Reliving History

This week we had a wonderful time visiting  Harper's Ferry. Most of our cousins and some good friends joined us which made our  group of four families - 21 kids and 5 adults.

We met at the Visitor's Center where we paid the six dollars per carload which was the only fee for the entire day.The kids thoroughly enjoyed taking the bus from the parking lot to the little town.

We chose to go this week in order to participate in some actual interpretive programs that the Park Service was offering.We were treated to a walking lecture geared to the kids which discussed John Brown and his plan to overthrow the institution of slavery. The rangers mentioned the incident that Brown witnessed in his childhood of a slave boy his own age being beaten with a coal shovel for a simple infraction. From this point on, Brown became an abolitionist.This fire hall above was the place where Brown was captured after his attempt to liberate the guns made here in Harper's Ferry and to arm the slaves.

This is the monument in his honor. We learned that John Brown is considered to be a controversial figure because he used violence to achieve his ends.The kids were asked to read quotes taken from 6 famous sources during his lifetime and after his death. We then discussed whether these individuals seemed to have supported him or instead were opposed to his mission.

Next, we were able to explore around the river. This side is the Potomac River. Harper's Ferry is the spot where the Potomac and the Shenandoah Rivers meet to become one, which is called the Potomac as it flows 60 miles to Washington, D.C. A very  large gun manufacturing armory was located here using water power from the rivers to fire up its processes at the time of John Brown.100,000 guns were stored in the arsenal here.

This side growing tree just begged to be climbed!

This is an area of the park that I had never seen before. The train that seemed to have no end added to the excitement.

 The kids climbed up on this stone wall to observe the view and I had to indulge myself in this group photo of some of this wonderful bunch of friends and cousins.

The next thing I knew they kind of freaked us out a bit by coming out of this tunnel!

 This was down a steep hill and it must be some kind of a water run off way. Thank God this probably hasn't been needed in months due to the very dry summer we are having.

Harper's Ferry is also famous for being the place where Lewis and Clark acquired the provisions needed  for their Westward journey.

One of the  programs that we attended was a hands-on activity featuring representations of Lewis and Clark's haversacks loaded up with supplies that they had with them.

The kids divided up into groups of four and each child took the role of a different sergeant who had specific responsibilities. One was in charge of the haversack itself, another recorded in the famous journal, another was supposed to keep the unit all together and the last was in charge of the supplies.

 The Park Ranger had mercy on us and continued our discussion in a beautifully air conditioned room.The actual temperature on the day of our visit was 102 degrees in the shade!!!!

While the younger kids and moms were learning about the westward journeys, the older kids took themselves on the Tour Bus to a different part of the Park to nearby Bolivar Heights which was the site of  some Civil war action. Park rangers there gave a walking tour. They caught back up with us after a picnic lunch.

To beat the extreme heat the kids took their shoes off to wade in The Shenandoah River . The water was very low although the rocks were slippery.

 When my niece lost her hat which started to float down the river, her cousins were happy to fetch it!

Upon the hill in the background is a Catholic Church. On this trip we didn't have enough time or water to be able to climb up to it. The last thing we did was to walk across the Potomac on the bridge.

These people down below seemed to be having a good time! We were out of time and the heat was taking its toll on all of us so we headed home and by God's Grace, all made it safely. Hopefully we can soon return to see more of this wonderful historic town.

Creative Companionship

Tim and Kristy bought Miss J. an early birthday gift of Polly Pockets with bakery cake pieces in the set. Kristy made plans with her to create a "Bakery Shop" out of a cardboard box. They spent most of the day wallpapering two "rooms": the Pastry shop and an adjoining apartment for the Polly pocket dolls and building furniture.The results amazed all of us because we're not really creative in this way. I can honestly say that I would have never thought of taking three hours to do this.

When they got home with their finished playhouse, Kristy sat right down to play with the G-man as he squashed play-do. Meg says that she can see his brain growing as he does this! We really appreciate Kristy spending her day off creating with the kids.Time is a non-renewable resource. In order to do something, we have to give up doing something else. I hope that she enjoyed her day as much as they did, and I am grateful for her gift of self, and her investment of time in them.

Fifty Frozen Years!

Yesterday we all celebrated a very special occasion and one that we have been anticipating for years.... Our family freezer has been in continuous operation for FIFTY YEARS!!!!! John had the honor of giving it a much needed bath.

My parents obtained this freezer before my brother was born.It was actually at a significant discount when they bought it as an incentive to buy the meat products that would then fill it.I grew up with this freezer my entire childhood. As a safety measure,  my mother always kept it locked.Eventually, when my parents no longer needed to freeze such large quantities of food, they gave it to my husband and me. When we received it we plugged it in and continued to use it.

We have had it for about twenty years. It has never had a single problem as far as I know except that the light fixture inside the lid is broken. It still freezes perfectly, although I've often wondered about its energy efficiency! It mostly holds deer meat for us. One year we had 3 or 4 professionally processed deer in here.We also freeze loaves of  bread and chicken. However, the most important thing this freezer does is hold the Klondike Bars that we use as a reward for having read a book!

While cleaning around the freezer on its birthday ( my brother turned 50  yesterday and that is how we are sure that it has been in use for 50 years- my parents bought it before he was born) we were able to see the company name, the model and serial number on the chest. I went ahead and e-mailed them to tell them the story. The company is still in business! I am hoping that maybe they'll get a kick out of it and offer to replace it with a brand new model!

We all agree that this product longevity represents something remarkable and I am so glad that it has made it to this milestone.

ATV Adventures

Jeff and Tim decided to take their ATV's to the National Forest to ride on the trails. I have probably failed to mention that we are now a 3 ATV family. Both of these hard-working guys have bought used "quads" and are having a lot of fun with their Dad and brothers and sisters on them.

The younger boys jumped on the back here just for the picture as they had just taken their helmets off  prior to me taking it. I am very happy that they all ride in helmets all of the time.

The guys were able to load both of their machines into the bed of this truck.The problem was that Larry couldn't join them for lack of space for his machine.

After carefully thinking about our options, we invested in this trailer which can easily carry two ATV's , leaving the bed of the truck available for the third

We set it all up last Sunday afternoon and took a test drive around the neighborhood. It worked well. This is the medium sized trailer and not too cumbersome to tow.

This whole adventure has been such a change for our family. It is rugged outdoor fun. The guys are definitely enjoying it. My previous attitude toward this kind of thing was to wonder what was fun about riding around wasting gas. It IS fun to see nature along the trails while riding and also to see the guys tuning up and maintaining their machines before and after their rides.

For many years we have been very supportive of  the girls riding their steeds as they continue to do.

It has been a real gift to see these gentlemen having a hobby to share right here that is bringing them so much joy! They have discovered that whatever one does, don't go out riding in this dry weather in any clothing that one plans to wear later in the day- the amount of dirt involved is unbelievable!

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Rock-A-Bye Reader

On a recent walk with my daughter, she came across some pine trees that she was able to climb. I told her that when I was a kid, we liked to climb a tree with a book and read up there. Long before she was born, her brother, Greg did this frequently at our last house in a tree in the yard. She couldn't wait to try it!

A few nights later she invited me on a walk so that she could read in a tree. We grabbed our books and headed out. I brought this checked tablecloth to sit on in the grass because my tree climbing days are over!

We were reading these books which we actually just finished. "Surrender" ( sorry ,I don't know how to underline the title) is a  novel by a catholic writer, Carmen Marcoux, that is very educationally evangelistic and entertaining. Throughout the story it hits on every scenario it can to illuminate Church teachings. It also strives to show what "courtship dating" would look like.
Miss J. was reading then and just finished " The Wizard of Oz". She is the only kid I know of who has read the book before seeing the movie!!!!!

I sat down to read while she began her ascent!

The sticky, fragrant pine sap was more than either of us had bargained for!

It was time for me to pass her book up to her.She read  a few pages but then wanted to do some more climbing and try out different seats in the tree. I just continued to read outdoors on this beautiful evening.

At about 9 pm when it became too dark to read, we headed home on a moonwalk! 

Rain; just a Lil' Bit

This has certainly been a memorable year for weather! The amount of snow this past winter was as noteworthy as the searing, unrelenting heat of this summer. During the winter, I remember thinking  that there is no way I could take moving any further north because of the cold and through the summer I have been grateful that we don't live any further south because of the heat! Another remarkable difference from the previous twenty years that I have lived in this area is the character of the storms coming through.

For many of the days early in the week, it has been overcast with a prolonged build up to a storm in the afternoons. It seems like for two hours it gets darker and you can just tell it is going to pour down rain. Then the rain starts and it is such a gift but alas, it is over in less than ten minutes!

That's what happened this week and many other times this summer. The storms are tremendously windy with lots of tree damage as evidenced by the hundreds of small broken twigs in the yard, and huge trees being uprooted nearby, but very little rain falls.

The excitement of rain caused these two to get out and enjoy it on bicycles.When the drops started falling, my daughter noted that six people changed their status on Facebook within a couple of seconds to comment on it.  We all know we need it. I should remember to pray for it.

My husband loves big storms and it does make the day more interesting to have some thunder and rain.There hasn't been much of either lately, and the storms that we have had have been dangerous for both people and property.

 When we get scared during a storm, we ask God for His Divine Mercy and pray for it with the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. This was the only thing that helped the younger kids who became Terrified during a vicious lightning storm in June while we huddled in the basement.They weren't enjoying that storm one bit.We have been very blessed. The change in the recent weather patterns demonstrates to me God's Omnipotence and Providence.He is in charge and He knows what He is doing.
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for everything! Please continue to provide for all our needs, including rain, if it be Thy Holy Will.We ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen. 

Catalog Perusal

One of the most fun parts of homeschooling is thinking about the possibilities and the many different ways to approach it. After the busy month of July, I looked forward to spending some time looking through my catalogs, taking an inventory of what I already own and deciding on my goals for the coming school year. Setting goals is the most important part of the process. I once read that if one has no goals, they will certainly be achieved every time. I have to figure out where I want to go in order to decide how I plan to get there.

What I want to work on this year is the development of great saints, readers, writers, "players" ( kids who know how to and enjoy playing), and who have great manners and behavior. Of course I will have to beg God for help for myself first in this latter category.

For a number of years we have been taking a workbook approach with a heavy emphasis on English and Book Analysis.I am now ready to analyze less but actually read a whole lot more.This includes Read-Alouds that we never seem to make time for. I love the Sonlight reading list because of the combination of living history  and Newberry Award novels but I already own all the books from Our Mother of Divine Grace's Living History curriculum so I will go with that. I will add the fun and memorable Newberry Award novels as read-Alouds and plan to read one per month.Finding the time of day that allows me to read -aloud without falling asleep will be the key. In addition to reading historical novels, we will do some hands on projects that are creative and fun.

We will continue to study Latin which we attend a class for on Mondays that assigns work for each day of the week at home.John will begin the first class, Miss J. will sit through it with us and then we will stay for Sam's class that is the third part of Latin 1.This requires one hour per day at home and will provide the Language Arts part of their studies.

I believe that I will switch to Abeka math for the boys and continue using MCP for Miss J.. When I first started homeschooling, Saxon Math was considered the best.The tide seems to be turning on this and I have seen my sister's family achieve great competency using Abeka. I will order this soon.

For Religion, I plan to attend Daily Mass with the kids two or three times per week. A close personal relationship with Jesus Christ is my goal for each of my children. This will be accomplished better by receiving the bounteous Grace of God available at each Holy Mass and by hearing the readings and the sermon and the Holy Eucharist, than by sitting at home reading the catechism for this year. It is also great to get dressed and groomed to leave the house and be in public to help with my socialization goals.

Along the same line of interacting with others, we will be very active in our Catholic homeschooling group.We have a wonderful bunch of families and I enjoy the Moms as much as the kids enjoy each other.We have an ambitious year planned for bi-monthly get-togethers. I am in charge of planning field trips and spent a few hours yesterday researching fun and educational places to visit. We hope to do one trip a month, so there are 9 to plan.

We really need to study Geography this year. A running joke in this family is the oxymoron of " Homeschool Geography". There just never seems to be enough time in the day, but we will chuck something else to make this a priority. We will also study "Typing" with a computer program that Jeff gave me for Christmas. I never took typing in High School. Back in those days only the girls studying " Secretarial" took that. I was busy studying physics and the basics of Calculus. I can assure you that typing would have done me a lot more good! I used to have to pay people to type and format my papers in college.That is a handicap that no student can be left with in this computer age!

In order for us all to practice better manners and more polite behavior which is probably the most important thing in life if following the Golden rule is our measure, we must eliminate extra stress!!!!!! For too many years I have been too busy to be nice. Not good. Not at All. Not surprisingly, I have reaped what I have sown. Yet it is never too late to make a change with the help of God who is in the Redemption Business.I will have to ask God to help us with this frequently.That being said, it is now time to tend to my duties peacefully and joyfully!

Dessert with Father D.

One of the Moms in our homeschool group began a program last year for the kids in 6th, 7th and 8th grade to get together once a month for dinner at one of their homes with our dear parochial vicar. The hosting family serves dinner for all the kids and a few parents,also.

She organized this because it seemed that the High Schoolers had their own  group and the young kids also had clubs in our homeschool group. She wanted to set something up for this "Tween " group to get together and spend time with each other and with our priest and a few parents in a fun setting.

This club has been a great success. They have had some nice homemade dinners served by the families who have hosted. We decided to let the hosting family do all the preparation when it was their turn, so that no one has to bring anything except a great attitude! Sometimes that's enough with this age group!

When it was time for me to take my turn, instead of dinner, I chose to serve dessert! I combined this with a kickball game and a bonfire! The evening turned out to well attended with about 18 kids and 8 parents here for a Sunday evening. It is always a great honor to have a priest visit one's home. It certainly was a pleasure to be able to interact with him as a person and as a friend.

I figured that all these kids would be right in the middle of their growth spurts and served watermelon and bottled water on ice immediately after the kickball game.The exercise was a great ice breaker for the evening. Although most of these kids know each other, we were able to welcome some new faces.

It occurred to me as we cleaned the yard for our guests, that since we are blessed to have an Outdoor Stations of the Cross, there should be no reason why these young Catholics couldn't take a turn around it during the course of the evening! Fr. D. couldn't join us on Holy Saturday morning when we do this as a group, and I thought that he might enjoy it as well. I hadn't mentioned this in my invitation for the evening however and I didn't want the kids to feel tricked into "praying" when they had been invited here to have fun.I can honestly say that we all had a blast with it because we kept it simple and went VERY fast through it.At each station  Fr. D. prayed " We adore you O Christ and we praise you." We all genuflected and responded " Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the World." It turned out to be prayer with more exercise and what could be better!

While we were doing the Stations, two of the Moms were scooping ice cream and adding toppings.The kids were able to come around the corner, grab a bowl of ice cream and head down to the bonfire.During the kickball game Larry had fired it up and allowed it to burn down to a safer level.

I did take a few minutes to remind the kids from the get-go that this very wide fire was a killer and that there was absolutely no room for any foolishness around it. One girl said that now she was scared! I hated to be a kill joy which I tend to be good at but at the same time I figured that it had to be said. "A word to the wise is sufficient". By God's Grace no one got hurt throughout the evening.

We had marshmallows around the fire with long sticks that Larry had prepared. I opted not to serve s'mores because everyone had already had ice cream.Then the kids surprised me- they watched the fire for a short while but then started a large running game of Cops and Robbers as it began to get dark! This was spontaneous and not part of my plan!!!!As more parents arrived we had fun chatting with Fr. D. around the fire.Fr. D. used to be the chaplain for a fire and rescue company and he has a real heart for emergency workers whom we pray for at each of his Masses.

I will say that we all worked hard to prepare the house and yard for our company and wound up having a whole lot of fun. My dear friend gave us a beautiful compliment during the evening stating that if only we had a made a leather wallet, she would have felt like we had all gone to camp! The funny thing about that is that I had been at her house in town the night before and had a most enjoyable evening celebrating her daughter"s homeschool graduation.That shows me that if we all share what we have, we all have a richer life. I look forward to many more of these gatherings with our middle schoolers and Fr. D who is a great guy and who enjoys an evening out with friends as much as the rest of us do.