Celebrating Michaelmas

September 29, 2009

The Feast of St. Michael

Michael=Who is like unto God?

Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world -- he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Revelation 12:7

Light Candle

Prayer:
Everlasting God, you have ordained and constituted in a wonderful order the ministries of angels and mortals: Mercifully grant that, as your holy angels always serve and worship you in heaven, so by your appointment they may help and defend us here on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Scripture: There are so many to choose from depending on your emphasis for your family.

The gospel lectionary reading is John 1:47-51 but this passage makes no reference particularly to Michael.

Here are Scriptural passages which refer to the angel Michael fighting Satan: Jude 1:9 and Revelation 12:7
Paul’s references to Principalities and Powers: + (Eph 1:21)
+ (Col 1:16)
+ (Rom 8:38f)
+ (Eph 6:12)
+ (Eph 3:10)
+ (Col 2:10)
+ (Col 2:15)
Or you may choose to read a familiar Bible story of angels working as messengers for God.

The Blessing, Tea and Snack:
So many fun ideas ranging from traditional, folklore or thematic!

• Angel shaped cookies
• Angel food cake or Bannock (check out the recipe from Jessica!)
  
• St. Michael’s Waffles
• Italians eat Gnocchi!!
• The Irish eat Goose—read the origins here! Perhaps Chicken with Angel Hair Pasta if you don't have a goose!
• And since blackberries surround Folklore about the Devil any recipe with Blackberry will do since it was believed you shouldn't eat blackberries after St. Michael's Feast Day!

We’re going to do a Devil’s Food Cake (though we don’t have any cocktail swords to stab the cake with, so we’ll just use toothpicks! )

Hymn Study: I'd like to introduce the Sanctus (scroll down to S129) as it is the song that we sing each week during communion "joining our voices with Angels and Archangels and with all the company of heaven, who for ever sing this hymn to proclaim the glory of your Name:

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might,heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest."

Activity or Craft:
While there are tons of Angel crafts on the Internet, it is more difficult to find things that aren’t cutsie! I hardly think in the fight between Michael and Satan as described in Revelations that the angels looked like sweet cherubs J. And we know in Scripture many times people did not know they were even speaking to angels and at other times, people were clearly afraid, since the Angel’s first words always seem to be “Fear Not!”

So we will do an art study of photographs of the amazing St. Michael’s statue in Gasson Hall at Boston College (where hubby went to Grad school) pictured above. For more about the statue check out the Boston College website.

I also plan on another Coloring page from Waltzing Matilda since both kids are so into coloring right now.

And then I’m sure my son will also want to act this one out—swords, fighting, dragons!

Other Resources:
A place to start your thinking about this Feast day and Angels in general: http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/254.html
http://www.fisheaters.com/customstimeafterpentecost10.html

For more activity and food ideas:
http://catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/2008/09/from-thy-bounty-fair-feasting-with.html
You gotta love how the church calendar helps us not only walk the entire life of Christ but captures so many different theological categories as well!

Happy Michaelmas to you! We’d love to hear how you celebrated!

Our Baby is One!

Happy Birthday to our sweet little pumpkin!
You bring us so much love and joy
with your easy-going way, quick laugh, wet kisses, and warm snuggles.
What would our world be like without you?

We're so proud of how much you always
want to be apart of the action with your big brother and sister.
It cracks us up that you will eat anything we give you and yet you are still so tiny!

We always want to hear you say our names and
especially your funny, "Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuu!"

It was a blessing to be able to celebrate your life
with all our family, even Nana and Papa came from Canada!

Thanks to our wonderful family for your love, support and generosity to us on her birthday and throughout the year. This little girl is so blessed to have you in her life.

Tuesday Tea Time through the Church Year and the Feast of St. Matthew

One way we attempt to follow the life of Christ with our children is by celebrating the church year in our home.

To that end, we have begun to follow the ideas of so many wonderful bloggers who hold Tea Times with their children, young and old, boy and girl celebrating the feasts of the church year.

The Tea Times look something like this:

Light Candle: as we do in church, the light reminds of the Light of the World in our very midst. The lighting of the candle is a helpful signal that something special and holy is about to begin.

Prayer: The Collect of the Day. The Collect is a prayer that "collects" our attention to the themes of Scripture for the day. It also collects up the petitions of all present individuals into one prayer. Although the Book of Common Prayer has gone through many changes through time, many of the collects are still the work of Thomas Cranmer in the mid-1500s, who wrote or edited and translated collects of the fifth and sixth centuries.

Scripture: Though at other times, we read from Story Bibles, this is a time to read directly from Scripture. To maintain the focus of our little ones, I cut down the readings if necessary but would like them to begin to learn to listen to full passages from the Word of God. The Scripture will tie to the theme of the week.

The Blessing, Tea and Snack: One of the children pray before we begin our snack and tea. The ladies at Catholic Cuisine have developed a wonderful site full or recipes and ideas to fit the day.

Hymn Study: I play the service music we are studying for the month in the background as they snack. As the bustle of pouring tea and eating our snack quiets, we listen to the hymn more closely, then discuss, and then sing again together. We work on reciting the hymn without singing. We will loosely follow the hymn schedule from Ambleside Online but substitute in our church's service music as well. So for example we are beginning with The Gloria in Excelcious Deo (Hymnal S280).

Activity or Craft: For fun and to reinforce the theme from Scripture or life of the saint we are studying.

Themes for Term 1: Introduction to the Church Calendar, The Cross, The Lives of the Saints, Advent, Christmas.

For this week's tea, we celebrated the Feast of St. Matthew:

The treat were shortbread cookies. I thought they looked easy to make and jewel-like!

Scripture: Matthew 9:9-13










The Collect:
O Almighty God,
whose blessed Son called Matthew the tax collector
to be an apostle and evangelist:
give us grace to forsake the selfish pursuit of gain
and the possessive love of riches
that we may follow in the way of your Son Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Coloring Pages:
The Calling of St. Matthew Coloring Page

St. Matthew writing Scripture

St. Matthew's Shield


Two Activities:
We studied the Caravaggio painting The Calling of St. Matthew:












Hubby brought home a bag of candy money and we acted the story out. Boy, it was hard for them to let go of the chocolate coins--talk about forsaking "the selfish pursuit of gain and the possessive love of riches." We filled the empty tax collector's cup up with toy people to represent how Matthew became a fisher of men rather than collector of money!

We also recited and sang the Gloria as they colored, working and discussing the third stanza. It was a lovely afternoon and a fun surprise to have hubby join us!

I'd love to hear any ideas you had for this feast for next year!

Next week will be the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels. Any ideas on how to approach this idea with little ones?

On leaving behind an old self and finding I like the new self better.

On leaving behind an old self and finding I like the new self better.

I used to try to get everything done.
Used to think I could.
I was a teacher of literature and poetry and writing.

Then I had three kids of my own.

And started homeschooling them.

Now I

Grow butterflies instead of house plants.

Collect finger prints instead of art prints.

Eat family friendly instead of complicated gourmet.

I have an audience of 3 instead of 103.

I hear puppet-show narrations instead of expository essays.

I read fairy tales instead of the Great Books.

I receive hugs instead of paychecks.

Though I no longer teach in a public space,

I still
care, love, reflect,
plan, assess, correct,

cry, laugh, learn.

But now I get snuggles in return.

I don't get a Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring or
Summer Break from these students.

But each morning I do get

frowzy, warm, little boy hands rubbing my back

or

giggles greeting me from baby bouncing in crib

or

a groan from under pillow of the oldest growing too fast.

And I know my work has begun again.
We share OJ and oatmeal, prayer and praise.

At this school, I count baking (and eating) goodies
as my part of my curriculum.














A bike ride as

Physical Education.

I have a whole world as my scope.
My inspiration sets our sequence.

I end these students' day, not with homework
but covers pulled up under chin,

prayer, confession and blessing,
kisses, I love yous, nigh-nighs, one more song,

and a "can we have donuts for breakfast?"
I guess, it's always worth a try.

And finally they are all asleep,

hopefully for the night.

The house, our school room, is hushed.

Instead of desks to clean, there are still dishes.

Instead of piles of grading, there is always more laundry.

But no last bell, just quiet.

The quiet satisfaction of work well-done and days well-spent.
Work never quite done, always to be repeated,
fraught with imperfection and sin,
a liturgy of love,
a litany of my life for yours.


**The original inspiration for this post came from The Flourishing Mother...It was so wonderful for me to work through these ideas. Thanks, Andrea.

Apple-picking in the Fall

This past week we took the morning off from school to go Apple-Picking at Linvilla with my parents. We had so much fun! And there are so many ways to extend it into a Unit Study with science, literature, cooking, poetry, art, and math.

The Tractor ride might have been their favorite part!











We picked and picked!






















And Pop Pop collected:



















Our Favorite apple books:
The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall
How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman
The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons
The Apple Pie that Papa Baked by Lauren Thompson




Apple Stamping: From Martha

Apple Tasting: Sort, Cut, taste, and describe a variety of apples to pick your favorites. This lesson plan is very detailed!

Apple Fractions: Lesson plan

Montessori Three Part Classification Cards: The Life Cycle of the Apple Tree. I printed twice, laminated, and then cut these cards. We used them for a matching game, reading practice and learning about the life cycle of the apple tree.

The Apple Tree through the Seasons: Cards to print and color

Our Favorite Apple Recipe: Apple Brown Betty by The Pioneer Woman











For Poetry this section of the Frost poem resonated with me. The apples were so plentiful and fell to the ground so easily. It was hard to not feel guilty about leaving them behind.

For I have had too much
Of apple-picking: I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.
For all
That struck the earth,
No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,
Went surely to the cider-apple heap
As of no worth.

from After Apple-Picking by Robert Frost

Woods

A brisk and early Saturday morning in the woods...

After a week hard-worked and well-spent, we needed to shed our heaviness in a blessed place of singing, vision and flight. My 3 year old son took my hand as we walked and asked, "Mom, are we looking for God?"

Woods

by Wendell Berry

I part the out thrusting branches
and come in beneath
the blessed and the blessing trees

Though I am silent
there is singing around me.

Though I am dark
there is vision around me.

Though I am heavy
there is flight around me.

The first day of Kindergarten!

We have been so busy lately, I haven't had time to post but I wanted to write about finishing G's first week of Kindergarten Homeschooling!

To make the start of the school year special for her, we went out together for a fun girl's afternoon.My mom did the same for me (although I think she cut my hair herself; the choppy bangs in all of my school pictures are evidence though I won't be posting those!).

The Haircut!

The Ears Pierced!


The New Outfits!

We finally made the decision to homeschool using curriculum from K12 which is completely FREE for PA residents!! When all of her materials arrived, including a computer, printer and supplies, it felt like Christmas.


So many of the books and curriculum pieces for each subject were on my list for this year:


The online lesson plans have been easy to follow and have saved so much time. I love the strong emphasis on art, music, poetry, classic literature, as well as history being taught through story. I like the idea of being linked to a teacher to support us and provide accountability.

In just a week, I have been able to see firsthand all of the wonderful things about homeschooling that I've read and heard:

--building a family culture of wonder, beauty and excellence in learning;
--having multiple ages learning together has provided opportunities for them to grow in motivation, patience and love;
--plenty of outdoor time, though our lessons are a bit longer than I'd like them to be, since we are at home it is so easy to send them outside if we have even a small break and then they have the afternoons to play and run. I can't imagine M. being in a classroom all day and being able to sit and focus;
--tailoring learning for each student; we get to emphasize what we love, focus on what needs to be strengthened, slow down or speed up;
--the ability to tweak the curriculum; getting rid of busy work and twaddle, but even more to bring in our worldview when it applies;
--the time for what matters most to us, like family devotions in the morning, Bible and Catechism instruction, and our Liturgical Tuesday Teas.
--the time for all the things I want them to learn Composer, Artist Study and Nature Walks that contribute to the fabric of the Christian life.
--the time for practical life and habit training, like meal preparation, chores, caring for little ones, even laundry can be done in a meaningful way that so obviously contributes to the common good of the household.


As I reflect on our first week, I know that it was not my planning, a good curriculum, the children's desire to learn that led to our success, but the prayers that surrounded us and our attempt to work for the Glory of God. So thank you to all who lifted us up in prayer and sent encouraging emails. Even when I was tired or things got crazy or G even cried, I always had a sense I was not alone. To kick off our school year, my dh focused our morning devotions at breakfast on what the Bible says about work; we started at the Garden of Eden and ended with a reading from Revelations. These ideas reminded us for whom we were working. It warmed my heart, when I went to take this picture of G on the first day of school, she looked up at the camera smiled and declared, "For God's Glory!"


May it be so!