See Us Homeschool

Therese at Ordinary Lovely and Micaela at California to Korea are hosting a homeschooling link-up (or blog hop) -- and a really fun one!  For this particular round-up, no words are allowed -- only pictures to illustrate our home school days.  I like this idea.  All the words in the world can't capture a life (and trust me, I try!  Just look at the length of some of my posts!)

Anyone who home schools, though, knows that home school is life. It's not some small part of the day, not something that's compartmentalized, an afterthought or momentary chore.  It's a vocation.  A culture.  A mindset. And each home school family's take on the whole thing is as unique as a fingerprint.  A fingerprint that changes constantly.  How do you explain that? It's practically impossible to put into words what really goes on in the inside, outside, upside down of a home school family.  Charts, schedules and book lists really don't explain the life. And how we love it.  The craziness is perfectly upside-right to us.

The theme of this meme may be just the thing, though.  Maybe you can get a better idea with a bunch of random pictures, a window on our home schooling world.  I pulled the following photos down somewhat quickly and rather haphazardly from my files; they're not very good pictures most of them (Alas! My poor Nikon may never make it to the top of the necessary expenses list); my daughter's little, red, pocket-sized camera has been standing in for a couple months...  But, better than nothing, right?  And, you know, actually... the fuzz and poor lighting may capture real life better than the perfect focus of the expensive camera.  Our big picture is generally better than our minute detail around here, anyway -- and time's going by so quickly it does seem all to be a bit of a blur (heaven knows I was only just schooling the top five and now they're all off on their own!).

But, anyway...  No more words.  Here ya go.  The "big picture" -- with no captions, except for the first and last photos:

All ten children, plus grandson, Gavin -- about a year and a half ago. L-R; top row:Cathy, Paul, Kevin, Dominic, Frater Philip holding Gavin,, Michelle; front row: Theresa behind William next to Gabe and Cathy.

The five still at home: Theresa (11th grade), Cathy (9th grade), Anna (7th grade), 
William (3rd grade), Gabe (5th grade).  And, check it out: 4 normal smiles out of 5!

*  Why say i t in five pictures if you can say it in fifty, right?  ;)
*  Oh, and for the record, though you could probably tell -- we're a little more crazy than classical...
* Make sure and run over to Ordinary Lovely or California to Korea to do some more home school blog hopping!

The Nosy Meme

Nosy Meme 

Stolen from: Yeah Surveys via Sunday Stealing  Now your turn to steal it!

• Average hours of sleep:  Usually around 7 hours -- sometimes less -- sometimes more -- sometimes chunks of sleep separated by intermittent chunks of random wakefulness -- or vice versa -- but one thing is consistent: it's never enough!
• Last thing I googled: "Random Questions Memes!"  No, really!  Because I'm rather out of the blogger loop any more and these fun little post-makers don't just drop into my lap like they used to. But I like them; they're kinda fun! I hope maybe some of my old blog friends will pop by and pick this up to have some fun with, too.



They daybed side of the Summer Kitchen.

• One place that makes me happy: My little hideaway Summer Kitchen is my happy place when I need to get some study/work done or when I just need some s-p-a-c-e... Which, admittedly, is not very often. I can honestly say I've come to appreciate an existential approach to place-happiness in recent years.  I love being where I am right now most of the time.  And right now I'm in quiet, peaceful, rural Nebraska, snuggled near my husband in a cozy corner of the living room with the noise of the children competing with the soundtrack playing in the background. It's not where you are; it's who you're with.

•  How many blankets I sleep under: One comforter -- unless it's a below-zero night; then I dig out my "reserve" comforter and pile it on, too.
•  What I'm wearing right now: It's cold outside (a two-comforter night) -- and so it is, therefore, a tad chilly inside this drafty house, and I'm dressed somewhat like an Irish version of Nanuk of the North:  I've got on some black leggins and warm socks under a long black skirt, a green print butterfly shirt over a lace under-tee -- all under the heavy green cardigan Dominic and Michelle brought me back from Ireland a couple years ago. With a blanket on my lap.  I am definitely nice n snuggly.  Layers. It's all about layers in February in Nebraska -- in a hundred year old farm house.
•  Last book you read:  Common Mystic Prayer by Gabriel Diefenbach, OFM (But currently reading The Mystical Castle by St.Teresa of Avila and rereading The Endless Knot by Wm Biersach)
•  Favorite fictional character:   Well, because I just mentioned the Biersach books, I can't help but think of Martin Feeney, the sidekick to priest detective Fr. Baptiste first.  But another great favorite is Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird. (Who doesn't love Atticus?) But, while my mind starts running this way... really, there are so many more personal friends populating the halls of fiction in my mind! There's  Lizzy in Pride and Prejudice, Sam in the Tolkien series, Liesl in The Book Thief, Anne from Green Gables,Juliet and Dawsey from the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Amelia from the Elizabeth Peters series....  goodness, but the list goes on and on... I'd better quit here, huh?
•  Last movie I watched in the cinema: Old Fashioned (Loved it!)
• Dream vacation: A summer in the British Isles.  A whole summer.  Financed by some rich person with no strings attached.  I'd like a little cottage on the west coast of Ireland for a home base, but I'd love to see some of England and a lot of Wales, Ireland, and Scotland.
•  Dream wedding: Had it almost 28 years ago.  Small and simple -- lots of friends and family, not

  

  Dream wedding...
  Not dream pet.
  (Kidding.  Just kidding!)

  much fuss.
•  Dream pet: Have her already! A big, sweet, fuzzy St. Bernard named Penny who guards us all with the most
  amazing intuitiveness and care you can imagine.
•  Dream job: Published author, working from home.
• How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are? Probably about thirty.
• Which is worse, failing or never trying? Never trying!
• If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?  Simple.  We're not all by ourselves on the planet, free to do as we please without impacting others. Because we live with and love others, we have responsibilities to them that are just as or more important than our "dream" lists.  Working in peace and purposefulness under the restrictions placed on us by our duty to others and our moral obligations (which are closely united to those duties!), we're actually in position to find the truest contentment.  Selfish pleasures never lead to true happiness, but those things on our "dream" lists that we do get to do are all the sweeter because we've worked to fit them in and they haven't interfered with the more important things in our lives -- the people we love.

Now -- I tag any old body who would like to "steal" this meme to do so with my blessing!  Do please comment here, though, so I can come read your "Nosy" post.  Because, yeah...   I'm nosy that way!