2008 In Hindsight
Our family had a very eventful 2008. We thought about writing a letter about it and sending it out with our Christmas cards. That’s become a popular thing to do lately. But when we looked at our calendar to see when we could sit down and write the letter, we realized that it would have pushed our Christmas card deadline to past New Years. So, we just put the cards out and I’m going to put this on my online journal.
Angela started out 2008 with one semester of homeschooling under her belt. She had worked hard the summer of 2007 to design a curriculum based on a classical education model but with modified reading and math. Angela also added religion into the day. Thomas was in the second grade and Monica & Maria were in kindergarten, so they were able to cover all the same topics in science and history but the work levels were different. Class days were pretty structured. The day started out with breakfast. After that they would either go to Mass or have a religion class at home. Then they would do their reading, math, science and history. Somedays, they would be finished before lunch. But usually the kids still had a little work to do after lunch. Once they completed it, they had the rest of the day to play. Angela spent most of the summer planning for the 2008-2009 school year. She learned a lot about homeschooling in 2007-2008, and decided to change her curriculum model up a bit. Now she is using a Catholic version of the Charlotte Mason model. This model is more closely suited to the training she had when she got her Masters degree in teaching, and it’s what she feels comfortable with. So far, it’s going really well. In addition to classwork, the kids also get to go on some pretty cool field trips. They try to go on trips in conjunction with other homeschooling families. This year they went to Eureka Pizza to learn about how pizzas are made (they even got to make their own pizza). They went to some presentations at the Shiloh Museum in Springdale, saw a few productions at the Arts Center of the Ozarks, went to Terra Studios to see how the glass blue birds were made, and their most recent trip was to take the Polar Express ride on the Arkansas-Missouri Railroad. Angela works really hard to make education fun and enriching for the kids, and I think she does an awesome job.
Angela’s dad was scheduled for colon surgery this fall. She made several trips (with the kids) to Morrilton in order to help out with preparation and recovery. Then, just when life had somewhat settled down, I got a job in Van Buren and she immediately started getting the house ready to go on the market in order to relocate. All that has affected the homeschooling a little, but she’s been able to juggle it all quite beautifully.
Thomas has really enjoyed homeschooling. He gets his work done pretty quickly and then he’s off to build a train line, work on a book or comic, write a screenplay or play in the backyard. He played soccer again this year which he still likes, even though it’s becoming more competitive. He’s taking piano during the week and practices every day. He also likes playing his guitars, but we need to get back into the guitar lessons. Thomas’ big event for 2008 (besides turning 9 in November) was receiving his First Reconciliation and First Communion. His grandparents from Kentucky (my parents) came down to celebrate with Thomas. And having received his First Communion, he’s now eligible to be an altar server. He started serving over the summer but has decided to take a break from it for a little while. He has big aspirations to publish books and even record a CD. This picture is one that he took and plans to use it as the cover for his first album.
Monica & Maria started taking ballet this year. They had a ballet performance in May at the end of the first semester, then they had several Christmas performances at different venues including a basketball half-time show, a nursing home, and the Jones Center for Families. They are also taking weekly piano lessons and practice very hard. They (along with Thomas) played recital pieces for a church Christmas Party and at an Adult Recreation Center. Monica is very prayerful and regularly comes out with these deeply profound thoughts for a six-year-old, which just amazes us. Maria has a special relationship with Cecilia and she ends up taking care of Cecilia quite a bit. They sometimes get into trouble together, but usually we’ll find Maria teaching Cecilia how to do ballet or helping her to get something done.
Because with Cecilia, there is always something that needs to be done. She turned three this October and is always learning new phrases and amazing us with her sense of independence. She learns ballet from Monica & Maria, learns to build things and use the computer from Thomas, and learns how to hold everyone accountable to the rules from Angela and myself, even holding us accountable to the rules. Her latest phrase is “I’ll pwoove it!” She will bring us something and says, “Daddy, dis is bwoken. Watch, I’ll pwoove it!” She’s learning things way too fast, but we figure she feels that she has to in order to keep up with the other kids. I just hope that we can keep up with her at the rate she’s going.
I started out the year doing contract counseling and contract webdesign. The agency that I worked for had me driving up into the Ozarks to provide school-based counseling for three different districts in Eureka Springs, Berryville and Green Forrest. I went up one day a week and tried to hit at least two of the districts each time. The rest of the week I was closer to home and saw clients at the agency or the local schools. Then I did some webdesign for a few different small businesses on the side to make ends meet. But by the fall, it was pretty clear that if I didn’t get a full-time job with benefits soon, our family would be in deep trouble. So in October I applied at a few places and started working for DaySpring Behavioral Health in November. It’s a challenging job, but it will be a really good experience for me and I really enjoy the people that I get to work with. You can read more about the job in this post.
Our family took a big trip down to Gulf Shores at the end of September. It was a much needed vacation from everything that was going on. The kids got to enjoy time on the beach, Thomas went bodyboarding for the first time, we all got to spend time with my parents and sister who met us down there (along with some other relatives), we ate seafood, saw dolphins, crabs, jellyfish, collected buckets of shells, and no one got sunburned. Next time, we’ll break the drive up into two days, but even the long van ride was well worth it.
So far, 2009 is shaping up to be another eventful year! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you all!