Happy Reformation!

Oh look–I’m writing a blog post! It was Larry’s day off, so I was able to meet my NaNoWriMo goal earlier today although I’m struggling to keep my “inner editor” from editing as I go. But I am up to 4000 words and that gives me time for a quick photo post while I wait for the last load of laundry to finish drying.

I will be honest: I’ve never been a Halloween person. I don’t have any major philosophical or theological exceptions, it just doesn’t appeal to me beyond an excuse to wear a costume. Last year Larry took the kids trick or treating for the first time ever; they brought home enough candy that I finally threw away the rest of it when it was time to hunt for Easter eggs. So all through October I had been hearing Halloween this and trick or treat that. . .I had had enough and told them so. They were welcome to wear something from the costume trunk all day long on the 31st but no, we were not trick or treating. I would buy candy in case anyone came to our door (no one did) and we would have a party at home that evening. We ended up with two lions, a grumpy pre-teenager, a Star Wars something or other, a frog, and a dog.

Being Lutheran, October 31st is also Reformation Day on our calendar. So while perhaps I should have worn a zookeeper outfit, instead I pulled out my Katie Luther dress I made several years ago (it isn’t terribly authentic, but it was the only early Renaissance pattern I found that was somewhere between princess and barmaid). Larry wore his cassock because, of course, Katie needs her Martin.

I made a sort of German dinner: pork roast with sauerkraut, rye bread, green salad, and apple kuchen.

After dinner, Larry gave the kids a short history lesson about Luther and the beginning of the Reformation, and then we played drop the indulgence in the coffer and nail the theses to the church door. There was much giggling–and since we hadn’t had any trick or treaters we used that bag of candy for prizes.

And after the younger children were in bed, we decided that Drama Boy was finally old enough to stay up and watch Luther with us.

A change of pace

Inspired both by a recent post on Martin Loopers  and a general sense of homeschool burnout (after all, it’s January!), I decided to try something completely different. This seemed to be my best bet, since I can’t really enroll the kids in public school just for a couple of weeks.

The older three kids are now beginning their school day by spending a set amount of time doing math; we started with 30 minutes but I think we’ll work that up to an hour. Previously I would assign a page (or two) each day, but right now they are to do as many (or few) pages as they are able to do in the time assigned. Is anyone surprised that today the boys were competing to see who could do the most math pages??

 While they are doing their math, I work with lost boy #3 on his reading lessons and handwriting. After that he is free to play with lost boys # 4 & 5~I don’t buy the Primer math book, so we just wait until they can write their numerals and count to 20 to jump right in with Alpha.

After that, I have been reading Worshipping with Angels and Archangels to the kids. These days I have too many little boys to wrestle watch to help the older kids participate during worship, and since we just moved none of the kids are comfortable sitting with someone else yet. So I figured if we spent some time at home studying the liturgy, they might be able to follow better at church. I might even print up their own copies of the liturgy for them to make notes on at home and then use on Sunday morning; we’ll see.

We then end our school day (for now) with them spending 30-45 minutes (again I’d like to extend this to an hour) writing something, anything, preferable somewhat connected to what we’ve just read. Lost boy #1 has done the best with this; not only is he older, he’s just more inclined to think of things to write. One day he wrote a short story; another day it was an illustration of the church year with a paragraph explaining the difference between Propers and Ordinaries. He’s also making his own liturgical ‘dictionary’ by copying definitions from the glossary in the back of the book. Lost boy #2 would rather spend this hour doing more math problems, so has been dragging his heels to put words on paper. The girl has been using her time to copy the Apostle’s Creed; it’s not creative, but copywork is writing and it does pertain to the subject.

This is ‘less’ schoolwork than they might usually do, and it definitely requires less effort on my part. The challenge for me, instead, has been to keep quietly busy in the living room while they work. They are much more diligent about their work if they can see me working! I’m not sure how long we will continue doing school this way, but here is an advantage of homeschooling: If something isn’t working, we can change it. . .and if we get tired of the new way, we can always change back!

LSB rebel

Who wants to sing with me. . .

Repeat the hymn again;

To God on high be glory,

And peace on earth to men!

Big Blogroll O’ Vark

It seems my humble little blog has been noticed over at Aardvark Alley, and added to the list of Confessional Lutheran Blogs. Thank you, Orycteropus Afer! I am honored to be included, though I confess that even after blogging for over 2 years now, I’m still rather clueless about some of the communal aspects of blogging. So, I keep learning as I go. . .

Let us ever walk with Jesus

Though this isn’t particularly one of my favorite hymns, when we sang it in church yesterday morning it seemed to be written just for me.

Let us ever walk with Jesus, follow His example pure,

Through a world that would deceive us and to sin our spirits lure.

Ahhh. . .the endless conflict, trying to follow a pure example in a sinful world.

Onward in His footsteps treading, pilgrims here, our home above,

No wonder I always feel so out of place.

Full of faith and hope and love, let us do our Father’s bidding,

Faithful Lord, with me abide; I shall follow where You guide.

Thank goodness faith is a gift from Him & not of ourselves, or I should fail even more miserably.

Let us suffer here with Jesus, and with patience bear our cross.

Joy will follow all our sadness; where He is, there is no loss.

Though today we sow no laughter, we shall reap celestial joy;

All discomforts that annoy shall give way to mirth here-after.

Sadness. . .loss. . .discomforts. . .yes, that pretty much sums up my life these days (truly all days, but the weight of the stress on my shoulders is heavier right now).

Jesus, here I share Your woe; help me there Your joy to know.

Someday all the trials will be over!

Let us gladly die with Jesus. Since by death He conquered death,

He will free us from destruction, give to us immortal breath.

Let us mortify all passion that would lead us into sin;

And the grave that shuts us in shall but prove the gate to heaven.

Jesus, here with You I die, there to live with You on high.

All by His grace alone. . .

Let us also live with Jesus, He has risen from the dead

That to life we may awaken. Jesus, you are now our head.

We are Your own living members; where You live, there we shall be

In Your presence constantly, living there with You forever.

Jesus, let me faithful be, life eternal grant to me.

Amen! (Yes, yes, it shall be so!)

A new hymnal disappointment

I like the new Lutheran Service Book, I really do! We’ve been using them at church for a few months now, and then Larry got me my own copy for a belated Mother’s Day gift. I haven’t noticed any significant changes in the liturgy, other than it being easier to read than The Lutheran Hymnal and much easier to follow than Lutheran Worship.  I also like the way things are numbered, or I will as soon as I am used to it. And so far we’ve only sung one hymn in church that was different, but it was one that I only knew well enough to recognize that some words had been changed.

Then tonight I tried to play one of my favorite hymns on the piano while I waited for the kids to get ready for bed: Jerusalem the Golden, written by Bernard of Cluny in the 12th century. Though it lists the same translator, the words are changed! I am not impressed; I have the ‘old’ words memorized. Some lines are the same, some are slightly changed, and some are completely different. Now when we sing this hymn in church, I will have to keep my eyes on the page. I am sure the hymnal committee intended this to be an improvment, but instead I feel like they’ve taken my hymn away from me.

Nine One One. . .

My most recent read was Nine One One The Aftermath: The Word Works, by the Rev. Dean Kavouras. It was published a few years ago but I hadn’t seen the book until the other week when it was lying on Larry’s desk at church; I immediately picked it up because his wife Barb is a friend of mine.

Much of the book is the Field Reports the author wrote while he was serving as an FBI chaplain after the events of 9/11/2001 in Pennsylvania and later in New York. I had read the reports as they were originally distributed via email. However, reading them again and all at once put a clearer picture in my head both of the overwhelming work done by law enforcement personnel in the days, weeks, and months following 9/11; and of the spiritual needs which this chaplain was able to meet. It was encouraging to hear again how it was the Gospel preached in its fullness and truth was what brought lasting comfort in such adverse conditions.