More than in years past, I have been feeling very keenly the need to gird up my loins and take courage this Michaelmas. Starting with the official onset of homeschool, I have been feeling intimidated by my own life choices and uncertain about my abilities. Or, perhaps more accurately, I have been feeling weary of the work and wary of the knowledge that there is only more to come.
It's not just the 18+ years of homeschooling ahead that I need to face with courage. It is also the impending winter and cabin fever, the rest of this pregnancy, the addition of child #4, and the necessary but uncertain relocation of our family. And so this season, I have been personally edified more than usual by the stories of courage, endurance, and divine assistance that I tell my children. They have led me to acknowledge my weariness without abandoning my cause. They have inspired me to lengthen my stride in preparation for the future. And they have given me hope that God's grace will carry me through it all.
Here are some of the outwardly festive things we did that instructed and accompanied my musings:
1. The week before, Scott taught our family home evening lesson about Michael the archangel. It was preceded by about a month's worth of lessons on scriptural symbolism from both of us so both Carl and Soren were ready to tackle even more of the metaphors in Revelations this year. Soren even identified Michael as a type of Christ.
2. We made a week-long calendar that night, too, planning the things we would do to prepare for and celebrate the holiday.
3. Preparations for Michaelmas were accompanied by a new story for Kindergarten. The story is called The Strong Boy; I found it down in the comments on this blog post. Although I have enjoyed telling the story of St. Michael and the Star Children in years past, I felt that this new story really met Carl's developmental needs this year. It teaches about appropriately channeling strength to worthy causes, rather than using it as a tool to get our way.
4. Although I thought that the kids were a little old for it this year, Carl requested the Michaelmas circle and so we performed that during our outdoor time each Kindergarten day. I also pulled out the shooting stars, which were received with all the love and excitement I initially imagined for them.
5. We went on a new hike to appreciate the crispness of autumn and practice perseverance. Soren and Carl looked for goldenrod and Michaelmas daisies, which grew in abundance on the roadside but were completely absent along the route of our hike.
6. On Saturday, we went to pick apples and peaches at the Farnsworth Orchard. It was a rainy morning and the trees were mostly bare. However, we did manage to gather enough apples for our feast and enough peaches for our freezer. Sven did a taste test for us. Seeing as how he ate even the core, I'm guessing he liked it.
7. Scott and I tried to carve wooden swords for Soren and Carl over the weekend. We got pretty far but I was too slow to finish in time and Scott cut his thumb pretty badly. The boys are still excited for us to finish the swords ... whenever that happens.
8. I spent three hours Sunday night cleaning my house from top to bottom. Getting rid of the cobwebs, changing the sheets, scrubbing all the floors, and dejunking my space left me feeling calm and in control. When I was finished, I felt capable of courage and ready to face the next day.
9. On the big day itself: I hung a giant banner over the table to surprise the kids when they woke up in the morning. Scott went into work half an hour late so that he could have breakfast with us: donuts, sausage, and hot apple cider.
10. There was a lot of cooking to be done in preparation for our feast. We made dragon bread in Kindergarten. I let Soren "slay" his dragon for lunch then saved mine and Carl's for dinner. And after lunch, the boys sliced apples, processing about two dozen into little chunks for applesauce and apple pie. That was probably my favorite part of the day: working with my kids on those apples. And later, I made mashed potatoes and carrots, stuffed peppers, and a harvest salad while the kids read the books I had gotten from the library (St. George and the Dragon; George, the Dragon, and the Princess; and The Knight and the Dragon).
11. We shared our feast with the Jacksons and--my oh my!--it was a loud feast! The kids pulled out all our knight-related costumes and cavorted around, more often fighting with each other over the only helmet than fighting any dragons. But nothing could dampen my spirits so I found the noise to be usually cheering.
12. Before bed, we pulled out the lava lamp for a new season of use and read aloud the story of St. George and the Dragon. I was really struck this year by how exhausting it must be to fight a dragon. George keeps at it because it is the right thing to do. Or, perhaps, because once engaged, he has no other choice. Either way, it is not his overwhelming strength but his unyielding persistence that wins the day.
May it be the same for me.
It's not just the 18+ years of homeschooling ahead that I need to face with courage. It is also the impending winter and cabin fever, the rest of this pregnancy, the addition of child #4, and the necessary but uncertain relocation of our family. And so this season, I have been personally edified more than usual by the stories of courage, endurance, and divine assistance that I tell my children. They have led me to acknowledge my weariness without abandoning my cause. They have inspired me to lengthen my stride in preparation for the future. And they have given me hope that God's grace will carry me through it all.
Here are some of the outwardly festive things we did that instructed and accompanied my musings:
1. The week before, Scott taught our family home evening lesson about Michael the archangel. It was preceded by about a month's worth of lessons on scriptural symbolism from both of us so both Carl and Soren were ready to tackle even more of the metaphors in Revelations this year. Soren even identified Michael as a type of Christ.
3. Preparations for Michaelmas were accompanied by a new story for Kindergarten. The story is called The Strong Boy; I found it down in the comments on this blog post. Although I have enjoyed telling the story of St. Michael and the Star Children in years past, I felt that this new story really met Carl's developmental needs this year. It teaches about appropriately channeling strength to worthy causes, rather than using it as a tool to get our way.
4. Although I thought that the kids were a little old for it this year, Carl requested the Michaelmas circle and so we performed that during our outdoor time each Kindergarten day. I also pulled out the shooting stars, which were received with all the love and excitement I initially imagined for them.
5. We went on a new hike to appreciate the crispness of autumn and practice perseverance. Soren and Carl looked for goldenrod and Michaelmas daisies, which grew in abundance on the roadside but were completely absent along the route of our hike.6. On Saturday, we went to pick apples and peaches at the Farnsworth Orchard. It was a rainy morning and the trees were mostly bare. However, we did manage to gather enough apples for our feast and enough peaches for our freezer. Sven did a taste test for us. Seeing as how he ate even the core, I'm guessing he liked it.
7. Scott and I tried to carve wooden swords for Soren and Carl over the weekend. We got pretty far but I was too slow to finish in time and Scott cut his thumb pretty badly. The boys are still excited for us to finish the swords ... whenever that happens.
8. I spent three hours Sunday night cleaning my house from top to bottom. Getting rid of the cobwebs, changing the sheets, scrubbing all the floors, and dejunking my space left me feeling calm and in control. When I was finished, I felt capable of courage and ready to face the next day.
9. On the big day itself: I hung a giant banner over the table to surprise the kids when they woke up in the morning. Scott went into work half an hour late so that he could have breakfast with us: donuts, sausage, and hot apple cider. 10. There was a lot of cooking to be done in preparation for our feast. We made dragon bread in Kindergarten. I let Soren "slay" his dragon for lunch then saved mine and Carl's for dinner. And after lunch, the boys sliced apples, processing about two dozen into little chunks for applesauce and apple pie. That was probably my favorite part of the day: working with my kids on those apples. And later, I made mashed potatoes and carrots, stuffed peppers, and a harvest salad while the kids read the books I had gotten from the library (St. George and the Dragon; George, the Dragon, and the Princess; and The Knight and the Dragon).
11. We shared our feast with the Jacksons and--my oh my!--it was a loud feast! The kids pulled out all our knight-related costumes and cavorted around, more often fighting with each other over the only helmet than fighting any dragons. But nothing could dampen my spirits so I found the noise to be usually cheering. 12. Before bed, we pulled out the lava lamp for a new season of use and read aloud the story of St. George and the Dragon. I was really struck this year by how exhausting it must be to fight a dragon. George keeps at it because it is the right thing to do. Or, perhaps, because once engaged, he has no other choice. Either way, it is not his overwhelming strength but his unyielding persistence that wins the day.
May it be the same for me.
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