Olivia's First Holy Communion

What a wonderful day! Olivia celebrated her First Communion. I was so proud of and happy for my girl.

The weather I was not so happy about. It was 60 degrees and raining all day long. The temperatures are unheard of for this time of year. The rain was just a pain. There was a professional photographer for portraits and at the Mass, but my original plan was to take Miss O outside during the waiting time between portraits and Mass and snap some pictures of my own. Unfortunately the rain foiled that plan, as well as an opportunity for decent light inside as well. What we have instead are phone photos after church.

Olivia and Fr. Gallagher after Mass.

And yes, those are casts on her feet. A few weeks ago she had surgery to correct shortened achilles tendons. She spent three weeks non-weight bearing. For the past week-and-a-half she has been in these walking casts.  She has another week-and-a-half to go before she is completely done with casts! She really has been a trooper through the entire ordeal, even to the point of limping through First Communion.

The kiddos and I at lunch.

Monday Musings (on a Wednesday)

Sometimes you have to strike while the iron is hot.

It is a balmy morning on the back porch, and I can hear sprinkles starting on the awning. We have still been running cooler than normal in the temperature department -- much too cool to swim yet. At some point summer will likely come on with its usual vengence and burn us to a crisp, but for now I am going to hold out hope that we can just hover around 90 this summer instead of 100 since we have been running 10 degrees behind since January.

Around the House
Back porch is lovely and freshened for the season. I planted containers of pretty goodness and washed away the last of the pollen. I have been enjoying my morning coffee here most mornings, and we had dinner out here last night. Mosquitos are already horrible in the evening.

From the Kitchen
I got a new stove!! And refrigerator!! Took me a while but I finally realized late last fall that the oven just wasn't working right. That began a parade of repairmen (unit too old to fix), indecision (are we moving in a few years, do we invest in something nicer, gas or electric), and finally carpenters (old hole was too small for new models). And I finally have a wonderful, double-oven, electric free-standing range. Hubby threw in the refrigerator for good measure (nice french door over freezer with an ice maker). Now to cook something...

Homeschooling 
Mostly math. With MUS, which I am coming to appreciate so much. I still need to blog the math saga of the year. Other than that we just aren't doing much. John is finishing his Singapore Kindergarten Essentials. Olivia is finishing All About Spelling.  In some ways this year has been about survival and at the moment I am hanging on by my fingernails.

On the Blog
I am reviewing a couple of things at the moment. Should have those reviews up soon. And thanks to those who supported my curriculum sale. I still have some things available, so click on over and email me if you see something that strikes your fancy.

Fitness
Bought a used stationary bike. Have not used it. Ok really it is for Matt, but you would think I would hop on and ride a bit with it sitting right there. Nope.

Plans and Schemes
This week has been nice and quiet. I am liking that. Last week was insane, and I do not exaggerate. The highlight this week will be Olivia's First Holy Communion on Saturday. Both of us are really excited.

Reading and Crafting
The crafting has been nil. Baby girl blanket still unfinished. Maybe I need a smaller project? The reading on the other hand:

The Abolition of Man: Oh this one hurt my brain, but it was good. Highly recommended. Read it for our Classical Moms book club last month and the discussion was fabulous (and then disolved into stories about kid poop before it was all over. What can I say? Moms of little kids).

The Everyday Catholic's Guide to the Liturgy of the Hours  This one was wonderful. I can't say enough good things about this book. I finally understand what the Liturgy of the Hours is all about. Which makes praying them (well not all seven) so much more enjoyable. I'm a nuts and bolts kind of girl and this gave me exactly what I wanted -- the history and a breakdown of each and every hour telling exactly what was what in the prayers and why it is included. Short read and I read it on the Kindle app on my phone.
How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization. This one just came yesterday. We are studying the Middle Ages next year, so I am reading up. This was suggested on a forum as a good place to start.
The Hidden Art of Homemaking Also arrive yesterday. Cindy's book club intrigued me.

Saying Yes
Only because I am being badgered to death. I need to find the joy again in my "Yes!"

A Memory

This is our Valentino. Val is twelve, and we are not sure how much longer he is going to be with us, so we are enjoying every day we have him here. Photo by Thomas on the iPhone. 

I don't know why the fonts in this post are wonky. The more I try to fix it, the worse it gets. Please excuse. 

The Great Used Curriculum Sale Spring 2013

All prices are postage paid unless otherwise noted. All books are in good condition unless otherwise noted. Paypal preferred. Contact me about availability and payment at pkbarnhill @ gmail dot com (remove spaces and replace dot with .)

Edited for availability 4/18.

Math on the Level $175 - All five books are included and complete, but the spiral binding has been cut off of the books, and they have been three-hole drilled to fit into binder(s). They come with cover pages and plastic covers on front and back. The record keeping book comes in its original binder.

Miquon Set - $25 ppd Includes: First Grade Diary, Notes to Teachers, Lab Sheet Annotations, Green Book, Yellow Book, Purple Book (note that the Orange, Red and Blue books are not included)

The Unifix Teacher’s Manual $3 (will reduce if purchased with something else)

Addition Workbook, Games and Song CD $5

Read Any Good Math Lately by Daniel Whitin and Sandra Wilde $3

More Story Stretchers $3

The Toddler’s Busy Book by Trish Kuffner $3

Phonics Activities for Elementary Children $4

The Frances Study Guide $3

Workjobs for Parents $7

The Liturgy of the Word with Children by Katie Thompson $20

Children Discover the Mass by Mary Doerfler Dall $7

History Links Unit Studies for Catholic Families Unit One General Studies $8

History Links Unit Studies for Catholic Families Unit Two Creation $8

Celebrating the Church Year with Young Children $20

The Big Book of Catholic Customs and Traditions $14

Stories for the Homeschool Heart by Patti Maguire Armstrong $9

Have Fun, Learn Stuff, Grow by David Albert $9

Child’s Work by Nancy Wallace $13

Teaching Your Child to Love Learning (Project Based Learning at Home) by Judy Harris Helm, Stacy Berg, Pam Scranton $3

The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas by Linda Dobson $8

Getty Dubay Italic Teacher’s Edition $5

Language and Thinking for Young Children by Ruth Beechick $4

Primary Language Lessons by Emma Serl $7

Beyond Five in a Row 1 (comb bound paper cover) $11 
Dr. Beechick’s Homeschool Answer Book $6

Homeschooling and Loving It by Rebecca Kochenderfer $3

Seasons of a Mother’s Heart by Sally Clarkson (old edition) $3

The Educated Child (old edition) $8

Loving Our Kids on Purpose by Danny Silk $9

A Picture Perfect Childhood by Cay Gibson $18

The First Year of Homeschooling Your Child by Linda Dobson $4

Unit Studies Made Easy by Valerie Bendt $12

La Clase Divertida Level 2 Complete -- never used $60

God’s Zoo CD (still shrink wrapped) and God’s Zoo DVD (still shrink wrapped) $8 for the set

Postage Not Included on the Following Dent and Bent Items

All items are perfectly useable. Will package, figure postage, and let you know a total. Can also be bought in conjunction with other items for much reduced postage rate.

Saxon Math K TE ONLY (Coffee stained on edge of pages. Face of pages fine.) $3

Saxon Math 1 TE ONLY (Coffee stained on edge of pages. Face of pages fine.) $3

Free with any purchase

Reader Rabbits Reading Software (for older PS operating systems) Age 4-6

The Way of the Cross for Children

Feed My Lambs Bible Verses Music CD

Oh What a Beautiful Day: Morning Time for Homeschool

We have been doing Morning Time around these parts for a couple of months now, and I have to say that it has become my absolute favorite part of the school day. We have had some things that we do first thing in the morning all year long, so unofficially a kind of morning time has really been happening since the fall. Then we added in the idea of reading aloud during that time and a full-blown Morning Time was born.

What Morning Time looks like at our house:

• Prayer - This is part of the rhythm of prayer I have been working on. We have settled into the daily Invitatory Psalm and a Morning Offering. After the contemplation talk from the convention last week I would love to start lighting a candle here. Note to self to remember to add that.
• Hands - The kids know the day is about to start when I tell them to "find something to do with your hands." Activities include: puzzles, pattern blocks, play doh, a drawing lesson from me (they then embellish), impromptu art, stickers. They do this during the rest of Morning Time.
• Poetry - After prayer, the first thing we do is recite our poems from Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization. It used to be just us reciting them, but I picked up the CD last week at the convention, and I started the week off playing the Andrew Pudewa recitations while we recited along. It was slowing us down, so on Thursday I decided to go without (was going to do some days with and some days without). Olivia immediately asked for "that man" back, so Pudewa it is. The good news is I can crochet during poetry if Mr. P is doing the the leading of the recitations.
• Memory - This is where we review our memory work from Classical Conversations. If we are going to be in the van during the day I sometimes skip this part and just review in the van.
• Virtues - We review our We Choose Virtues card and verse and sing our virtue song (more about virtue songs later -- I have some exciting news to share when I am able). We love these little cards and the resulting discussion.
• Faith - We spent much of our faith time with sacrament prep this year. That is winding down, but we are still reading from Jesus Our Life  and discussing a few times a week. We need to get back to our Loyola Kids Book of Saints as well, now that the bulk of sacrament prep is behind us. (Another note to self there.)
• Flash Cards - We have been working on some math flash cards during this time.
• Reading - After all else is done I read aloud. Sometimes I read things for science or geography; sometimes I read the latest library books; sometimes it is a favorite picture book; and this week it has been stories for our new (and absolutely fabulous) My Book House series of books. Everyone (Thomas included) has been enthralled by every story we have read so far. I read as long as I have everyone's attention and no one (read: the three-year-old) is melting down.

Morning Time takes anywhere between one to two hours to complete and there have been quite a few days where it is the only school we get done for the day. Because it is so rich and varied, I am okay with that, on the occasion it happens.

If you think this sounds good and are looking at some further research, here are some of my favorite Morning Time resources:

Cindy's Morning Time Posts
Morning Basket from Wildflower and Marbles
Circle Time with binder organization from Simply Convivial

What about you? Do you have a morning time or routine at your house?

Be sure to visit Trivium Tuesdays for more Classical Homeschool inspiration.