Keeping Sacred Time with Christina Rossetti :: First Sunday in Advent

This year I have been sharing Christina Rossetti's liturgical poetry with my children, and I'd like to share some of our favorite selections with you too.  You can read more of this series here, and more of Rossetti's poetry for Advent and Christmas here.  Wishing you a blessed Advent!

Come,' Thou dost say to Angels,

To blessed Spirits, 'Come':

'Come,' to the lambs of Thine own flock,

Thy little ones, 'Come home.'

'Come,' from the many-mansioned house

The gracious word is sent;

'Come,' from the ivory palaces

Unto the Penitent.

O Lord, restore us deaf and blind,

Unclose our lips though dumb:

Then say to us, 'I will come with speed,'

And we will answer, 'Come.'

12 December 1851

Third Grade in Our Home :: The Morning Basket, Advent

School usually doesn't look much different here during Advent.  I plan to continue schoolwork up until Christmas week since we like to save our time off for after Christmas, when the liturgical season of Christmas properly begins.  Our break lasts through Epiphany (the "Twelve Days of Christmas") and beyond.  

We do focus our art and handicrafts during Advent on Christmas projects--decorations, baking, and gifts--and of course we prepare in many ways as a family: our Advent wreath, seasonal devotions in the evenings, and more.  There are lots of special feast days in December that we focus on as a family too.  But school-wise, we just continue along with our usual readings and assignments.

The place where I do make a few shifts is in our Morning Basket, which takes on some Advent additions:

Poetry - We will be reading through some of Christina Rossetti's liturgical poems, just as we did during Lent and Easter.  I hope to share a few here too.

Readings - We alternate our poetry reading with Inos Biffi's The Way to Bethlehem.  For the final week of Advent, often called the "Golden Nights," we will be reading from Jenn's lovely O Antiphon Companion over breakfast.

Prayers - As I have every year since becoming a Catholic, we will be doing the St. Andrew novena together.  And I have a baby named Andrew this year!  So St. Andrew's feast coming up this Sunday is all the more special for our family.  Last year I created a printable prayer card for the St. Andrew novena prayer.  Feel free to download for use with your families and friends.

Memory Work - We choose memory work each year that will form part of the children's annual Christmas program for the grandparents.  This is such a fun tradition in our family, dating back to when my mother and her cousins used to sing and recite for my great-grandparents as a little girl. 

This year they'll be working on the following:

 :: Christina Rossetti's "Love Came Down at Christmas" and "Christmas Hath Darkness"

 :: Luke 2:6-12 (we did 2:1-5 last year, and we will continue adding a bit each year until we learn through verse 20)

 :: "O Come, All Ye Faithful"

 :: "Adeste Fidelis"

 :: "Angels We Have Heard on High"

 Italian - And I'm excited to add in some Italian Advent work this year!  Grandma gave the children this Italian CD of Christmas songs last year, so they'll be listening and singing along, and perhaps their Christmas program will include some Italian this year. :)

Advent begins this Sunday!  Time to pull out the Advent wreath, the felt nativity, the prayer cards, and all the rest.  Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.

What We're Reading :: November

Me:

The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur (for this month's book club selection)

Rumer Godden's The River (a random fiction pick off my shelf)

Karen Glass' Consider This (highly recommend!)

Charlotte Mason's Volume 6 (still--and will be all year, probably)

Vincent, age 8:

Henry's Sea Star: Orphan of Chincoteague (a new-to-us, super beat-up hardcover copy I found is getting a second life at our home)

The Golden Bible: The New Testament (illustrated beautifully by the Provensens)

Brown's Kateri Tekakwitha: Mohawk Maiden (his Sunday reading)

Gianna, age 8:

Sarah, Plain and Tall ("It was only okay--I don't like first-person narrators, Mommy")

MacDonald's The Princess and the Curdie ("Almost as good the first one!")

Wilder's Farmer Boy (reading aloud to little sister)

Cate, age 5:

Still working through Cooper Edens' The Glorious Mother Goose

To the Big Kids:

Crossbows and Crucifixes (for a Catholic perspective on England under Queen Elizabeth)

Wilder's The Long Winter (on audio read by Cherry Jones--perfect heading into the colder season)

Burnett's A Little Princess (on audio read by Justine Eyre--fantastic!)

MacDonald's At the Back of the North Wind and Kingsley's Water Babies (we'll be reading these two AO Y3 "free reads" slowly over the course of the whole school year)

To the Kindergartener:

Kindergarten Stories and Morning Talks (we read a little object lesson about a family cow this week and she just loved it)

Illustrated Catechism for Little Children (a short and simple catechism for littles)

Leading Little Ones to Mary (the conversational tone of this book is perfectly suited to my Cate)

To the Littles:

Dance at Grandpa's (4yo Xavier's current favorite--the Little House picture books are always on rotation)

the Norman Rockwell-illustrated You're a Grand Old Flag (3yo Bridget's current favorite--she and Xavier love flipping through and singing their hearts out together)

Aliki's Welcome, Little Baby (2yo Clara's current favorite--all babies, all the time!)

And more happy mail:

Just a few of the new additions to our home library...

...a couple for next school year, a few hardbacks to add to our collection of "How and Why Wonder Books," more music books for my budding pianists, and a sweet collection of verse there on the top.

The rest of the books that came with this order went straight back into a box to be hidden away for Christmas gifts for my littles.  Tis the (book-buying) season. :)

{From My Commonplace}

And Nature, the old Nurse, took 

The child upon her knee, 

Saying, "Here is a story book 

Thy father hath written for thee. 

"Come wander with me," she said, 

"Into regions yet untrod, 

And read what is still unread 

In the Manuscripts of God." 

And he wandered away and away 

With Nature, the dear old Nurse, 

Who sang to him night and day 

The rhymes of the universe. 

by Longfellow, from Kingsley's The Water Babies

{This and That}

We had a first haircut (for my 3yo) and a first lost tooth (for my 5yo) this past week.  These kids are just growing up way too fast.  (Sniff.)

But doesn't this little doll look like she likes her new cut?  I think I took off about six inches.

~~~

Every November for the past few years, my older children have participated in an Artist Trading Card swap hosted by the lovely and inspiring Kimberlee at Pondered in My Heart.  (One of my very favorite blogs!)  She just announced this year's swap guidelines, and my older three are so excited to get started.  If you'd like to join in, head over to Kimberlee's for the details!

~~~

Speaking of saints...

You'll notice they look remarkably similar to last year's. ;)  I am so thankful that my kids don't mind wearing recycled costumes, because new ones weren't happening this year!

I took just the older five to a friend's All Saints' party that evening and they had a blast.

~~~

We'll be enjoying a simple "feast" again this Thanksgiving week.  The kids have been asking for me to pull out the art supplies for them to create some table decorations as they usually do, and I am only too happy to oblige.

last year's placecards - we'll see what they come up with this year!

~~~

This post from Nancy at Sage Parnassus expresses so well why I love liberal arts homeschooling:

"But what I wanted to mention here is this; as a philosophy of education, Charlotte Mason is so intertwined with the whole person, including the spiritual, that there is an unbelievable, distinct comfort and joy in continuing - even when life hurts and comes undone."

There is something so richly comforting about a Charlotte Mason education.  On the hard days, on the stressful days--that's when I'm thankful for (not, as one might expect, overwhelmed by) our beautiful booklist.  The Mother Culture that comes along with homeschooling is a balm to a weary soul.  (Okay, so I could drop math. ;))

~~~

Any tips for doing book repair?  I like to "rescue" lovely copies of old classics when I find them cheaply.  So far I have had good luck with tacky glue and clear packing tape, but I know that's not the best way of restoring old treasures.

Book-lovers out there: any suggestions?

{From My Commonplace}

Never did she find anything so difficult as to keep herself from losing her temper when she was suddenly disturbed while absorbed in a book. People who are fond of books know the feeling of irritation which sweeps over them at such a moment.  The temptation to be unreasonable and snappish is one not easy to manage.

"It makes me feel as if someone had hit me," Sara had told Ermengarde once in confidence.  "And as if I want to hit back.  I have to remember things quickly to keep from saying something ill-tempered."

We are listening to Francis Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess on audio, read by Justine Eyre, and it is truly delightful.  I could never have done such a lovely job of the text, as much as I enjoy reading aloud.

(And let's just say that my children may be able to relate a bit to Sara's sentiment here.  Not that I can, though.  Oh no, not at all.)

Nature Study Outing :: At the Pond

We met friends at the pond last week to make some preliminary observations for a year-long pond study I've been hoping to do.  Although we have been to this pond many times, we haven't studied it in any organized way, so this time I wanted to make a quick observation of what we might study more closely on future trips.  I'd like over the course of this year to make seasonal notes, starting this term with a few object lessons on some common creatures and plants.

Our local pond isn't completely stagnant--water does not flow from it, but fresh water does flow into it from the dammed up reservoir, I believe.  (In addition to rainwater, of course.)  The water level was fairly high that morning, probably thanks to the rain we had on Halloween.

Surrounded by sycamores, oaks, poison oak, and cattails, it is a favorite spot for flocks of mallards and coots, tadpoles, and the occasional turtle.  

This time, though, we didn't find as many creepy-crawlies as I was expecting--I was hoping to see plenty of water bugs and lizards, but my kids, armed eagerly with skimming nets, only ended up with one tiny tadpole and a couple flying insects that we're still working to identify.  I thought we would see more activity since it has been such a warm fall.  I'm sure our spring or summer outings will be more fruitful.

The star of this outing ended up being a group of kingfishers, who kept flying from the tip top of the sycamores across the pond to the oaks just over our heads.  We have seen one lone kingfisher before at this spot, but never a half dozen at once, and never so social.  They didn't seem a bit skittish.  We spent so much time listening to their call back and forth, I don't think I'll ever forget their quail-like squawk.

We peeped through our microscope at some pond water and a sycamore leaf, spent some time drawing birds in our nature journals, and I got to work marking appropriate sections from a stack of nature study books.

Picture Books We Love :: Five Favorites for Fall

I finally got around to pulling out our fall picture books this week.  Admittedly, it has not been very autumnal here (in fact, it's supposed to be in the 80s pretty much all week), but we welcomed November with a wet Halloween and the seasonal wardrobe switch-out over the weekend, so I thought it was time.  I'm still waiting for the crisp afternoons and crunch of leaves underfoot, but I suppose fall picture books will have to do.

Sharing a few of my favorites younger crew this morning...

Elisa Kleven's Snowsong Whistling - I've raved about this one before--my personal favorite fall book.

Cynthia Rylant's In November, illustrated by Jill Kastner - Soothing prose accompanies soft illustrations depicting the quieting of the natural world and the celebration of families.

Over the River and Through the Wood, illustrated by Christopher Manson - I've mentioned this one before too, and I've also gone on and on about our love for sing-along books.  Woodcut-style illustrations set to a folk song?  Couldn't get much better.

Cynthia Rylant's Scarecrow, illustrated by Lauren Stringer - Another by Cynthia Rylant.  Here she gets at the heart of fall's beauty from the perspective of the scarecrow, watching the changes of the seasons from his perch with stillness and quiet confidence.

Lois Lenski's Now It's Fall - Lenski has a set of four miniature seasonal books and each one is charming (and sadly out of print).  A very nice introduction to the customs of the season for little ones, and her illustrations are, as usual, delightful.  (FYI: One of the little girls dresses as a "funny witch" for Halloween in this book, so if that bothers you, you may want to skip this title.  I do like that both Now It's Fall and I Love Winter include religious scenes.)

Any fall books special to your family that we are missing?  I'd love to know.