I love love love Holy Week. I almost don't look forward to Easter each year, knowing that it means this week when we get to immerse ourselves in the Church is coming to an end. I love having prayer and worship as the center of our lives, putting God first for this week. We stay up late, take off work, get up early to go to Mass, morning prayer, adoration, confession.
Growing up Protestant, I didn't realize what I was missing out on in Holy Week. I knew about the Last Supper and Good Friday, of course, but we didn't celebrate it. It was just words on a calendar, leading up to Easter when we sung lots of loud familiar hymns and everyone got new dresses. In the same way, I wonder if the "Christmas and Easter Catholics" know what they're missing. Easter Mass is wonderful, sure - but it's just Mass with better music and a few curlicues. The depth, the Passion and passion, the descent and ascension to prayer happens in the days before. Just like dessert comes after dinner, Easter comes after Holy Week, and without Holy Week, Easter loses its foundation.
Holy Week makes everything different. The washing of feet and Jesus as servant, the millions of people around the world hitting their knees as Christ dies on Good Friday, and the beautiful darkness of the Vigil Mass form a backdrop against which Easter becomes truly beautiful. The Resurrection shines all the more after the empty tabernacle just two days earlier (SweetPotato chose Good Friday to pull out her most elaborate three year-old genuflection, bowing her head almost to the floor and crossing and re-crossing herself right-side-up and up-side-down, three or four times... on the one day, of course, when she shouldn't genuflect).
As a teenager I thought I was far too worldly to believe in the fiction of Christianity, or even God. I thought I was above all that, that religion was for those who were too weak to think for themselves. And so God must be laughing now, as this Catholic homeschooling mother-of-four writes about Holy Week as the highlight of her year. But I've learned that it takes far more backbone to face Christ than to turn away. I've learned that the strongest people I know are those who, every day, live the truths of the Gospel. The most educated, open-minded, independent thinkers I've met have been priests, monks, nuns. So I'm grateful that God smacked me upside the head eleven years ago and that I woke up to see the self-centered, foundation-less life I'd been leading. I'm grateful to be struggling every day to live up to the call and vocation I've been given. And I'm grateful to have, again, the awesome experience of Holy Week to ground and renew me for another year.
He Is Truly Risen! Happy Easter!
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Field Trippin'
So HOORAY it is finally spring and we are able to go out and have fun again! It is amazing how much more into learning the kids are when we can go out and do things related to what they're reading.
In March Sprout learned about dogs. We read Lassie Come-Home, he was responsible for some of the pet care for our little zoo, and he wrote his first-ever research paper. The latter turned out surprisingly well, and he produced several pages on Border Collies, all typed up himself.
Since he put in so much work on his paper (and, admittedly, because PonyMommy thought it was really cool), we took a weekend trip to the AKC 2014 National Agility Championship in Harrisburg, PA to see one of the things Border Collies do best. The kids loved it - they sat and watched the dogs for hours - and had a lot of fun just enjoying normal kid-travel things like going out to eat and sleeping in a hotel.
And honestly, I was really happy that the kids were impressed by the experience. As we sat in TGIFriday's eating our burgers, I saw several kids come in with their families who seemed downright sullen and bored to be eating in such an unoriginal place on a Saturday night. Kids who clearly were looking for something far more entertaining than a chain restaurant. But really - what should it take to make kids who are eight, five, three, and not-yet-one happy? Do they need Disneyworld? An XBox? Those things aren't bad, although we've decided to keep our house video-game free and may never be able to afford a trip to Disney. I was thrilled that the kids were over the moon about little things like chocolate milk, and petting puppies, and going out to eat. Things shouldn't be complicated or grand when they're little.
One of the things I'm liking about homeschooling the younger grades is that you can cover some subjects as the mood strikes you. While we had a very reading- and writing-intensive winter, with spring moving in, we started learning about plants and gardens, focusing on science. We spent a rainy day at the water company, of all places, wandering through their (really very good) exhibits about the water cycle, conservation, and natural resources.
When things dried up, we headed outside and planted flowers. The best part? We were able to have all this fun over lunchtime, while I worked from home.
Sprout spent some time on the internet learning about earthworms, and we dug some up and inspected them as we planted. We'll plant some seeds inside and watch them grow, and do some experiments with beans. This weekend we'll get some veggies and herbs started, too.
Along with our "things that grow" theme, we visited a local organic dairy with our homeschool group. We had a lovely day of petting brand-new calves, watching "the ladies" get milked, and sampling ice cream.
Sprout paired this with reading a nonfiction book about a year on a family farm, and since the kids cannot get enough of Laura Ingalls Wilder - we've done Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie already this year - we'll be starting Farmer Boy next week, too. I've read several of our books this year aloud to all the kids. Sprout can go back and re-read them on his own if he needs to for assignments, but this way SweetPea and SweetPotato get to enjoy them, too.
And after our start to spring, we're taking Holy Week as our spring break - and I don't know whether mommy or the kids are happier. When we start back up after Easter, we'll have just a short time left to the end of the year!
In March Sprout learned about dogs. We read Lassie Come-Home, he was responsible for some of the pet care for our little zoo, and he wrote his first-ever research paper. The latter turned out surprisingly well, and he produced several pages on Border Collies, all typed up himself.
Since he put in so much work on his paper (and, admittedly, because PonyMommy thought it was really cool), we took a weekend trip to the AKC 2014 National Agility Championship in Harrisburg, PA to see one of the things Border Collies do best. The kids loved it - they sat and watched the dogs for hours - and had a lot of fun just enjoying normal kid-travel things like going out to eat and sleeping in a hotel.
And honestly, I was really happy that the kids were impressed by the experience. As we sat in TGIFriday's eating our burgers, I saw several kids come in with their families who seemed downright sullen and bored to be eating in such an unoriginal place on a Saturday night. Kids who clearly were looking for something far more entertaining than a chain restaurant. But really - what should it take to make kids who are eight, five, three, and not-yet-one happy? Do they need Disneyworld? An XBox? Those things aren't bad, although we've decided to keep our house video-game free and may never be able to afford a trip to Disney. I was thrilled that the kids were over the moon about little things like chocolate milk, and petting puppies, and going out to eat. Things shouldn't be complicated or grand when they're little.
One of the things I'm liking about homeschooling the younger grades is that you can cover some subjects as the mood strikes you. While we had a very reading- and writing-intensive winter, with spring moving in, we started learning about plants and gardens, focusing on science. We spent a rainy day at the water company, of all places, wandering through their (really very good) exhibits about the water cycle, conservation, and natural resources.
When things dried up, we headed outside and planted flowers. The best part? We were able to have all this fun over lunchtime, while I worked from home.
Sprout spent some time on the internet learning about earthworms, and we dug some up and inspected them as we planted. We'll plant some seeds inside and watch them grow, and do some experiments with beans. This weekend we'll get some veggies and herbs started, too.
Along with our "things that grow" theme, we visited a local organic dairy with our homeschool group. We had a lovely day of petting brand-new calves, watching "the ladies" get milked, and sampling ice cream.
Sprout paired this with reading a nonfiction book about a year on a family farm, and since the kids cannot get enough of Laura Ingalls Wilder - we've done Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie already this year - we'll be starting Farmer Boy next week, too. I've read several of our books this year aloud to all the kids. Sprout can go back and re-read them on his own if he needs to for assignments, but this way SweetPea and SweetPotato get to enjoy them, too.
And after our start to spring, we're taking Holy Week as our spring break - and I don't know whether mommy or the kids are happier. When we start back up after Easter, we'll have just a short time left to the end of the year!
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