Woe Unto She

Woe unto she who begins the homeschool day by having all her students memorize "Rejoice always; in all circumstances give thanks" (I Thes. 5:16).  For undoubtedly, the washing machine will break, her toddler will throw a tantrum, and a check will bounce, all within the first ten minutes of the day.  Can she rejoice through the trials?  Woe unto she who ever-too-hastily chooses a Bible verse for the day!

My clip on the 5 o'clock news

     I was finishing our homeschool day, while a very old man from a fridge repair company was replacing our coil and condenser in the kitchen.  The phone rang.  It was a reporter from NBC5.  "Are you the Dr. Kathryn Rombs who signed the petition regarding the pope?"
   "Yes I am," I replied.
   "Can I come over and interview you?"
    Nicole was in our house 15 minutes later with Chris, the videographer.  Here is the clip:
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Dallas-Bishop-492163571.html

    What a day!  As NBC was finishing up, our photographers came in and began their set up.  I had hired a photographer to shoot Jolly and me, as we are about to launch our website, "Mighty Is Her Call," whose aim is to raise awareness of the genius of open to life Catholic Motherhood and encourage mothers as they give the gift of themselves.  So, as one crew wrapped up, the other began! All sorts of head shots, family shots, and portraits were taken in various arrangements.
    Then, Ron laughed and said, "Guess who is on his way?  J.J. with a bunch of nuns!"  J.J. Sanford, our friend, our dean, and our very favorite UD administrator brought three Nashville Dominican Sisters to our house to pay us a quick visit.  Can you believe it?  It was absolutely lovely and truly, the strangest day I've had in a long time.  I stood in our entry way explaining almost apologetically that I had signed this petition, with the name of UD as my workplace, and it having gone viral around the world, without even mentioning it to him.  It had all just happened so fast, and I had no idea the the petition would get so much attention.
    The photographers packed up and left, and then the sisters and J.J. made their goodbyes.   As the poor old refrigerator repair man packed up his tool kit and ripped the receipt out of his booklet and handed it to Ron, he said, "I am in other people's houses every single day.  It is what I do.  I am an old man, and I have seen a lot.  But I have never seen anything like this."

Overjoyed to Homeschool

   After three years of teaching philosophy in the university, caring for a new child, and beginning a Catholic mothers' ministry, I am returning to homeschooling.  I am OVERJOYED.
    Why am I doing this?  Have I lost my mind?  My 17-year-old son is receiving an outstanding education in an all-male Catholic school.  But there is no comparable school (that is both faithfully Catholic and an honors school) for young women.  After several years of my daughters being in a private school that emphasizes faith formation but is neither an honors school nor has an honors track, I pitched it to my young ladies: "Let's homeschool.  I'll help you have an honors level education."  After a little consideration of pros and cons, they jumped at it.
    I have gotten all of the same textbooks that my son's schools uses, plus the teachers' editions.  I have designed a curriculum for each daughter, emphasizing their needs and aspirations.  Am I in over my head? Absolutely.  But is the grace of God sufficient?  Always.
    As for teaching in the university, I am sure I will have chances to do that in the future.  But these years with my children at home are precious and priceless, and I will never get them back.  I am determined not to miss these years.
    As for my baby, he is now 4-years-old, and integrating into our homeschool.  After just one week, he already loves his binder, his building tools, his alphabet puzzle, and his stickers.  He usually comes to the homeschool table dressed as a superhero (which is what he is, after all).  
    As for my ministry, it is continuing to grow and thrive.
   As for my being overjoyed--I thank God for this opportunity, for my beautiful children whom I cherish more than words can say, and count on the Lord in daily prayer and Bible reading to be our Vine, our Teacher, and the Bread of Life of our year together.

Homeschooling: Poured Out for Others

     I've had a shocking discovery that reverberates through every day of my decades of motherhood.  The meaning of my life is finding my way of being like Christ, of carrying his image, his life, his spirit in everything I do.  And that way is motherhood.  I am poured out, shared, broken and opened up as a daily offering for my children.
     Right now, I am relishing one of the apexes of making my life a gift for others.  I am setting up my homeschool.  After three years of being away from this lifestyle, we are returning.  Four young ladies and a little man will all be educated in this home by yours truly this year.  How holy it feels, to identify each book, to set up each study space, to pray for each one and what their needs are.  Some need to become articulate, being able to master material and present it well.  Others need to fill in some gaps in spelling, grammar and math.  Still others need to learn to love to read, traditional school having virtually killed their love of literature.  This is one way I can love my children, being a little reflection of Christ to them.  I get to see their needs, pray for them, help them set new goals for themselves, and seek to meet them.  It is a way of dignifying them, and dignifying my relationship with them.
     Being a mother has always been for me a way to make my life a gift for others.  Whether it is holding an infant in my arms, teaching my six-year-old to make pie crust, or picking my teenager up from a homecoming dance late at night, I am giving my time, attention, love, advise, and encouragement to others.  How thrilled I am to get this precious year, making my life a gift in a new way.

Maximizing Their Intelligence

    My oldest child got the best homeschool experience with me.  Then he went on to an excellent private school, and is thriving there.  He had close to a 4.0, and now is struggling a bit lower than that. . . only because every ounce of his brain power is being used and stretched.
   My next two children got good homeschool experiences, and are now in a school that is good for their spiritual, personal, as well as intellectual development.
   But the next two children are under-challenged.  They have very high intellectual capacity, and yet I do not think that capacity is being maximized.
   So, this weekend, I told them: "In addition to school, we are going to do some homeschooling.  I am going to teach you both to write.  You are going to be excellent writers."
   We are having so much fun already.  I gave both of them a stack of books.  We are going to do written narrations based on them.  The younger of the two has already written a three page report based on her first book.  I am very excited.
    I am completely determined to maximize each child's intellectual capacity.  I started strong with the oldest children.  I am going to finish strong.  
   

This Week's Rewards

   This week, the girls have no school.  After watching tv and relaxing all weekend, here is their reward system for the rest of the break.
    They need some winter clothes and shoes.  So, they are going to earn each item they buy.  They can earn one item (sweater, pair of boots, etc.) by doing one of the following things.  They control how many things they are going to get to buy!

*read one book
*memorize one poem, five stanzas or longer
*memorize one Bible verse a day
*prayer/Bible reading time 30 min. a day
*exercise 30 minutes a day
*learn a new song on their instrument
*one major art project

   They are ambitious, and I'm excited to see the results.  I have limited screen time to 30 min. a day max.  So, we'll see if they get moving on some of these undertakings.

Worth it all

  Today, one of my children was telling me how happy he is at his school.  He went on for a while about academics, sports, and social events.  Then he said, "Mom, I think I'm doing so well because of our previous homeschool."  I was shocked and asked him what he meant.  He said, "You were talking recently about personal development, and how that can be different from intellectual or spiritual development.  Well, I feel like I got such a good personal development for the first 12 years of my life, that now, it makes me stronger in all the areas of my life."
    It was the biggest "Thank you" I could have received.  I never expect my kids to appreciate fully what I give them.  And here this child was, giving me the most thoughtful, insightful "thank you" imaginable to me.  It makes eleven years of homeschooling, and so much more, worth it all.

Latin Tutorial

  Poor Jake!  Lucky Jake!  I'm not really sure which one!
  He had to memorize 10 lines of Latin from the Aeneid, and he was pronouncing it all wrong.  He did not know about how to scan the lines.  So Ron and I scanned the lines with him, which took hours (I'm rusty)!!  But Jacob went to school the next day with the correct pronunciation and allisions.
    I asked him what his teacher, Father Justin, said, and apparently, he laughed!
    Here is Jacob with Ron, looking at MY EDITION of Virgil, 20 years old!  (Its an excellent edition with a great gloss).

Marshmallow Subtraction

     The very first day of my career as a mother educating my children was the day I taught my oldest child subtraction with strawberries: we made a pile, counted them, ate one, and then counted how many are left.  We did this process over and over.  He loved it; we ate till our tummies were full, and he thought, "Wow, I love math!"
     The tradition continues!  Here is Annie, learning how to subtract with marshmallows!

Latin

     As I sit here in my study, reading Descartes' Mediations, I am hearing Jacob and Mary grill each other over Latin: "That's third declension nominative plural!"
     "No, that's third declension nominative singular!"
     It is such a joy to me that they are well on their way.  I can remember teaching them their letter sounds.  I can remember teaching them to read.  I can remember crying on the floor when Jacob could not sound out the word "circus."
     And now they are vying for the higher grade in Latin.  Praise be to God that their educations have worked!
   

Patience is a virtue!

   Patience is truly the key to motherhood!
   Starting a new school has taken adjustment, to say the least.  But suddenly, the kids are happy, their homework is not the huge labor it used to be, they are getting enough sleep, they have made friends.  Patience through that first quarter was so important!
    Having a one year old who screams, arches his back, throws tantrums, and simply LOVES to disobey just for fun takes a lot of patience!  But I keep remembering. . . he will be up and grown before I can blink twice.
    Where would I be without patience?  Lord, give me patience in abundance!  It comes from God--we do not have it on our own.  God created motherhood, and He made it so that we would need Him.

Joy

    Having had a hard few weeks, it has been such a pleasure that my joy has returned!
    It was yesterday, when we had our homeschool May Crowning in the park.  Being around the other families, somehow, God's grace descended upon me.  I felt so happy with the choices I've made, spending so much of my adult life with my children.  I felt such peace, knowing that I am doing every, single, possible thing I can to give my children justice when they are wronged, mercy when they are wrong, and love no matter who they are or what they do.  
   Somehow, being at the May Crowning was like a mirror being held up, and I was able to see God looking at me and saying, "Keep going!  You can do it!"

Leigh's Declaration

   With Mary off at school, we have all been pondering whether Clare and Leigh would like to go to school too, next year.  I am praying about it, and asking God to show me His plan for each of them.
    Yesterday, Leigh announced with great sincerity, "I have decided that I want to homeschool through high school.  I like our homeschool."  I was overjoyed!  I will keep praying, and whatever God wills, we will do.  But I feel really confident about homeschooling each child until about 6th grade.  I think the formation at home, as well as the education, is just what each one needs.  I like keeping a child at home through that period, so that I can make the most of this short time of life with them, and give them all I have to give them.  I do not want to coast on "autopilot" and then regret it later.
    While Leigh cannot even envision life past 6th grade, and so the comment about going through high school needs to be taken with a grain of salt, I am very pleased that she desires to be home, for the short term at least.
    And Clare?  I do not know!  Next week I am going to meet with the head of the one Catholic school around here that has room for her, and I will pray for discernment.
    But I will say that yesterday, I spent a lot of the afternoon with Clare.  She and I enter a whole new place, when she does not have siblings around.  She really lights up.  I want to make sure that I bring that light to the fullest, before she goes off to school.  I want to bring out the most of her faith formation, and her character formation.  She is a beautiful creature of God, and I want to make sure she is equipped. I want her to discover her identity in Christ, who she is and why she is lovable, in our home.  Then and only then will she be ready to brave the confusing messages of the world.