Horse course

Horse course…

This is the fourth and last installment in our "Monday morning sessions", at least for now.

I asked our younger daughter her impressions of her horse course sessions, and here's what she narrated for me to share with you...

During my horse course, we’ve been learning everything there is to know about horses, things like the body parts of a horse, all the different types of horses and how to ride a horse.

We’ve learned how to walk, trot and canter with our legs, riding western style.

The teacher brought halters, lead ropes, saddles, bridles, and brushes. We had to know what each one was, how to use them, how to take them apart and clean them. We began by just taking a partner instead of a real horse to use halters and lead one another around the gym.

Our daughter is to the right with the ponytail

Our teacher and her husband made a barrel horse, called "Blues". She used the barrel on it’s stand so we could each use the saddle and sit on it (though I already knew how). She taught us (while on “Blues”) to steer a horse.

She taught to do the western knot, (a big and long girth), that goes under their belly to make the saddle stay on the horse..

Sometimes the teacher wears fancy horse riding show clothing. She wears clothes for living on a ranch, including cowboy hats, cowboy boots and she showed us her spurs.

We were taught to use a hoof picker, so all the students had to show her how to use them and tell what they were for.

The teacher told us all about what horse shows are for, what to do with the horse, how to show it, the importance of how everything has to look nice including the rider’s clothing.

The saddle, halter, and bridle have to be buffed to shine. The rider has to be dressed with fancy shirts and hats. The horse’s mane must be braided and brushed to a shine too.

I am enjoying this horse course and I’m learning a lot more than I already knew before. We still have two more weeks to go yet.

Cooking classes

Cooking 101

This is the third installment of our "Monday morning session" learning experiences. Two of the children are taking a cooking course together for one of the Monday morning sessions.

Cooking is fun they both say and here is a quick blip from them to share their experiences with you…

Each week we cook a lunch, or a dinner, with dessert.

Our teacher splits the class in two groups. Each group makes something different. We have to wear an apron, wash our hands before working, tie our hair up too so no hair gets in our food (like the first week - icky).

The first week we learned about kitchen tools, things like utensils, measuring cups and spoons, and more. She gave us a grocery list of items to bring the next week.

The second week the first group made pancake triangles, and the other group made orange sherbet drinks.

The third week we made chicken fingers and the second group made fresh homemade fries.

The fourth week we made sloppy joes, the second group made fresh buns to pour it on to eat.

The fifth week we made egg omelets with onions, and ham inside, and the second group made an apple and potato bake to eat with it.

Last week, we made stuffed burritos with mushrooms, salsa, cheese, tomatoes, meat, and the other group made a green salad with diced chicken in it. We made punch to drink with this meal.

They both say they love to cook and collect their recipes used each week, promising to cook for the family here at home in the future. Personally, I feel this is a great “chef’s school”, and can only benefit them over time to get more and more comfortable in the kitchen.

Afterall, it's not only cooking they are learning about, after the meal making comes the clean up too! New kitchen chores have been assigned based on "experiences" with cleaning up this fall in these classes.

How to be a Roman Soldier

How to be a Roman Soldier

Standing at attention!

Allow me to share a few subsequent installments from the original posting of "Monday morning learning sessions", after our children begged me to blog about their classes with you. smile

These are our son's point form notes on a few of the items he has learned so far during his Monday morning learning sessions. There are many details on each topic of course, these are his highlights so far....

During our first class, we learned all the requirements for becoming a roman soldier. To join the Roman army, a man had to be five foot seven inches tall. Our teacher had measuring tapes, so everyone in the class had to be measured for height, and for making battle armor.

A person’s sight and hearing had to be perfect.

Schooling was mandatory, even after any formal schooling to keep learning about war and geography for fighting.

Seven people in the army had to be flag people.

Two blacksmiths were hired by the army to fix swords, javelins, helmets and equipment.

Spare weapons were required for all soldiers aside from their armor and other gear.

People who owned a horse were very wealthy

The commander’s job is to lead the army into battle. He gives instructions, options and the war plan to all. He sets up ambushes. Commanders are rich, they are usually the ones with horses. Their horses carry the tents. Usually an army consists of 2000 men, 17 people per tent and when making camp, it became a village to keep organized with rules to follow.

The army men must carry thirty pounds of food, extra blankets, utensils, etc. for their own personal use.

Roman armor;

• Basic armor protects the shoulder, ribs, abdomen, and spine
  
• Helmet (includes protective temple pieces on each side of the head near the ear, a point on top of the helmet used to stab enemies, a part above the eyes so water won’t fall drip down into the eyes, and a back piece at the bottom back to protect from swords)
• Belt (five strips are attached to the waistband. The beads at the end bang together to make enough noise so the opponents think there are more men in their army coming to battle)
• Javelin
• Sword
• Scapperd
• Large Shield

Recycling; The dessert pie pan is now
in the center of this shield today.

Shhhhhh........

What this son doesn't know yet, are the few lessons left will concentrate on how he will have to pay for his armor now that he is fully dressed and prepared for battle. He will learn about denari coins, and how he will have to pay for his debt on the armor advance, what his scheduled duties will be, and how to battle safely.

Practicing his battle stance

This is a giant deja-vu in our family, another son with armor prancing about...

Monday morning learning sessions

Monday co-op learning

Those of you who are familiar with our family’s journey into the world of home education, and perhaps have been associated with us in the past within a support group, can attest that I have always given my everything, pouring my heart and soul along with any of my talents or offerings to organize an event or activity, and/or become teacher of a subject topic requested. I have no problem getting into the “thick” of such a requirement, happily rolling up my sleeves for the benefit of our children and/or the group as a whole.

When moving eastward, I found a homeschooling support group, and knew before moving here about the group’s morning learning sessions each week. The temptation to plunge in an entire morning of support group’s co-op teaching has always been an impossible thought due to piano lessons falling on the exact day; therefore we have not been able to participate in these morning sessions over here...until this fall.

The church location where the group rents a gym and many assorted classrooms was notified of a change, offering Monday mornings instead of the ten year scheduled Friday mornings the group had been used to. In return for the ease provided for cleaning to the janitors before the weekend's church services and meetings, they were willing to cancel all rental fees for the exchange to accommodate the church’s staff. The unexpected and wonderful offering was huge for the group, no longer having to split the combined rental costs to use the facilities, lowering the expenses by a long shot for all involved.

When I was first approached last June with the changes and possible attendance for the fall session, I took a step back to think about how the commitment would affect our family, either blessings us, or hindering a great school week with a natural rhythm at home. Perhaps it was my great luck, as it was a bonus to find all the classes for fall already had teachers for the classes being offered, and this was the thing I loved to do the most, teach that is, but it seemed too overwhelming to commit and possibly encounter a situation where I could no longer participate and leave all in a lurch. I continued to sit on the fence for another month, and then, guess what I chose to do. Yes, I took the plunge and committed only for the first session.

Without further ado then, yes, three of our children are in the middle of an eight-week homeschool co-operative schooling program. The parents offer active participation by volunteering to be a teacher, teaching something they excel in, become an assistant to a teacher (and take over the class in the teacher's absence from illness), or offer assistance in other ways such as in the nursery of young babies. There are also others within the community who are actively sharing their talents to teach our children, and a few grandparents are committed to the parent's lounge to ensure hot coffee and tea are ready for those who require a cup of the hot brew all morning long.

The courses our children are participating in have given them opportunity to gather with many other children in the selection of three classes each week. It is a privilege to attend these days, many rules are attached to make the morning flow smoothly and I know how much energy it takes to arrive at such a great task of being the organizer, having done these types of mornings in the past myself before. Certainly I have a whole slew of fond memories with all the past classes I have taught many young students over the years. I feel events such as this are a definite asset to families, but only if it enhances or blesses them, instead of offering a load of stress to the family unit, and only too, if their children are also dedicated to making it successful with their attention to possible poor attitudes, the omission of bad behavior, offering only good things and full participation during classes, dedicating themselves to their homework to acquire commitment levels necessary to the learning aspect.

I have been assigned to nursery duty first thing in the morning, greeting up to ten little ones, a set of five-month-old twins on top of them. There are five two year olds, the rest are babies. I have come to the conclusions that this is a great spot for me, offering much younger mothers piece of mind with “seasoned” older women to mind their babes. All of us serving as helpers have seven or more children; so trust is high towards our duties there.

One of my little buddies

I’ve become fairly attached to a couple of the children, mostly as they hover very closely to me and are so sweet! This is a morning highlight for me for sure, and I have not been situated in a nursery ever before, so something new to me to connect with little people in such a way as to provide them with some sense of security while their mothers are helping elsewhere.

The hat is the hot new thing here,
for all the girls at these sessions.

Our older daughter is the one I've had difficulty in getting photos of more than the other two, so I'll share briefly what she has chosen for her three classes. Her morning begins with my (dinosaur but beloved) Pfaff sewing machine each week, taking sewing lessons this session and learning much. It's been impossible to cover this course at home like her older siblings participated in, so she's been enjoying the class and making items she likes.

Chemistry is the next class for her, learning about atoms, molecules, the periodic time table, growing crystals and other experiments performed at home as assigned. The final class will be interesting, a biology session change for the class to dissect a fetal pig, an important aspect in scientific learning.

Finally to ease her brain, she attends her last class in the gym where I get to assist the teacher in teaching tactile, hand/eye coordination games. All of the games so far look easy, but they are NOT. I've tried them, and it's quite humbling even for upper aged teens to struggle and try, try again. The other two also participate in a class in the gym, dealing with the same situations within their age group like the teens have to do. They are all enjoying the logic filled, and sometimes tough sessions, offering them a workout to be sure.

I’ll post a few of the other children’s thoughts and work thus far in another post to come immediately following this one. They are all loving it, leading me to believe this was a great decision to plunge on in…. And the question has arose about attending the winter session, one where the older daughter was begging to volunteer one session in the nursery with me. She would get her volunteer credits for high school this way, but she has become attached to some of the youngsters while assisting me in setting up the room the past few weeks early in the morning. Will we attend the winter session or not? I'll let you know...

That "Hallows" time of year.

Pumpkin Moonshine!

In our home Halloween (Hallow’een or All Hallow’s eve) has always been marked with family and friends surrounding us, in a big way!

Our children have always loved to dress up and have fun, imaginative play. We don’t need a special occasion for this activity, anytime is a good time as I’ve written about before both HERE and HERE about our trickle trunk of dress up clothing.

Dressing up in this house

is quite normal.

Need a costume?
We probably have it.

Growing up, this was the day my brother Paul (see here) looked forward to every year, for this day marks his birthday. Imagine, having a child born on Halloween, and another (moi) born on Christmas Day! Yes, we were a festive family bunch at home, yet this sibling and I both learned something the others did not. We became used to everyone remembering what the occasion was, and basic humility became the norm, our birthdays no big deal to us as time passed, and our own children grew, preferring to think of these days in their own motivated, and goodie-filled ways. They were delightfully cherished memories for them too, those child-centered moments growing up. My brother’s children, once older began to decorate their yard as a surprise for their father’s return home on Halloween evening, and loved every second of dressing up together. Happy Birthday Paul!

In our own home, we have spent the past fifteen or more years with a large (often very large!) group of family/friends pulling off or attending parties together. The children for the most part have celebrated the feast day of “All Saints Eve” more than Halloween, as we know it, just a twist to it by dressing as their favorite saint, Bible character, or something else if it was a theme night.

Initially it began as a most humble endeavor, after an invitation came to gather with five other families. Parents were wrapped as mummies, but wholesome kid fun was at the helm with goodie bags for all when departing the fun and games.

Hanging around...

The next year we were invited to partake in an All Saints party at a church with other families we knew. Who was more excited about the candy booty at the end, our teens for being the helpers gifted with enormous brown bags filled with the stuff, or the younger children with theirs?

Wanting to continue the fun, more humble beginnings began and continued for a long, long time….

During these years the parents rolled up their sleeves, and for the most part knew the agenda we’d all rolled into our memories. So like-minded were we all, we knew just what to do to make the evening a success, and how we would cope with the exhaustion we’d all feel at the end of the night…laugh. Many times the children’s grandparents would pop in, or help out in the course of the night, but who was having more fun we wondered, the children or the grandparents?

Usually the evening began with families arriving at the venue location just after 5:00pm. After a work day, we found it humorous how there were mostly men volunteering in the kitchen, cooking up the evening’s dinner for all to enjoy, something simple usually like hotdogs and all the trimmings (we had long outgrown our homes by this time too as other families were invited to join in the fun!).

All of the parents attending knew this would be an evening for parent participation, the teens happily racing up to begin taking over the babies.

The men would usher in the start of the evening firstly by all gathering everyone outside once the moment was at hand, and since we most often wanted to commemorate this day to an “All Saints” theme, they opened in a prayer for a safe evening, followed by each child given a lit sparkler in hand, and soon after, all began marching around like a parade, singing in their loud and happy voices to the tune of, “When the Saints, go marching in” .

The fun games were much like a huge carnival atmosphere, you name it we had it! Tickets could be gained to earn something special on the (donated) prize table before retiring at the end of the evening.

After a few hours, the children were summoned to gather together, one at a time standing on a table for all to guess, “Who they were”. Once their tickets were handed in and prizes chosen at the end of the night, meals complete and kitchen cleaned up again, it was time to gather one more time where we would wrap up the evening with a prayer for a blessed evening, a safe journey home, thanksgiving of special friends and family, and all joined in a final prayer for all our faithfully departed loved ones.

A few years after it all began,
this little gal is old enough
to enjoy this particular year.

The grand finale, if the weather co-operated, was a small fireworks display with monies collected from a donation ahead of time. The children went home with a booty of candy from the games they played (yes they earned THAT as well as tickets).

Soon afterwards, all the families would congratulate and thank one another for making yet, another memory with one another. Dental appointments were wisely made ahead of time within the weeks soon afterwards, saving the day for all those teeth and all that junk of the night. Laugh

Auntie and Niece

Auntie and Nieces

Moreover, this is what we did for all these years… It was our family tradition to observe this day in such a way as this!

Two years ago when my hubby was transferred, he left on Oct. 31 for his new posting. As though flattened emotionally with what was to come, I had opted out of the evening festivities and preferred to just stay at home, for the first time in as many years. Our neighborhood was tight and close, and all knew we were partying well this evening over the years, saving candy ourselves for our special little friends in the area, mostly so they didn’t miss out with us abandoning them this night. Two years ago, we stayed home and decided to see what was happening while we were gone. Yes, we played games all day long as usual, mostly mimicking the events of the past and candy was at hand for winners. This night however, one son decided to dress up as a scarecrow and sit on our front porch to see the reactions of the children coming towards the door. He managed to scare more mothers than children, and all was great fun this night once the neighbor children began hiding to see what would happen with the next round of visitors.

Once we moved here last year, we continued the game day, a bit of dressing up but we stayed home and enjoyed a most serene evening, one neighbor popping by. We had candy for 100 just in case, so our children were delighted with “left-overs”. You can read about our first year HERE.

This year, not living in an area to begin something the children hadn’t ever participated in, we had a family date to attend our son’s hockey game in the evening. The younger two wanted to dress up, which was fine. My husband left early to get our older son a quick haircut first at the mall in the area he’d be playing at, and it was then he called to let me know the mall was doing something for the first time, mostly to celebrate children and a fun evening in the community. Every store was participating in handing out candy to well dressed, costumed children, and when I had to slip in anyway to buy something; our two younger children were over the moon with the booty they hadn’t been expecting. The older daughter with me was thrilled just the same without the candy booty, but waltzed out with two pairs of pants and one shirt on sale during the sidewalk sale in progress at the same location.

Off to a dinner evening together from there, followed by the hockey game. The day ended on a great note, surprises along the way left smiles on faces for their dreamiest sleeps, and what a day it was!

The piano teacher asked if we could be flexible and have all four children’s lessons during the afternoon. Of course with the dog walking, pumpkin moonshine carving, completing schooling for the day, it was already after 5pm. when my hubby headed off for the haircut. Where did the day go? Why was it already suppertime? Woosh!

As mentioned, I spent some time with the younger ones carving their little pumpkins, but when they discovered making temporary faces to carve with washable felt pens first, once the carving was complete, they chose to decorate them with attention to details on eyes, ears, and hair.

Those little pumpkin moonshines were carved and today when darkness falls, we will light a candle for all the saints in heaven in the company of Jesus to commemorate “All Saints Day”.

And as for next year, we already have four other families who want to gather for a fun night together, so we'll see.

All Saints Day

All Saints Day is also known as All Hallows, thus All Hallow’s eve for Halloween. “Hallows” means saints, and “mas” means “Mass”. This day is traditionally celebrated on November 1^st or on the first Sunday after Pentecost in honor of all the saints, known and unknown.

All Saints is also a Christian formula feast day invoking all the faithful saints and martyrs, known or unknown.

Happy All Saints Day!