So It Begins

I love the first day of school. It’s so full of promise and opportunity.

For now at least the kids will rise eagerly from their beds and ready themselves without much prodding from me.

I think Claire in particular will have the greatest year. Her class will start with Charlie and The Chocolate Factory but then they will dive head first into their medieval studies…a time in history that she became infatuated with over the summer. They’ll read King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and one of my favorites, Robin Hood.

Abigail will be reading all kinds of church history and CS Lewis. She will also be reading another of my favorites, Beowulf. I want to read at least one of the kids books this year and since I’ve never read Dante’s Inferno  I think that will be on my list.

Sam will read Frankenstein (I read it with Sarah her ninth grade year) and Pride and Prejudice. I have admitted this before although I don’t talk about it often (not something I find in common with many of my classical friends I guess) but I am not a huge fan of Jane Austen’s work. However, I will read it this year with him, and maybe sit in on some of the lectures and discussions. Who knows, maybe my position will change?

Emily will have a big year. It has often be said that the junior year at Trinitas is one of the most difficult years. She will be reading another of my favorites, Canterbury’s Tales, and I am looking forward to revisiting it. I may or may not read Romeo and Juliet too.

Sarah is already into her sophomore year of college and finishing up her prereqs for nursing school. I am going to bypass The Nature of Disease and read Something Wicked This Way Comes, one of her favorites.

Abby and Claire will both take part in the Medieval Feast in the spring and I hope to go with Emily to New York for the jr/sr aesthetic trip. And I’ve heard there are some exciting things in store for Sam and his biology class in particular.

It looks like the school year is shaping up to be busy but lots of fun!

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Back To School

It’s paper and pencils.

New shoes and socks.

Early bed times and afternoon snacks.

Homework, quizzes and tests.

Field trips and projects; PE and recess.

We are in our third week of school already. Also, our first year with a college student. That alone has been an adjustment and has prompted discussions and lots of stories. On her second morning of class Sam bombarded Sarah with questions with no pause for her to actually answer him.

“How is UWF?Do you like your teacher?Have you made any new friends?”

I’m happy to say that she is doing just fine and handling this new world just fine

Our sophomore is doing great. So happy to be done with Latin and diving right into Greek and just overall doing really well with her studies. She is steady and sure as she transitions into the Rhetoric stage of school.

Sam.

Sam is once again proving that autism is a gift in our lives…a gift heavy at times for sure, but a gift nonetheless. How he interacts and processes information is so different from “typical” people that it forces us to interact with information that isn’t new to us in a way that makes it fresh. It causes us to find new ways and new words to explain things long understood and almost made boring by that long held understanding. When he is working through reading and hearing lectures on Eusebius and wants to know how the new man is different from the old man just quipping about the old man being dead and all things being made new really isn’t going to cut it. Talking about being a Christian in light of that death and resurrection in a way that he will begin to grasp enlivens the conversation and makes you continue to ponder the grace of God and what He has actually done to us long after Samuel has closed his books and headed to bed.

Abby is new to logic school and if you know much about classical education then you understand that is a significant shift. She had a great summer and really stepped up to some new and more mature responsibilities though so I am confident she will find her feet soon and be just fine. The sweet child will serve you in any way that you need. She will love you to pieces and make you as comfortable as she can possibly make you. But taking notes and keeping up with assignments and studying abstract concepts requires a lot more than she is used to giving. I am reasonably sure that I will have more gray hair at the end of this year then I am starting with. I think seventh grade is one of the hardest transitions in life…especially for girls. But she will be fine. I will be fine. At least that is what Rob keeps telling me.

Our little third grader is doing just fine and dandy and about what you’d expect. Her teacher has already told her that if she ever needs a substitute then she will be sure to give Claire a call since she thinks she can tend everybody’s business anyway. I’m so thankful for a teacher that will love my child in spite of her bossiness. It’s going to be a great year for her and I am excited for her.

All in all back to school is going just fine for all of us. We’re feeling our way along, seeing what needs to be tweaked and changed to meet the needs of each and bed time is a welcome friend in the evenings after doing Latin and science and Bible history.

Speaking of Bible history…Claire is learning about various Old Testament stories and the book of Judges. Without fail whenever we are studying her card about wicked King Eglon and how Ehud defeated him I find myself humming the theme song from Ghost Busters…Eglon gets jumbled in my head to Egon. Every single time.

Ridiculous, isn’t it?

This post is part of a blog circle that I participate in once a month with some fabulous friends literally from all over the world. Be sure to take a minute to click through the links tot heir posts on being back in school. You’ll be blessed and encouraged and get to see some really great pictures.

Julie   Tim  Connie  Patricia

What Am I Going To Do?

It’s the second day of school and my Mother asked me that question.

What am I going to do with my day?

I am going to sip on a cup of hot tea.

I am going to blog  a little so I can get back into a regular habit of writing.

I’m going to mop my floors and clean bathrooms.

And if you don’t think the idea of those two things thrills my soul than you have obviously not had the pleasure of trying to do those two simple chores while children are in the house all day. Today I will do those two things and both will remain clean and shiny for longer than two seconds and something within me will sigh with peace as I look out over my domain and I will announce it to be good, very good.

I do this knowing full well that at around four-ish this afternoon an explosion of sorts will occur. Socks, shoes, lunch boxes, backpacks, textbooks, notebook paper, pencils and erasers will fly out like shrapnel from a gun and there will be an eruption of sound as stories are told and lessons are shared from today.

Dinner will have to be cooked and tomorrow’s lunch prep will need to be done along with the nightly task of getting uniforms ready.

It will be a noisy controlled chaos that will rush through the afternoon and evening like a wave crashing onto the shore. And then hugs and kisses will be given out with bedtime prayers and the waters will recede as lights go out.

And for a moment I will stand in the darkness and quiet of my living room and I will remember this moment, this cup of tea, and know that we’re back to normal.