Christmas Decorations

We decorated for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. We like to take the extra time we have around the Thanksgiving holiday to get the Christmas decorating done. Our Advent traditions include adding an ornament to the Christmas tree every night of December leading up to Christmas Day, so we like to have the set tree up for that before December even starts. 

 

I've got Christmas-themed pillows and blankets that come out only for this season. They make the cold days more comfortable. 

We keep our collection of Christmas books tucked away with the Christmas decorations in the attic. When these books come out of storage each year, the girls find them irresistible. Throughout December, the books stay under the tree, so we can all read them through the month of December (or as long as the tree stays up, which is sometimes through February!) 

My mom gave us a beautiful Christmas hat box a few years ago. We keep it near the tree, and it's the perfect place to store all those Christmas-themed trinkets and toys and activity books: Dot-to-Dot, Puzzles, Coloring Pads, Mad Libs, etc., we've collected over the years. That's another thing we all enjoy throughout the season. 

Many of my decorations are handmade by the girls, and these are often my favorites. Avril just completed this illustration of a Christmas hymn, so that's a new decoration on our wall this Christmas season. 

Piano Desk

 

Dwayne converted our family's old spinet piano into the most lovely writing desk. 

(Fear not. This piano was pretty much worthless when we tore it apart.) 

We were thankful to have it. It was an answer to prayer. And the girls used it hours everyday for years. 

But when we were given an excellent grand piano and were trying to decide what to do with this old spinet, our piano teacher and tuner worked up the courage to admit that it was probably best to just throw it out; It had such poor sound quality and went out of tune constantly, so it would not be a blessing to anyone. 

(And knowing how often we had to pay to tune it, we knew this to be quite true.) 

So as we were discussing taking it to the landfill, our oldest daughter suggested we turn it into a desk instead. 

She had seen pictures of old pianos converted into desks online. 

She still had a fondness for this old piano since she'd learned to play on it. 

And she wants to be writer. 

So we thought if we could make it into a desk, it could be hers and it could be her graduation gift, since she was about to graduate high school at the time. 

We couldn't find a single craftsman who wanted to do the job, so my husband took on the project on himself. 

It took a little longer than we planned. We couldn't give it to our daughter at graduation, but it's done now.

And it was lovingly done by her own father. 

It's still hers when she wants it and has a place to put it. 

But for now, it's beautiful, and I am really enjoying it.  

Homemade Chicken and Rice Soup

 Chop equal parts onion, celery, carrots, and mushrooms. (Example: 1 cup each)

Saute in butter until they begin to soften. The mushrooms will release most of their moisture and it needs to cook away. Stir consistently so nothing burns. 

Add ample chicken broth. 

Bring to a boil and let this simmer for five-ten minutes. 

Add cooked brown rice and sliced or shredded chicken breast. 

You could add uncooked rice and chopped, raw chicken, but keep the amounts small. For instance, with two quarts of stock, I'd add a cup of uncooked rice and only one chicken breast, chopped. You'll also need to add a little more liquid (water or broth or a combination), since the rice will soak it up. If you are cooking rice and chicken as you go, bring your soup back to a boil and cook for several minutes until the rice and chicken are totally done. 

Salt generously and add parsley and black pepper to taste. 

Enjoy with crackers. 

Freeze leftovers for a rainy day. This is a great soup to thaw and reheat when you are sick and are in need of something lite but nourishing. 

 

Thanksgiving 2022

For brunch, we had omelets made-to-order. Dwayne has the gift of omelet making. My omelets usually become scrambled eggs. 

Since most of the casseroles and sides were prepped the day before, we spent the day reading, mostly. We took some time to call our parents, too.  

We came in and out of the kitchen periodically, putting this or that into the oven at the right time. 

I put the girls in charge of decorating the table. You can see what they came up with in the pictures. 

After dinner, we read aloud from Narnia, cleaned the kitchen, and watched two more episodes of The Chosen before heading to bed. 

Store and Save

 

I have several recipes: soups, quiche, casseroles, that require chopped ham.  

So instead of paying a premium for separate ham steaks every time I need ham, I buy a larger ham way ahead of time when it is one sale, slice it into 8-12 portions that are 7-12 ounces each, and freeze these so that I can thaw them as needed. 

We often do this with ground beef, too. 

We get a better deal on the larger container of ground. Then we bring it home and portion it into 1 pound bags that we freeze and thaw as needed. 

Buying meat in bulk is a way to save some money... and time and trouble, too. 

We also try to keep an excess of the non-perishable items in the pantry, stuff that we always use like flour, canned tomatoes, and beans. 

With portions of meats in my freezer and most non-perishables we use stocked on my shelves, some weeks I only need to buy a few things because I already have a lot of the main and basics ingredients on hand.

As I plan my meals each week, I inventory my stores, shopping from my own freezer and shelves.

I replace stores of frozen meats and non-perishables as needed, but I can often get in and out of the grocery stores in minutes only needing a few perishables like milk, eggs, and vegetables. 

Preparing for Thanksgiving

It's the day before Thanksgiving and we've got a feast planned tomorrow. 

So I spent the day gathering ingredients, reading recipes, planning cook times and temps, and prepping the dishes. 

It was a full day in the kitchen with an audio book on my headphones (Augustine's City of God for the third time). 

It was a few sinks full of dirty dishes, and three whole cycles of the dish washer. 

I prepped the stuffing and four casseroles, not all shown here. 

I chopped the potatoes for mashed potatoes and shredded the cheese for mac and cheese. 

I planned and prepped our Thanksgiving brunch- omelets to order. 

And to boot, I even made banana nut bread with some overripe bananas. 

I've got the cooking schedule planned so that everything should be done on or about the same time. 

We're ready for a relaxing day tomorrow, since all the thinking and planning has been done. 

We need only follow the plan. 

It was a full, fulfilling day in the kitchen. 

After twenty years of keeping a home, domestic duties are transforming themselves into domestic arts, so I find myself enjoying my skills (and my work) more and more. 

The Hardest Part of Homeschooling

"The hardest part of homeschooling is that it is so boring."

So said my brilliant, virtuous, talented, devoted, homeschooling mom-friend one afternoon over a cup of piping hot anise tea. 

But she didn't speak the words as a confession; She spoke them as a fact, the most obvious observation between peers.

So I haven't forgotten her words or how they stunned me at the time. 

She and I were both learners, so we had the best conversations. 

But she had receive an unparalleled education when she was young. 

I was much farther behind her intellectually. 

So at the time, I would have agreed if she had said, "Laundry is so boring." 

I had enough mastery over my laundry that it felt mundane.

But as far as Classical Christian homeschooling went for me then, I was still far too unsure of myself, too uncertain of what I was doing, and even why I was doing it that way to assent to my friend's statement. 

I did not have enough intellectual margin to consider anything about Classical Christian education boring... yet. 

Fast forward ten years. 

Add copious reading in the greatest books on Classical Christian homeschooling and reading and rereading in the greatest Classical and Christian books themselves. 

Multiply thinking, writing, conversing, training, and teaching experience, and I've gained a lot in that time. 

I've given myself a Classical Christian Liberal Arts education as I've been giving my daughters that same sort of education. 

Now I can check Algebra without a key, and I enjoy Euclid's proofs, but I can only do so if I get up early enough before it's time to drill multiplication flashcards with my ten year old. 

I can read Latin, and I'd enjoy translating Virgil, but at this point, I'm too busy checking someone else's Latin noun declensions. 

So begins a rub I hadn't started to feel till now, and my friend's words come true. 

When I started this journey, homeschooling Classically was an overwhelming but exhilarating, fulfilling intellectual pursuit. 

Now that I have a different mind, homeschooling is quickly becoming something else. 

It's more like a call to faithfulness. 

I'm totally sure what to do and even why to do it now; Now I must simply do the work of my calling day after day after day. 

It's more of a call to sacrifice than it ever was before. 

I have to put aside more interesting intellectual pursuits that beckon my brain and opportunities that appeal to my ego so as to make myself available to walk with my younger daughters where they are on the journey. 

And homeschooling is more like a call to virtue. 

But this really fits, since Classical Christian Liberal Arts education exists for the sake of not only knowing what virtue is, but also doing what is virtuous.  

So now I apply this education I have given myself, and I'll continue giving my daughters the education they deserve regardless of how hard homeschooling can be for me.  

A Book of Christmas Songs for the Tin Whistle

Classical Conversations Foundations students learn basic music theory with the tin whistle. 

I'm tutoring a Foundations class this year, and we're in the middle of our six weeks of tin whistle for this year. 

As a Christmas gift to each student, I've made a book of thirteen tin whistle Christmas songs for each student in my class. 

I made the copies of sheet music, drew a cover and then made colored copies of it for each book.  

My Foundations director let me borrow her binder, use some of her supplies, and showed me how to put the books together. (Thanks, Rachel!)

I already had the sheet music for several Christmas songs accumulated over our previous ten years in Foundations, but I got several more off  the new CC Connected. 

I plan to give these books as Christmas gifts to my students when we break for Christmas; That's right at the end of our six weeks of tin whistle. 

I wanted to give an educational, useful, thoughtful, enriching, handmade gift that also didn't break the bank, if possible. 

This book of Christmas songs for the tin whistle checked all the boxes. 

Paint Your Way Through Medieval History and Literature - A Review

Adele is in Paint Your Way Through Medieval History and Literature.

Once a week at a certain time, she meets with her art teacher and her art class live and online to discuss a story from The Middle Ages and complete an art project that goes along with that story. 

The students are given a suggested reading list ahead of time, but the reading is not required.  

Specific titles and authors in the suggested reading list have included: 

King Arthur and The Nights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green

One Thousand and One Arabian Nights by Geraldine McCaughrean

Queen Eleanor: Independent Spirit of the Medieval World by Polly Brooks

The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green

The Magna Carta by James Daugherty 

We managed the reading in ways that worked for our schedule and budget: 

I had already read King Arthur and The Nights of the Round Table to the girls a few year ago, so we just skipped that title, since Adele was already familiar with the stories. 

I already had versions of Arabian Nights and Robin Hood with different authors than the titles above, so I assigned those to Adele instead and that worked fine. Adele read through the books portion by portion during her daily, silent reading times. 

I already had the audio book of The Magna Carta, so we listened to that as a family at mealtimes. 

We entirely skipped the book about Queen Eleanor, since we didn't already have it, we already had a few read- alouds going, and I knew Adele just wasn't going to be able to read fast enough to cover all the titles in the class during the time period. Adele heard more about Eleanor in class, so she is very likely to still want to read that book, but she didn't miss out or feel left because she didn't read that book. 

Adele is in Foundations and Essentials at Classical Conversations, so she is learning history sentences and timeline facts about Cycle 2- The Middle Ages right now, and she is using source texts about The Middle Ages for her essays, so these stories and art projects have done even more to bring the history content to life. 

I'll include pictures of Adele's art projects and the art techniques taught with them below.

Coat of Arms to go with King Arthur 

Holy Grail to go with King Arthur 

Islamic Architecture to go with Arabian Nights

Islamic Geometric Tile to go with Arabian Nights

Illuminated Portrait to go with the book about Queen Eleanor 

"Stained Glass" Window to go with Queen Eleanor 

Acrylic Painting of Sherwood Forest for Robin Hood

Wanted Poster to go with Robin Hood

There will be a few more projects before the semester ends. 

The tuition and time commitment are manageable for us, and I love that someone else (besides me) is inspiring creativity and providing enriching experiences for Adele. 

Adele is learning some legitimate art techniques and concepts like graphite transfers, shading, etc. that she might not be learning otherwise. 

We heard about these classes through another Classical Conversations family with daughters a few years older than ours. I was really impressed with some of the art projects those girls were doing, but I hesitated to sign-up because I tend to be so practical it's shameful. We already have a lot to manage by completing all our regular schoolwork. 

But I am becoming more and more convinced that art in all its forms is something that brings glory to God and inspires worship, something that is a form of worship, so I am trying to make more time and opportunity for enrichment like this. 

We signed up for one semester of this class, but we are likely to continue with this class through the entire year and continue signing up for other classes in years to come. 

Pottery Class at Change Co-op

Adele's in a pottery class at Change co-op. She's made some adorable projects. 

A coffee mug I promptly put to use

An owl with a top hat (Adele named him Mr. Darcy)

"Bob the fish"

An adorable paper-clip holder

A pumpkin just in time for fall

A decorative bowl

 

Sertillanges Quotes

I'm illustrating favorite quotes from The Intellectual Life by Sertillanges, which may be my favorite book now. I'll give them as gifts to some students I know and love. 

Creating Their Own Fun

The girls asked us to watch their play. They got the idea from a recent play at church plus Adele's research on Da Vinci for a Foundations presentation. They know how to make their own fun. God forbid they are ever too cool for this kind of thing.