The First Day of Kindergarten

(Molly)

Today it began. We had been preparing for this day for years and all at once it was upon us, Clara's first day of Kindergarten. It was just last week that it dawned on me, if we hadn't chosen to homeschool, today, the day after Labor day, we could have been sending Clara off into some unknown world, a classroom filled with new faces led by an adult that we knew very little about. She could have been stepping onto that school bus full of kids, most of them much less innocent than her, while I stood on the side of the road bawling my eyes out, but trying not to let it show. Upon this realization, I breathed a sigh of relief. Of all the fears I have of homeschooling, none could compare to the fear I would have in sending Clara off to school where for several hours each day,for thirteen years, it would be someone other than myself that would be the primary influence in her life. I had determined that even had we found the greatest school on earth, this five-year-old still needed her mother. "Ahh, she's home forever," I thought, (or for at least the next thirteen years or so.) Then suddenly, "Aak! She's home forever!"

We chaotically corralled the children to breakfast amidst the normal shrill screams of Eleanor and the "roars" of Aidan in the face of Lucy, our portly cat. Max did his usual gurgle in the Bumbo seat as Clara dressed in her new school jumper from Mimi, her grandma, and debated about which style of hairdo best suited the outfit she now donned. Dad brought out the holy water, gave blessings to each member of the family, and asked for God's grace upon the new school year. Finally, the interview. Dad pushed "record" on the camcorder and said, "Today is Clara's first day of Kindergarten." No one could see my eyes well with tears as I hid behind the cameraman nursing the baby. Imagine if she had been getting on that bus. We took every imaginable grouping of photos, minus Eleanor who was now in the crib, her tantrum muffled behind closed doors. Finally, when we'd exhausted the battery in our camera, Daddy left for work and it was time to begin our first "real" session of school.

We reviewed the date and the weather, and for Aidan's sake, the alphabet now posted on the kitchen wall. Math went well. Even Aidan quietly did his own work at the little table. (By this time we had tossed a few books in Ella's bed and she had ceased her screams and Max was sleeping soundly in the nursery).

Then came handwriting. Clara has been writing "C-l-a-r-a" for over two years. She's quite proficient in most of her letters. One forgets, however, when it's been over twenty years since she's learned to make her letters, how difficult drawing a "K" can be. But if one's name is Clara Koop, she must learn to make a "K" at some point, no matter how much she might dislike it. "Great job, Clara. You've done a super job with those K's! Let's try it now without the dots." (I have been making three dots vertically on the left and two dots in the same fashion on the right to guide her.) "Noooooo!" she yelled. "I NEED THE DOTS!" I'm sure you can imagine all of the kind and patient words I said to encourage her. After all, it's only the first day of school. It shouldn't be too hard to keep my smile sweet. "Remember, Clara, I'm here to teach you how to make your 'K's'. You can do this."

"You're not my teacher! You're my MOM!"

Eventually, we made it through our first stumbling block. She actually ended up making her own dots and using them to guide her strokes. Fine. It's only Kindergarten. Our poetry lesson went much better. She has an incredible gift for memorization and is developing a knack for performance. (She's obviously got a dramatic edge to her personality. I wonder from whom she acquired this.)

So, on to tomorrow, the second day of Kindergarten. I feel the sting right now. Somehow the first day of college doesn't seem so far off.

Scheme A: Likes and Dislikes

(Molly)

After we had our initial meeting with my brother-in-law, Brendan and I sat down to discuss what we considered to be the pros and cons of each scheme. There were elements of each scheme that we liked and others that we knew right away wouldn’t work for our family. Overall, though, we were overwhelmed by the possibilities because neither of us had been able to really picture anything concrete in our minds.

We love the position of the chapel in this scheme. Its location on the property (jutting out from the trees), that it is facing the east (Brendan will comment on this specifically later), and the fact that it was somewhat “set apart” from the hub of the home were all attractive to us.

One of our favorite aspects of Scheme A is the way the building and grounds uses the natural flow of the land. The landscaping is designed with a kind of courtyard area in the front and a small, natural stairway towards the wetland area. We also loved the way that the patio was accessible from many areas of the home.

We were certain that we would want the kitchen and school room within immediate reach of one another as I naturally spend a large amount of time in the kitchen and that to prevent the kids from doing their schoolwork and sprawling out on the kitchen table, it would need to be nearby. Scheme A made this a reality.

Although we at first liked the idea of the Master Bedroom being sort of “set apart” from the children’s bedroom (aka: peace and quiet) we also realized it wouldn’t be conducive to the way we see our family interacting at night and in the early morning. Often we are up in the night, even with the older children, and we want the kids to feel like they could easily approach our room when they needed us. Also, having accessibility to their bedrooms makes morning and evening preparation much easier. So, the thought of a few moments of rest in the evening, with our own private entrance to the patio, were left behind in the dust….

On a more practical side, it was clear that the laundry room should be an upper-level room (rather than a sort of walk-way in the entrance by the garage) to make all aspects of laundry (a monumental task with only four children -- and we see that number growing) much easier! Also, in all of the schemes the garage was too far away from the kitchen area. Since we knew that the garage would be our main entrance to the house and that our kitchen is the place that we dump a lot of our things (namely, groceries) it would be important to not have to trudge through the home with loads of bags.

As I tried to imagine the family moving about the home as it was laid out in this scheme, it wasn’t difficult to see the following situation occurring on a regular basis: I would be in one area of the home attempting to quickly complete a task (near the current laundry area, perhaps) and suddenly I would hear (as I often do these days) a shrill screaming sound from one of the children who is located in the family room. Upon the noise I would waddle (I’m hugely pregnant in this story) as quickly as I could—to the right, then a left, still waddling, tripping over a toy, to the right, still going….until I finally reached the family room where the action was (and likely too out-of-time and out-of-breath) to deal with the situation at hand. It might be okay every once in a while because Clara often takes charge in my absence, but generally this could be an obstacle. When I imagined this situation (and several others) it became difficult for me to see Scheme A as a practical layout (even though at first glance it was our favorite scheme, but more on that later).

These are just a few thoughts on our discussion of Scheme A. We welcome our readers’ comments as well!

So, Where's Molly?

(Molly)

As the posts have come together so eloquently and the pictures have been uploaded, some have asked, "So, where's Molly?" I can answer that question! Generally, Brendan has taken visitors to the property while I have been either too pregnant to get around on the uneven terrain or tending to a newborn. Eleanor will often be napping while the visits occur as well. Other times, the family has taken a drive out to visit the land after Sunday Mass. Sometimes we just drive out there, roll down the van windows, and listen. Ahhh. We hear nothing except chirping birds and quiet breezes--a wonderful thing compared to the air brakes of large vehicles stopping at the intersection of 242 and Foley or the loud buzz of motorcycles driven by burley men with no helmets--gasp!! So, Brendan will trudge around taking pictures while I discuss with the children whether they deserve lunch at McDonald's after their behavior during Mass embarrassed the entire family and required the help of the kind people in the pew behind us to make it through the communion line.

While Brendan studies church architecture and discusses with his brother the viewpoints from each room, rest assured that I will be making my case for a flushable toddler toilet (may I never dump out and bleach a plastic potty again), a pantry with lots of storage for the large kitchen appliances, and my own personal jacuzzi bathtub that when full actually covers a pregnant belly. And yes, Grandma Jeanie, the kitchen should be near the entry to simplify the process of unloading groceries and the laundry room close to the bedrooms to avoid the giant step over the clothes piles on the stairs and the claim of "I didn't see them there."

In all honesty, though, our entire family feels very blessed to begin this process of building a home in which to raise the souls of the children God has entrusted to us--and those yet to come! I have already imagined Clara telling her sisters "let's put on our tutus, move all of our beds 'togeller' and leave all of this space for our princess ballroom." And spitfire Eleanor will of course say, "Don't be so bossy." I imagine our family prayer time in our chapel after mealtime and Aidan requesting a "decade of 'De-bine Mercy." And Baby Max will be a bouncing 2 1/2-year-old by then, and still likely the most well-behaved child to grace our family. So, may the Lord be with us as we seek to do His will in all things and may we truly live "Ecclesia Domestica."