Archive for » August 30th, 2008«

Bridal Shower Reunion

30 Aug 2008 by

Earlier today I was blessed to go to the bridal shower of our friend Vanessa Garza who lives DC.  Her parents live in the area and we know them well from pro-life circles.   Adam and I were blessed with Vanessa’s friendship 6 years ago when we were courting and she worked for the Office of Pro-Life Activities for the Diocese of Austin.  She’s one of those phenomenal Catholics that never found the right guy, but you knew whoever is the blessed man to marry her, he’s got to be special!

So after 5 years, she’s to marry her match made in heaven.  Her future husband is indeed her “equal.”  He is the vice president for public policy for The Knights of Columbus. He works directly under Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight.   And I think she has one of the most romantic wedding proposals I’ve ever heard. He proposed to her at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome after mass in front of the tomb of St. Peter!  Blessed be God!

Best wishes and many blessings to you, Vanessa and Patrick!

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Kindergarten Week 2

30 Aug 2008 by

I’m so impressed with veteran homeschooling moms!

By Tuesday of this week I was wiped out! Trying to juggle home life –cleaning, cooking, finances, the laundry beast, understanding health insurance– and school requires a lot of energy for me. I certainly feel at the end of the day that I have accomplished a lot.

But we had a good week. We started doing our Five In A Row lessons this week, and we started with The Story of Ping. The way Five In a Row lessons work, is that you read a book for five days in a row and each day you do an extended activity in the area of art, literature, social studies, math or science. On one day, we made a trip to feed the ducks with friends. (No pictures unfortunately, our camera has been shipped to Canon for repairs hopefully.)

Yesterday, I also hosted our first FAMILY MATH morning for Totus Tuus. I think the kids had fun and they were engaged for a good hour or more doing some nice exploratory math for young children. I came across FAMILY MATH in college when I was working with an AmeriCorps program at a local elementary school. We’d host FAMILY MATH night for the parents and children. I love the activities in these books because they teach kids to think and develop strategies. Yesterday, we explore estimation, measuring with non-standard units, symmetry, developing mid-point strategies, understanding and verbalizing greater than and less than, and observing and finding rules for sorting objects. The activities are open ended and the supplies needed are things you already have at home.

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