booked on the weekend. Pilgrims were accomodated in either tents, cabins dormitories or stayed overnight offsite.
It has been held at Galong near Yass for the last 16 or so years. This year was the first year at Appin.
So we packed our car and headed to first, our accomodation, unpacked and then to meet friends new and old at the venue.
It began to sprinkle.. I am sure pleased I kept the rain jackets in our car. I looked at the umbrella and decided against it. It was there if we needed it.
So we headed off to register and line up for dinner- a sausage sandwich. A lovely catch up with many friends and into the massive circus tent to begin the liturgy in three parts.
We met our 9 Priests, many brothers and religious sisters. Wow. It felt really special and I knew it was going to be a wonderful Blessed weekend.
The music was just beautiful, Fr Bonny had spent weeks preparing the liturgy. Wow. He is so Amaziing. Every detail. Everything youwould expect from any usual Holy Thursday in your local church.
Our journey had begun..........

So the Easter  Triduum had begun......
 

The dining table

Finally caught up.
today is D day.
I sat with brid and we mused over what I might blog about.
Dinners., the dining table..was the conclusion...
You might think, what a weird topic to blog about.
I assure you its not.
How our meal times change.
When we were first married we had a makeshift table. The table wobbled, so all drinks needs to go on the floor, or else risk having them spilt.
We got given my parents dining table at one point. It was stable and we were able to share many a meal using this table. When we built our home, we bought our first dining table. Its the one we still have and many memories have been collected around that table. If only it could talk.
When the children were little we would have our meals very early to accomodate them.
We sat with children on our knees, Breastfeeding babies at the table or holding babies was the norm.
I never thought we'd get rid of the high chair. at one point, we thought we'd need 2. At another point we almost needed a new one.
Meal times have always been very important part of the day for us. We would always gather to pray and eat as a fsmly. It would be our daily catch up. A time to share or discuss something important.
When visitors were eatung with us, they soon learnt pray first, then eat.
Meals with visitors can take hours, as we share a conversation. Children playing by our feet or in the next room.
dinner time is a family time. We used take the phone off the hook and we have always turned the TV off.
As our children grew up, our meal times and together time was 6.30 at the latest unless we had a child at sport.
As our family has gotten smaller we have kept to our routines and adapted where we needed to.
Now its changed yet again. We sometimes have our evening meal quite late. 8-8.30pm.
Wednesday is a sacred night, so we usually have something really special. A roast meal of some description.
The changes we have needed to make to our evening meal times, with Brids ballet have been just another change in the journey of family.
I suppose ther will be more changes to come, but we are savouring these moments together. We often get into lots of interesting conversations together. Friendly banter.
The Dinner table is really the heart of the home. Its where we break Bread and be serve as Jesus served. Its Eucharist, Its communion, Its family, Sacred and wrapped up into one

 

C is for ..cat

Another interesting one.
It could be anything really.
It could be for our Cat, Bailey and Our Rabbit Cinnamon.
Well how about both.
We have 2 lovely little furry friends.
Bailey our Cat and Cinnamon our Rabbit.
Bailey is 9. He sleeps lots of the day. He is adorable. He is a tabby. He was bought for our eldest daughter Louise. She decided to leave him here with us, when she moved out, as we were all attached to him anyway.
He gets pestered by naughty miner birds who seem to think they can squeal and try and pek him.
I get very defensive and will shoo them away. He is only sitting on the chairs asleep.
He is a very polite well trained Cat. When he was very young Louise trained him to sit for his food. He sits completely, tail down and puts his paw out to be shaken. He then eats his food. After he has eaten breakfast we let him out for the day.
He likes his little home in our laundry, but he hates the sound of the dryer-this is hardly used anymore,  and the washing machine. It did restrict when I could wash, but as he has a little seat in the family room next to the fire, he just lies there until the noises have stopped.
So you now know a lot about our little Bailey.
Did you know that when we moved to this house we kept him inside for a few weeks. We set up a bed, his litter and his food/water area in the laundry and he stayed there until he was comfortable enough to move and roam through the house.
He can be a little fragile- I say with my tongue firmly in cheek. whoosy. I would say.
When we moved here, he started loosing fur and shaking. I took him up to vet, to have him checked out. They suggested he stay in a small cosy room so he can readjust to his surroundings. Exactly what I had been doing.
I was being told, by other extended family members that it was cruel to keep him in the laundry.
I was doing the right thing all along.
We very slowly introduced him to the outside world.
I was very scared that he would run away as I had that experience from my childhood with my Cat.
So Bailey is now very well adjusted to our house and its surrounds. Everyday he does his "patrol of the Property".
I look back on photos of Bailey when he was tiny and think how adorable. He is now 9 and in cat years, thats 63.. He sleeps for 20 hours or more a day and is getting rather heavy. He isn't overfed, but older cats can put on weight easily.
In the past, when we would go away on holidays we have him boarded  in a kennel. He wasn't very happy when he came home and it took days to readjust. He wasn't a happy cat. Now we put him in our garage. It has a window, a ledge to sit on, and a screened backdoor. He has plenty of room to roam and sleep. A little lonely, but he is used to the surroundings, the smells, the noises. Our neighbour checks on him and feeds him. But once we are home, he follows us and talks to us for days. He won't leave our sides. He is particularly attached to Dermot.
There is so much to tell you about Bailey. One more little story, most cats won't go near water. We have a pool,  if I am sitting by the pool, and call him, he just squeezes himself under the pool gate and waddles over to me. He makes sure there is no water on the pavers and then will sit with me. So cute and adorable.
I have run out of room to tell you about Cinnamon. So thats for another post.

Brid and Bailey.

The pool was very close, he was very tentative- he is with Kieran

 



So Cute

 

A to Z Blogging....Busyness.....

Busyness....
Ok. Blogging has been a struggle of late. Its been really busy in our family life. Chaos would describe our week at times. This term has been trying a few ideas to juggle the busyness. Reason -Brid has increased her hours at the ballet school to 13 hours a week. So you may see its been a real struggle to fit in everything.
When we are home, its sacred time, so the computer and blogging take a backseat.
So how does this busyness look.
Monday- bookwork- English and Maths. Australian history based IEW. ready ourselves to be at for Ballet  1pm
Home late that evening with a 1and 1/2 hour break midway. Brid doesn't do any schoolwork at Ballet as her first classes finish as the other schooled kids arrive.
Tuesday & wednesday are scared. We go nowhere, except Mass & Youth group Tuesday evening.
Thursday - Brids school day off. Sleep in day
Friday - complete our assigned work, catechism and any reading subjects until 1pm.
Saturdays- Ballet from 9 til 4pm.
Sunday. Our Lords day.

So its pretty busy. So when I am not driving 45 mins each way, I am cooking our evening meal to have that evening or preparing the meal for the next day. Dermot usualy completes the meal once we are on our way home.
I have a scheduled housework list I tick once complete each day. Its been a Blessing. I am so pleased I started setting this up last year.
We have timetables and whiteboards to remind Dermot our comings and goings.
Internet access is limited while we are at the Ballet Studio, so blogging and such doesn't happen.

We are pretty happy doing this. Brid is 14 and this season of our life will change. So its do-able for a short term.
Schoolwork wise, we sat down at the beginning of the year and broke her assigned work  into manageable chunks. Brid has been able to do extra topics, like the Papal election and Conclave etc. I thought it maybe too much for her, but she has commented its not nearly as much to do as she thought it would be.
How do we fit pray in?
Brid gets up early, Dermot & I do the reading in the mornings after breakfast and Rosary ,novenas are at night when we are all here.

I am sure everyone has busy times and we handle the busyness the best way we can.
There is a lovely church nearby that has the Blessed Sacrament exposed 24 hours a day. Its a haven.

So This is B....


 

Record keeping

I am usually a reader with the Homeschool Highschool Carnival, but this time, I thought I needed to contribute.
We have only Brid we are homeschooling, she is a high schooler.
For years I have had a statement running through my head, that an AP (approved person) said on his very first visit.
How are going to assess and record keep? Everything else was well presented, but I wasn't ready for this question.
As a new homeschooler, this puzzled me and honestly still does.
I figure that she'll learn what she needs to, take it in, absorb it and we will move on.
So after this churning over in my head for years, I try to keep accountable to it. We have a student planner that is ticked off as each lesson or subject is complete. Everything goes on this planner. It even has the Saints and feast days for each day. It has been a document in progress that has gone from a pencilled hand written page, to an computer written document to now Brid writing her own, with my input.

Brid in 2006. just began her homeschool journey
 

So how have I kept records. To be honest, not well.
A couple of years ago, we chose to unschool. It was a very creative and learning curve for us all, but we eventually got into the rhythm of our own style of homeschool.
When we unschooled, I kept a daily record of everything learnt, in a book. I was very surprised how much was learnt in a day. We still follow strewing principles and they generate lots of discovery.
We have always kept Brids work in a folder to look through, and written term and yearly reports to show her progress. It is always a nice record to keep and have her family look over. Especially as it is still, after 8 years, foreign to some family members.
When Brid began high school, we began doing tests on some subjects- Science and Maths. These are filed and kept.
I have years of planners in my folder, that I just want to keep until she is finished school.
Each year we fill a folder with each new subjects work and it is kept. Its easier to locate it for the use of a portfolio, when it is required. It nice to be able to put my hands on a years work straight away id need be.
This year had been completely different.
Brid has increased her hours at Ballet. This cuts into our school day. I was unsure how it would all work and whether the school work set and her Ballet would be too much for her.
I devised a plan.
I knew the days and the hours she would be doing at ballet, so to fit our life and school around that. It wasn't an easy fit.
So to make sure she was progressing I have a folder call "brids working folder". This includes an excel spreadsheet, work set, work in progress and work not yet commenced and a work completed documents.
Its been a wonderful tool. We can all see Brids progress and I can see at an instant that She will be able to get through this years workload.
We have it printed out, in our view so it can be ticked as we go.

Celebration night 2013 -certificate of achieement
 

This is how we record keep, Its evolved over the years as is totally distinctive to our way of homeschool.
This is linked to the Homeschool Highschool Carnival. Hosted this month by creating with wisdom
 

Its that time of year again ....

                                       Well our holidays are nearly at an end.       Sadly.

As you would have been in the post above, We have worked pretty hard to get a plan for 2013 school year together.
Brid and I throw a few ideas around and then we had to see how it would all fit together.
This was important, but couldn't be done until we had our ballet timetable.
So now we are set.

Next week Brid will begin her Ballet classes.
The following week, our schooling will begin.
But you know, learning still goes on, as many of you are aware, Brid just chose different types of learning. Art, drawing, reading, watching history programs and documentaries.
So after two intense weeks, one with Our Lord at a Retreat and this week at a Ballet summer school, we will return home ready to enter into our new year refreshed and invigorated.



 

Are you ready???

Well its that time of the year, getting ready for school again.
We have had a very long break, but a most needed one.
So What does our school year look like this year?. What resources are we using?
We structure our day around the Key Learning are-KLAs. Our secondary key learning areas are broken up into week long blocks. These make up her afternoon lessons.
Religion:- I was going to use a set program, but after spending a week at a retreat, I decided that we would just continue doing various readers, such as A Heart of Europe-story of Blessed Charles of Austria and Empress Zita. Various others suggested on Mater amabilis. Along with this Brid has asked to study the Catechism.
We will be using The word among us to centre our family Faith. We have been using this for a few years now, its been a great resource.
Key Learning areas
Maths : -
Continue using Teaching textbooks. Its quite a nice fit for Brid.
English:- Well this one is quite intense. We have quite a lot happening with this KLa.
Firstly we will complete the final 2 lessons on Teaching the Classics- An IEW resource. This will allow Brid to use the socratic list to answer questions regarding her assigned Literature books.
Brid will correct a new story with Fix It Grammar . Its quite simple and takes about 20 minutes a day. 4 days a week.
In term 3- July. The Elegant Essay will be implemented. We have spend a lot of time in preparation for this program. I bought it a year ago, but put in on the back burner as Brid wasn't ready for it to be implemented.
Literature -  Brid and I have a list of Literature books, one / term, that she will write a report on.
This area may look top heavy, but there is room to move if necessary.
Science:-  Apologia Biology. This will be part of her afternoon subjects. We have for a very long time, studied a either science or history/ geography in the afternoons. It makes for a variety and an in depth study at the same time.
So her other afternoon subject Brid wanted to learn about is US History. I had in on my shelf and when we were putting our ideas together, this book was amongst them. We have barely studied any US history so it will be quite a lot of fun for us both. Seton always puts together a great resource. 
PHPD- Personal Health and Physical Development.:-
Personal development will involve using All things Girls- Truth for teens. It ha been a really good sounding board to allow quite intimate conversation to take place between Brid and myself.
Physical Development will be focusing on Ballet. We are so Blessed to have the facility in our area, with such dedicated teachers.
Creative arts and Music:- her 2 electives
Ballet -overlaps here and will take up a huge part of this.
Music- Practical Piano, The Composers and their influence.
Home Economics:- shopping, costing, meal preparation and writing out her recipe.
Friday afternoons is dedicated to dance / ballet/ history. This will be set by her ballet teachers.