We are closed!

We closed on the Harney House today! We'll get the keys in a couple days.

Fr George Rutger on homeschooling

I found this at Heaven Not Harvard.

"I’d encourage your youngest one to abandon kindergarten altogether. Almost everything I learned was learned outside the classroom, and school itself interrupted my education. Moreover, school locks you in with your peers. That is a mistake. One’s social circle should never include one’s equals. From my earliest years I found children uninteresting and always preferred the company of adults. This was an advantage, because I got to know lots of folks who are dead now whom I never would have known if I had waited until I was an adult. - So I have a collective memory - and oral tradition - that goes back to the eighteenth century, having spoken with people who knew people who knew people who knew people who lived then. - The only real university is the universe and a city its microcosm. That is why an expression like “New York University” is foolish. New York City is the university….Instead of school, children should spend some hours each day in hotel lobbies talking to the guests. They should spend time in restaurant kitchens and shops and garages of all kinds, learning from people who actually make the world work….One day spent roaming through a real classical church building would be the equivalent of one academic term in any of our schools, and a little time spent inconspicuously in a police station would be more informative than all the hours wasted on bogus social sciences. Formal lessons would only be required for accuracy in spelling and proficiency in public speaking, for which the public speakers in our culture are not models, and in exchange for performing some menial services a child could learn the violin, harp, and piano from musicians in one of the better cocktail lounges, or from performers in the public subways….So I urge you to keep your child out of kindergarten, because kindergarten will only lead to first grade and then the grim sequence of grade after grade begins and takes its inexorable toll on the mind born fertile but gradually numbed by the pedants who impose on the captive child the flotsam of their own infecundity."

-Fr. George Rutger

October 27, 2008

The date above is the due date for our third child. I found out a few weeks ago that we are expecting. It's exciting, so much excitement going on! We are still in escrow with the Harney Lane house, trying to get the Church St. house packed and ready to rent, and now... a new little one on the way! Thank you God for so many blessings!

Happy Easter!

Good Friday

St. Patrick's Day

Here's what went on yesterday for St. Paddy's Day:

First, a toast with green apple juice and green pancakes.

Even Buddy got an Irish cake.

Then off to some ice skating for the homeschool group's St. Patrick's party.

Violin Recital

The boys were in their third violin recital last Sunday. They both played all the twinkle variations and twinkle, twinkle, little star. They also won the Mozart award for learning the twinkles. Here are some photos from the event.

These pics are from the playground across the recital. We got there too early so the boys got to have some fun in the sun.

Here is the young Suzuki group doing a performance before the solos.

Vincent during his solo. Doesn't he look handsome!!!

Zachary's solo, another handsome fella!

The Presidential Suite

Beginning with George Washington's birthday last week, Vincent has been VERY interested in coloring presidential portraits and displaying them in his room.

Introducing Vincent's "President Collection". Last count there was 55.

Harney Lane

We are in escrow! Here's the listing photo of the house we are buying. It is on 3 acres and on the east end of Lodi. Wow, I think we're still in shock that we are moving soon. Plus we are working on sprucing up our Church Street house, it needs some love and attention! Our new house will need some TLC as well. The adventure awaits!

G. Washington Crafts

Here are the pics! Some of our good friends came over and played too.

A Cherry Tree craft... of course!

Then our attempt at making George wigs...

Then... Cherry smoothies.