Your king is coming to you; He is just and having salvation” Zechariah 9:9

I love advent. I love the excitement and anticipation that grows as Christmas draws closer… And I love using that anticipation to draw my children into THE Christmas story. The story that began way, way back in the book of Genesis when, after God had sent Adam and Eve out of paradise for having disobeyed him, he promised them a Savior; a seed from the woman who would come and crush the serpent’s head. (Genesis 3:15) This year we’ve been searching the Old Testament for stories and scriptures that foreshadow this promised redeemer. It is riddled with them! And we’ve been contemplating the anticipation that the Jewish nation must have had (well, actually, still has, I guess) as they awaited this Messiah King. Astounding.

And of course, we point our children towards the ultimate fulfillment of these Old Testament promises: The second coming of the man Jesus Christ…who was born in a stable and laid in a manger and was visited by shepherds and wise men. But he also grew up, obeyed his heavenly Father in every way, even onto death, and now sits on a throne at His Father’s right hand. And he is eagerly awaiting the day that he will stand triumphantly on this earth with his Bride, the Church.

Exciting stuff, right? Who needs Santa? (As a side note, I do want to apologize in advance for my children telling your children that Santa isn’t real. Sorry! Just “keepin’ it real!”)

We are using The Family Book of Advent by Carol Garborg (If you get your hands on one, look for a shout-out to the Horsman kids in the acknowledgements!) and The Jesus Storybook Bible as resources, as well as our own imaginations. There are also many resources on line. It’s not too late to start your own advent.

Still not sure about it? Well, if we can do it, anyone can! Check out our first night of advent. (One thing is for sure, I will never struggle with the sin of pride so long as I am a parent. Ha!)

As I was looking through my photos and came across the 10 or 12 that I had taken of this little scene, I smiled to myself and thought, “Wow, Noah’s teaching. He’s rhetorical!” And then, for anyone who’s read my previous posts about classical education and perhaps still may not understand exactly what it is, I thought I’d break it down into chunks with something we can all grasp: how we each learned to read.

The Grammar: It’s obvious, of course, what the grammar of reading is. It’s the alphabet. Once upon a time, we all memorized that a bunch of arbitrary symbols on paper represented letters; like a small circle with a tall stick on its left side, for instance, was a lowercase “b.” For a while that “b” would have been pretty useless information to us, right?

Logic: But then, as we learned that each memorized letter made a unique sound, and that those sounds could group together to form words, and that words together made sentences, and so on…well that grammar wasn’t so useless anymore, was it? The memory work was all beginning to fit together and it was beginning to make sense. It was the key to opening up the world of reading!

Rhetoric: Now a proficient reader, you’re ready to teach or share what you’ve learned. And actually, as the photo above portrays, you don’t even have to be a proficient reader to teach your little sisters the grammar of reading.

So, in the classical model of education every new subject we approach should be tackled in these three steps. Rote memorization is so important! It’s the missing tool of learning in our schools today. My kids’ noggins are being inundated with grammar in these early years and it’s AWESOME. Their brains are being trained to retain. Later, as they become logical (and in some ways Elijah and Zeke already are) and then rhetorical, they will have a mass of core knowledge to take with them where ever they go. And better yet, they will have the tools of learning under their belts: grammar, logic and rhetoric.

Have I mentioned that I love classical education?

Okay, enough with the philosophy. How are the Horsmans? Well, life is simultaneously exhausting, exhilarating, frustrating and fulfilling. (Alliteration! One of the many “dress-ups” that Elijah and Zeke are learning to use in their writing class. They earn points for using as many “dress-ups” as they can in each essay they write. They would probably tell you that they dislike the whole process, but getting the opportunity to read a really good essay out loud in class? Pretty fun! They are also becoming very proficient at parsing a sentence. And if you don’t even know what “parsing a sentence” means, then you were probably born before 1950, since this is about when “real” English grammar ceased to be taught in public schools. “Why study English grammar with such intensity?” you ask. I must confess, I scoffed at the whole idea too, but an intricate understanding of their mother tongue will greatly help them in learning another language; Latin, in particular. They will be delving into Latin in junior high and high school, which means I will also be delving into Latin soon! Wow! I love classical education!)

And Phoebe and Noah? If you get the chance, ask them about the Boston Tea Party, or what the parts of the axial skeleton are, or to skip count by eights for you. It’s very cute!

And then there is Ellie. She does her best to thwart our every effort to have a peaceful day of learning. One day, a week or so ago, when I was at my wit’s end with her, I prepared a bubble bath to entertain her for a little bit. While Elijah, Zeke and I sat at our big table and parsed sentences, I could hear her splashing and playing happily. But what didst my eyes behold when I peeked in on her a half hour later? A bathtub full of stuffed animals! Somehow or other, she had managed to stealthily take a few trips back and forth from her bedroom with armfuls of stuffed animals! What a monkey!

Well, my children are all up and about. and duty calls. Stay tuned this week for some photos and video of my brilliant children. I promise. For now, I’ll leave you with Elijah’s last completed essay:

An Arduous Journey

In the year of 1620, a group of Englishmen, who became known as Pilgrims, voyaged to the New World. This theistic group of rebels were not in search of prosperity. They wanted freedom. Freedom from the restrictions of the English church. The vessel they migrated on was called the Mayflower. This ship had formally been used as a cargo transporter. Unluckily, a terribly, terrifying tempest broke out. Catastrophic waves struck the ship, and the people were rocked from side to side. Rain plummeted from above, pounding on them, and they could hear the incessantly howling gale. The people were forced to retreat into the gun deck, which was meager and reeked of rotten food with hardly enough room for everyone. Children whimpered faintly and cowered on the floor. The women clasped their children close by, and comforted them, at the same time comforting themselves. The men quivered from cold and fear, and reassured their children and spouses that they would make it out of the storm they were engulfed in.

One day, still in the gun deck, Impulsive Goodman John Howland became sick of being secluded form the outside world.  He resolved to climb upstairs to the main deck and survey the storm. Without any type of warning, the ship flipped over violently. John flew off the ship! During the chaos of the flip, he flailed for something to grab onto.  Amazingly, he managed to grip a dangling cord. Large waves, which felt like stones, rolled over him. He was amazed at the potency of the storm as he hung on to the rope as if his life depended on it. And it did. 

Fortunately, the other sailors, who saw him in his perilous position, where able to carefully fish him out with the boat hook. They successfully brought him back on the boat.  Back on board, he was trembling, shaken by what had just happened. He gratefully shook hands and thanked his gallant rescuers.The other Pilgrims greeted him and now beckoned him to stay in the gun deck. John thanked God for preserving his life.The voyagers heaved a heavy sigh of ease and praised God. Still, they couldn’t help but ponder the rest of the unpredictable, arduous voyage that was to come.

Done like dinner.

Confession: I kept shooing basketball-playing-Elijah out of these shots, but after uploading them, I love that he is in the background doing his “thing”, while my little girls are doing theirs.

Getting on the bus…

CC opening assembly…

Everyone is kind of spread out here, but there are 33 families and nearly 60 kids in our co-op; almost 80 if you include all the babies and toddlers that come along on the adventure each week. Seven of those families (our family included) are from my church! I love that they all decided to hop on the CC train. It’s really fun for my kids to see friends from church every week at school.

Noah and Phoebe’s first time in assembly…

I hung out with Phoebe’s class this week. (Each week I’ll be in a different child’s class.) Phoebe’s tutor is so good with these little ones. Gifted, really. The kids were rivited…

So excited for a new year of classical education. Bring it on!

As the picture shows, our diningroom table took over our (freshly painted!) living room – mostly to make more room for school to happen – our living room moved into my and Dave’s bedroom, our bedroom moved to Ellie’s room, and Ellie moved in with Noah, Phoebe and Zeke. Yes, that’s 4 kids in one bedroom and, no, it’s not illegal. Crazy, I know. But, ya know what?  Crazy seems to work for us!

And now, for another year of homeschool! Tomorrow will officially be our first day, since it is our first Classical Conversations co-op meeting. This year Phoebe and Noah will be in classes too, so I will have four kids memorizing latin, english grammar, geography, science and history sentences. Fun! And Elijah and Zeke will be adding “Essentials” to their course load. Essentials is an excellent english grammar and writing program for CC kids that are moving more into the “logic” phase of learning. I’ve heard it’s awesome, but really, really tough, so I’m full of excitement and trepidation. Year #3 here we come!