As today was the last Sunday before Lent, we said goodbye to the Alleluias at the end of the morning’s church service. As a family, we’ll be saying goodbye on Tuesday, when we both make, and put away, our “Alleluia Banners” for this year, (we’ll get them back out on Easter Sunday). No matter which day this practice is observed, I find the hymn Alleluia, Song of Gladness to be both beautiful and moving. I can’t help but get choked up over verse three!
Alleluia, song of gladness,
Voice of joy that cannot die;
Alleluia is the anthem
Ever raised by choirs on high;
In the house of God abiding
Thus they sing eternally.
Alleluia, thou resoundest,
True Jerusalem and free;
Alleluia, joyful mother,
All thy children sing with thee,
But by Babylon’s sad waters
Mourning exiles now are we.
Alleluia cannot always
Be our song while here below;
Alleluia, our transgressions
Make us for a while forgo;
For the solemn time is coming
When our tears for sin must flow.
Therefore in our hymns we pray Thee,
Grant us, blessed Trinity,
At the last to keep Thine Easter
With Thy faithful saints on high;
There to Thee forever singing
Alleluia joyfully.
I realized for the first time this week that Moose’s progress is not only important to us, but also important to his teachers.
Yes, I know that teachers want to see their students succeed. But I guess I had always viewed it as a more general class succeeding, rather than individual students. A conversation I had with his occupational therapist, who has been working with him since he started school two and half years ago made me see things a little differently.
First, she was telling me about a really good day Moose had with her. You see, while Moose has gotten quite good at talking at home, when he’s at school, he really clams up. When he does talk there, it’s mostly in a whisper. So that’s something they’re constantly working on with him–trying to draw him out. But on that particular day, she said, he talked to her nonstop. He told what he wanted to do (and what he didn’t),what scissors he wanted to use, and just really talked to her in general. She said it was her best day of the whole school year, because she got to interact with him like that.
That really made me feel good. Moose was responsible for one of his teachers having a really good day. I didn’t know they’d take it so personally when he did well.
She was also telling me, in that same conversation, that while they were working, one of his teacher assistants from last year came into the room. He remembered her and addressed her by name. The O.T. told me that the assistant was almost in tears over the fact that Moose could talk to her like that. Again, I had no idea that his progress would mean so much to them.
I guess I tend to view his teachers as just doing a job. But I’m realizing that they’re far more invested in him personally than I ever could have imagined.
Well, we may not have been able to go with Ryan on his week-long trip to Vienna, but we didn’t waste the opportunity to spend the week learning about the country from which my grandfather came. As a matter of fact, the first thing we did was look through all of his old documents and papers. I have his passport, (stamped in Vienna, just like Ryan’s is now), his naturalization papers, even old Austrian report cards (he was quite a good student!). I think the children liked looking at pieces of their family history; they were especially intrigued by the black and white photos.
We also spent some time in school one morning mapping his plane routes. This wasn’t particularly new information–they know where Washington D.C. and Germany are, and had a good idea of Austria as well. Surprisingly, learning Toronto’s location was new to them, but then again, we haven’t really studied that part of Canada yet. Anyway, even thought they knew most of the locations, it really stresses how far away Europe is to map it on the wall map, and then also trace it out on the globe. The globe also allowed Turkey and Bunny to figure out what time it was in Austria while we were doing school, which amused them.
No study on Austria, however brief, would be complete without looking at famous Austrian musicians. Sure, Mozart is an obvious choice, and believe me, we listened to plenty. But we also looked at other famous Austrians, including Strauss, (all of them!), Beethoven, (not a native Austrian; rather, a German transplant), Haydn, Franz Gruber, (of Silent Night fame), Liszt, Mahler, and Schubert. I often forget how many great musicians called Austria home!
Our book selection to focus on Austria was White Stallion of Lipizza, a classic horse-tale (pardon the pun–it really was unintentional!), by Margurite Henry. This is a great book, and although it’s “out of print” through normal avenues, Beautiful Feet Books seems to have acquired the rights, so it is still available for purchase. I was as interested in this story as the children were, and was very tempted to just read ahead after they went to bed, to find out what happened. I thought Henry did an excellent job depicting the setting…I really felt like I was in Austria when we were reading (or at least what I imagine Austria to be like!). And the amount of history presented in this book was incredible! Not just Viennese history, but the history of the Lipizzan bloodlines. It was obvious a massive amount of research went into this story.
I think we were all disappointed that we couldn’t actually see the Lipizzaners perform, but YouTube allowed for a passable second. (Note, these are the actual horses from the Spanish Riding School, not the American Lipizzan show, which is also beautiful, and uses some horses from the same bloodlines, but doesn’t have the balletic majesty of the original.)
Of course, we couldn’t learn about Austria without watching The Sound of Music. This is a family favorite, so they’re all familiar with the story, but it’s still fun to watch, and sing along. And even though the story’s location is Salzburg, not Vienna, I think knowing that Daddy was actually in that country made the story a little more real.
At some point, I would also like to show the movie Miracle of the White Stallions, the only Disney movie to deal directly with WWII. We ran out of time to watch it last week, but it looks like a really good movie, about the true story of how the Lipizzans were saved from thanks to the efforts of General Patton. I love introducing my children to history, and I’m not ashamed to use different methods to do so!
We also learned some interesting Austrian trivia. For example, Pez were invented there. Vienna is home to the world’s oldest zoo, and also one of the world’s few zoos to house giant pandas. The palace at Vienna (specifically the treasury), is home to one of the world’s largest collections of regalia, including many items from the Holy Roman Empire. As a matter of fact, those items are being kept “until there is again a Holy Roman Emperor of the German Nation,” (talk about positive thinking!). Vienna was occupied in a similar fashion to Berlin following World War II (I had never heard that before!), and residents of Vienna still celebrate the day the occupation ended.
We finished our Viennese studies with a treat–apple strudel. Now, I’m sure my replica is nothing compared to the actual Austrian variety, but it was still fun to make, and good to eat. One of my favorite perks about homeschooling is being able to immerse ourselves in a culture a little bit, by trying out some native dishes–funny how so many of those dishes end up being desserts, isn’t it?
Speaking of desserts, our study of Austria completed once Ryan returned home, bringing with him a real Austrian Sachertorte. We all enjoyed trying this regional specialty, and I think I’m going to try to make the recipe for it I found–I’m sure it won’t be the same, but it’s better than never having it again!
I recently finished Hand of Fate, (provided to me by Thomas Nelson publishers) the second novel in the “Triple Threat” series by Lis Wiehl. I’ve had the book for almost a year, but I wanted to wait until closer to the third book’s (Heart of Ice) publication–waiting a year between books one and two was awful, and I didn’t want to make that mistake again!
I really like this series. The first book, Face of Betrayal, was very exciting and suspenseful. I enjoyed being introduced to and getting to know the main characters in that book, and I was really looking forward to learning more of their back stories in future books. Because I enjoyed the first book so much, I had high hopes for Hand of Fate. I wasn’t disappointed!
The second book in the series focuses on the murder of radio personality Jim Fate, who also appeared in Face of Betrayal. As the “triple threat club”–FBI agent Nic Hedges, federal prosecutor Allison Pierce, and TV reporter Cassidy Shaw–begins to investigate Fate’s untimely death, they come across many people who had motive and opportunity for murder. But who really did it?
The reason I like this series so much is because I don’t know “whodunit” by the third chapter. Actually, I had no idea who the murderer was until he (or she) was actually revealed. I don’t find these to be typical suspense novels, because most are so very predictable. Instead, these books feel more like reading an episode of 24.
My only complaint about this book is that, also like 24, a whole lot of bad stuff seems to happen to all of the main characters in a very short amount of time. You have to wonder if three friends can all really go through that much trouble together. That seemed a bit far-fetched to me, but those were really side stories; the main story I found to be excellently written, with just enough suspense to keep me reading all night.
1 envelope Good Seasons Italian salad dressing mix
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 cup beef broth
sub rolls
Place roast in slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients. Cook on high 5-6 hours or low 8-10 hours. Shred beef and return to slow cooker with juice. Cook on high for 1 additional hour. Serve on rolls.
