CVBS 2013

It is finished.  It was great and I can't believe how much fun it was!

On Saturday,  April 13th, after obtaining the blessing of my husband, I approached our priest about Catholic Vacation Bible School. You see, Catholic Vacation Bible School is a big deal at our house.  My kids think it's cool to go to "school" at the Catholic school building for a week.  And, what's not to love about our Catholic Vacation Bible School?  Ours is so beautifully Catholic.  For as long as we've been parishioners, CVBS was run by a truly beautiful woman.  Jean became ill last year and went on permanent disability, much to everyone's sadness.  She.was.AMAZING!  A beautiful woman filled in for her managing the Religious Education program at church, but when I asked her, "What about CVBS?"  She said they would need to find someone else.  She wouldn't be able to do it...then she asked, "What about you?"

She said this within earshot of someone who knew I loved the program and she chimed in, "Yeah, Cathie, what about you?"  I said my husband would never let me...So, I went home.  I didn't ask. I simply said, "They have no one to run CVBS this year!"  His reply, "Why don't you do it?" 

I was floored.  I did not expect him to authorize it, let alone suggest it!  So, I asked Father if they had anyone to run it.  He said they did not and asked me to call the parish office and let them know and someone would be getting back to me.  Without Jean there was a big, big hole there, not just for CVBS, but for Religious Ed, Sacraments and Special Events. 

So, I called.  And I waited.  And waited. And waited.  Finally, I got a call back on April 25th from the principal of the Catholic school.  She had offered to manage the CVBS position, whomever filled it.  I went in for an interview on May 1st and on May 8th, I became a temporary employee of the church. 

That is when the ball got rolling.  I had 6 1/2 weeks to put together a curriculum (using a curriculum that really didn't have a workbook or full teacher's manual), plan art, music, snacks, and well, the entire program based on the fact that Father had arranged for a traveling relics exposition to be shown to the children at 1pm on the last day of CVBS.  Someone else had decorations, which was a blessing, considering I'm not a highly visual person.  However, I had details Jean had never had to deal with before, like serving lunch and going past noon on Friday.  So, I picked a curriculum that was based on the martyrs and persecution in the early Church (I had two from which to choose).  It seemed fitting, considering what our country is doing right now and how our religious freedoms are being taken away left and right.

So, fast forward five weeks...the curriculum and workbook are done, the teacher's manual is done, all the supplies for art had arrived.  However, my decorating person wasn't able to help, so I ended up taking that, too, but in the end it ended alright.  We managed to make it look festive, but not too campy.  I did teacher training, I had no less than 50 people help me set up classrooms, stuff confirmation letters, assemble manuals, put together art kits, assemble teacher's supplies and decorate.  Did I mention I have the very best friends in the whole wide world????  One of them blogged about CVBS the week it happened because I was a little busy.

This is Margaret's beautiful bunch of kids in front of our "Communion of Saints."  She ran my nursery, which meant she took care of my beloved 4 year old who wasn't quite ready for the 4 year old class.  By the way, her eldest two took on the 4 year old class and lived to tell about it!  See, they are even smiling? And this was toward the end!

I had the time of my life.  It was truly a wonderful experience, filled with graces I never expected and some difficulties I never expected.  But the blessings and graces outweighed the difficulties easily 2 to 1...

I may post more details as the week goes on, but I wanted to let you all know I survived and loved to tell about it!!! (Spelling error totally intended there...)

Cross Post: Being Comfortable With Your Calling

NOTE:  This is a cross post.  I originally posted this on my other blog, but decided it was applicable here, too.

I'm a personality test junkie.  Since I took my first Myers-Briggs personality test back in 1989, I've been hooked.  I love learning about myself, helping to explain my idiosyncrasies, and learning more about others so that I can better understand how to relate to them.

By far, my favorite personality test is called Strengthfinders.  My husband introduced me to it when, as a manager at a corporate retail company, he was required to take the test along with reading the book Now Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham.  Since then, I have read several books on using our strengths for success.

I found this book while doing a Google search.  It's Living Your Strengths - Catholic Edition.  It was just the book I needed to read this summer.

Now, let me tell you about how this whole Strengthfinders test works.  You answer a series of questions (so this is self-reported) in an on-line test.  What is revealed to you are your "Signature Themes."  Donald Clifton PH.d. , who created the test, had a very optimistic philosophy.  Instead of working really hard at correcting our weaknesses, we better serve God and humanity by using our strengths (or talents).  There are 34 signature themes.  Statistically, the chances of meeting someone with your exact themes is 1 in about 275,000.  The chances of meeting someone with your exact themes in exactly the same order is about 1 in 33,000,000.  So, while God made us in His likeness and image, He gave us a wide variety of strengths with which to work.

At a used book sale this summer, I also picked up another Strengths-based book, StrengthsQuest, which is for students.  It takes the 34 signature themes and shows how they apply to working in school and determining a career that would best match your strengths.  I bought this because I think our kids are failed by our schools (and us, too, sometimes) in career guidance.  Just because someone is interested in something does not mean it would be a good career for them.  As my eldest approaches high-school, I hope to use it to help him find his strengths and use them for the greater glory of God.

Here's a personal confession:  I am not always comfortable in my own skin.  Strangely enough, I am most uncomfortable with my strongest strength.  Actually, I think it might be fairer to say most people are uncomfortable with my strongest strength upon which I become uncomfortable.  People become uncomfortable with my busy-ness. 

So, I will just lay out my signature themes in rank order, just in case you want to understand me just a little better:

Achiever
People especially talented in the Achiever theme have a great deal of stamina and work hard. They take great satisfaction from being busy and productive.

Communication
People especially talented in the Communication theme generally find it easy to put their thoughts into words. They are good conversationalists and presenters.

Ideation
People especially talented in the Ideation theme are fascinated by ideas. They are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.

Strategic
People especially talented in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.

Input
People especially talented in the Input theme have a need to collect and archive. They make collect information, ideas, history, or even relationships.

Perhaps, for me, one of the biggest realizations I had in learning these things about myself, was that discontent is the norm.  The other big ah-ha moment I had was realizing that because Achiever is my top theme, I put work before everything.  Things need to get done, in my book.  So much so, that I often add things to my to-do list that I have completed, that weren't there so I can cross them off, giving me a sense of "achieving."  Here's the wierd thing...that theme is my theme, not one I necessarily expect of my kids or husband.  Anyone who has seen my house can attest to the fact that I also do not apply "achiever" to my homemaking skills!

There are so many beautiful nuggets I could share with you from the Catholic Edition of Living Your Strengths but I just don't have the room or time.  But, I will leave you with two things.  If the statistics  gave you weren't enough, here's what St. Paul had to say about it in Romans 12:6-8 (from the USCCB website):

6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us exercise them: if prophecy, in proportion to the faith; 7if ministry, in ministering; if one is a teacher, in teaching; 8if one exhorts, in exhortation; if one contributes, in generosity; if one is over others, with diligence; if one does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. 

 And second, the parable from Matthew 25:14-29 (which I won't quote here for brevity) that Jesus told his disciples before his passion, death and resurrection about the master who entrusted "talents" to his servants while he was away.  Of course the word "talents" here represents money, but because this is a parable, you can think talents.  The point of the parable, which some people find harsh, wasn't about investing huge sums of money but rather about using the talents God places within each one of us.  God expects us to develop those talents and use them wisely.  In the parable, not every slave was given the same amount of "talents"; each was given "according to his ability."  So, it is with God and the distribution of talents and gifts among individuals.  In the parable, the master was furious with the servant who did nothing with their talents.  The master wanted the servant to take a risk and grow their talents.

Developing our talents into strengths requires risk.  We must step out, try new things or take a chance by doing something we may fail at, at first.  But if we do not take some risks, emotionally, physically, and spiritually, we will never grow.  God expects no less from us.  So, get out there and serve the Lord.

Intellectual Friendships (Part 3 of 4)

For our husbands...

In the everyday course of intellectual friendship, friends share with each other their moments of insight, present them to each other for testing. Such moments in turn require us to reconsider not just that discrete matter, but everything else in our view of the whole that touches upon the matter....As Socrates knew twenty-five centuries ago, the normal mean for penetrating further and synthesizing our knowledge is dialogue. Intellectual friendship consists in a great ocean of dialogue and discussion and those who have tasted it know it is among the highest human pleasures. - Mark C. Henri

As home schooling families go, I think we are pretty normal. Mom (the teacher) plans and executes most of the school activities with Dad (the principle) giving his approval to the plan and execution. The kids enjoy (or perhaps not) the fruits of the above agreement. Usually (not always) this is the arrangement. I have a few friends where the Dad is the primary teacher. I also have friends where one or more of the children attend school outside the home.

As part of this arrangement, Mom belongs to a support group of some type to help further develop herself and get some support on this journey. The kids may belong to a co-op, attend book clubs or other home school activities with an educational emphasis.

Who is left out of this equation? Dad. Well, perhaps Dad works outside the house. Is it fair to say he will find someone at work with whom he can discuss the books he just read about by G. K. Chesterton or Rod Dreher? Perhaps he wants to discuss religion or politics? In the current economic situation where jobs hang precariously on the brink of being outsourced, it seems that our men have to hang their conservative hats at the door and be "politically correct" at work or risk being disciplined for harassment or discrimination.

So where's the dad to go? I hope the church or political party of choice provides some outlet, but that is not always the case. I think the home school dad feels a pull and uneven responsibility compared to dads of kids that are schooled. Maybe I am wrong. I think the Dad feels obligated to get Mom out of the house because she's been there all day long with the kids and she deserves a break. Dads deserve one, too, because besides working all day, dealing with the demands of providing for a large family (at least in our case) as well as trying to maintain or advance their careers takes a toll. Then, once they are home they feel the pull to be Dad and Husband. They, too, need time to read, silently reflect, pray and discuss things intellectually with other men.

They deserve time to foster and develop intellectual relationships. However, my husband has found that difficult. Most dads are in the same spot as my husband. I think. Work (Employee/Manager/insert-work title-here). Home (Dad and Husband). Repeat 4 more times. Home (Dad and Husband). Church (Dad and Husband, still) and Home(Dad and Husband). Perhaps things will improve as our children age. One of the few hobbies my husband has is watching "guy movies" in the "man cave." He invites other dads over to watch. He would like to discuss them, but the other men are Dads and Husbands that feel obligated to get back home to their families rather than stay and discuss the movie.

So, what does the man of your family do for intellectual friendships? I'm all ears. I would like to see what others have done to satisfy this important need.

Intellectual Friendships (Part 1 of 4)

I'm reading through more of the ISI Student's Guides I had mentioned a year and a half ago in this post. I wrote the post about A Student's Guide to the Core Curriculum by Mark C. Henrie and promised I would write more about it. Here it is, very late.

As I was reading it yesterday, I realized there is a great discrepancy in my family with respect to Intellectual Friendships. I want to discuss the importance of Intellectual Friendship. We'll start off with what Intellectual Friendship is (part 1) and the need for our children (part 2), husbands (part 3) and us to have those types of friendships (part 4). Henrie discusses this in the section "A Core of One's Own."

Friendship is so important, Arisotle devoted two books of his Nicomachean Ethics to it - and only one book to Justice. One of the highest types of friendship is intellectual friendship....

In the everyday course of intellectual friendship, friends share with each other their moments of insight, present them to each other for testing. Such moments in turn require us to reconsider not just that discrete matter, but everything else in our view of the whole that touches upon the matter....As Socrates knew twenty-five centuries ago, the normal mean for penetrating further and synthesizing our knowledge is dialogue. Intelectual friendship consists in a great ocean of dialogue and discussion and those who have tasted it know it is among the highest human pleasures.

With whom do you dialogue? Do you have this kind of friendship? I do and I'm anxious to share more with you about it in Part 4.

February Blues...

My home education mentor has me rereading the book Mother's Rule of Life by Holly Pierlot. February is the hardest month, it seems, for most homeschoolers. I am no different.

I suffer with discontent. You see, I like many of my friends that have been corresponding together worry, "Are we doing enough?" I do not want to cover too many subjects. I believe that is a mistake our society makes. I think Less is More. What really seems to be the problem is that I need change. So, I will keep at what we're doing, but I will change how I do it. My kids are doing well academically and socially. What I will be changing is our routine, which is why I'm rereading Holly's book.

I am also reconsidering a co-op venue of some sort, for my sake and my kids. There is a Catholic Co-op that meets close by, but it feels like sending them to school once a week. I am looking for a slightly more intimate setting rather than dropping off and picking up after a few hours. I'm absolutely willing to run it, organize it, staff it. That's the fun part for me.

So, my eldest daughter worries that this will be at the expense of her book clubs which she has really grown to love. I worry that she will not like to trade them for a co-op and I'm not sure if I can still manage book clubs and a co-op. I also know that I cannot turn her book clubs into a co-op.

The good news is that we start a Narnia lapbook club in March for her and her homeschooled buddy down the street. The neighbor's mom has asked to meet three times for each book rather than once per book. We're taking the spring to see how it works. If it is successful, we will continue in the Fall. I like that approach...training wheels. Try things out and if they don't work, change them. I'm just thankful to be able to use the curriculum I developed again.

Strengths Explorer for Kids

I am a huge fan of the books First, Break All the Rules and Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham. The intent is to help someone identify their strengths and develop them (instead of focusing on their weaknesses). What a wonderful Positive approach!

I recently found they have an online assessment tool for kids aged 10 and up called Strength Explorers created by his co-author of the second book. We had our kids take their evaluations today and found it useful.

Here are the possible 10 strengths:

Presence: Youths especially talented in the Presence theme like to tell stories and be at the center of attention.
Confidence: Youths especially talented in the Confidence theme believe in themselves and their ability to be successful in their endeavors.
Competing: Youths especially talented in the Competing theme enjoy measuring their performance against that of others and have a great desire to win.
Relating: Youths especially talented in the Relating theme are good at establishing meaningful friendships and maintaining them.
Achieving: Youths especially talented in the Achieving theme like to accomplish things and have a great deal of energy.
Future Thinker: Youths especially talented in the Future Thinker theme tend to think about what’s possible beyond the present time, even beyond their lifetime.
Caring: Youths especially talented in the Caring theme enjoy helping others.
Discoverer: Youths especially talented in the Discoverer theme tend to be very curious and like to ask “Why?” and “How?”
Organizer: Youths especially talented in the Organizer theme are good at scheduling, planning, and organizing.
Dependability: Youths especially talented in the Dependability theme keep their promises and show a high level of responsibility.

#1 child scored: Presence, Relating, Discoverer

#2 child scored: Presence, Caring, Future Thinker

This week we will use the workbooks that go with the test to help both of them realize and work on their strengths.

He's done it and I'm so proud...

My dear husband has done it! Tonight is the last night of his MBA classes and I'm so very proud of him.

He started this endeavor in February of 2006. Our fourth child was 7 months old and our oldest was, at the time, only 7. In April of 2006, his job was eliminated at Best Buy and he spent the next 6 months working tirelessly to find a job AND still work on his MBA. He was back to work in November of 2006, but not in an ideal situation, so he was continually looking to improve his situation and kept pursuing other opportunities while still working on his MBA. In March of 2007, our 4th child had surgery and our 5th child was born and with him came some difficulties. The next month, my mom was diagnosed with a terminal illness that took me away from the family quite a bit. Still, he endured. He hung in there until September of 2007 when she finally got better, praise God. But, until that time he worked full time, came home and helped take care of the house and kids and a very sad wife AND worked on his MBA. He allowed me to take on things that he knew were important to me, like running our homeschool co-op for two years and pursuing this crazy thing called TJEd. He counseled me when difficult situations arose. And, he kept on being a Cub Scout leader for my oldest son's den. Life kept happening. He kept enduring.

He is an amazing man. He does not give up and he has patience. He has to in order to be (and stay) married to me ( a will-of-a-wisp). He endures. And most importantly, he succeeds. I am just so proud.

God bless you, my loving husband. I know that all this hard work WILL pay off and we will see the fruits (although I think we have seen many along the way). Thank you for all your hard work.